Keep on keeping on

I am still one hundred percent on plan. It is a bloody miracle. I work in a high stress job and a lot of days get very difficult and draining emotionally. Today was not one of those days but tomorrow probably will be for a lot of different reasons. I have always used food to cope and more and more I am trying to work at finding alternate methods to deal with the stress. I have not been terribly successful but I am trying and working on finding balance. The cats are actually part of that balance, there is a lot to be said to coming home everyday to unconditional love and acceptance. I also think that really working out has been making a real difference with my stress level recently. I have also noticed that cutting out milk, sugar, and bread really seems to help me sleep at night and have more energy. In fact, I have noticed a huge spike in my energy level since I cut out the sugar and bread especially. I am down to two cups of coffee a day, one in the morning and one decaf cup at night and no starbucks on the weekends. I am drinking way more water, between 8 and 12 cups a day which is helping my skin as well. All of this is things that have happened in the past when I ate clean, I have just forgotten what it feels and looks like in reality. The difference this time is that I am really paring it with healthy clean eating rather than extreme portion control. The thing about eating properly and cutting out bread is that you can actually eat a lot of food and not consume a lot of calories. I aim for around 1400-1600 calories a day and a lot of times I end up around 1350 even after having two snacks, a healthy lunch and a healthy dinner. I do not feel deprived and that is really important for my personal sanity given my general work stress level. So, I am doing well and that feels good.