<http://schema.org/articleBody>
"Follow busy mom Kathy as she tries to slim down. Don&amp;#039;t miss her weigh-ins and her ups and downs following Ellie Krieger&amp;#039;s 12-week plan, Small Changes, Big Results.    Yesterday&amp;#039;s barbecue was a hoot, and I managed to plan my day, food-wise, so that I could enjoy the great spread as well as the friends and the fireworks. I ate a late breakfast and made it a healthy one, with a half grapefruit, Raisin Bran with skim milk and whole-wheat toast with peanut butter. I was so full, all I wanted was a piece of low-fat string cheese between breakfast and the late-afternoon food fest.    Good thing\u2026 Our hosts, Leila and Wolfgang, had fired up the grill with scrumptious burgers, Leila (that&amp;#039;s her in the navy-and-white outfit) had painted and turned an old computer desk into a fabulous outdoor bar \u2014 with lots of fun drink choices \u2014 and we had yummy side dishes out our ears. I didn&amp;#039;t exactly deprive myself. I had a cheeseburger (with lots of lettuce), a small brownie and a glass of white wine. (OK, and a few potato chips \u2014 but only about three!) I figured I&amp;#039;d feel left out of the fun \u2014 and eat who knows what today \u2014 if I didn&amp;#039;t enjoy at least some of what I wanted yesterday. I know cheeseburgers, brownies and wine aren&amp;#039;t on Ellie Krieger&amp;#039;s &amp;quot;usually&amp;quot; list. So I worked on portion control, and just had a reasonable amount of each. (In Small Changes, Big Results, Ellie notes that &amp;quot;rarely&amp;quot; foods are highly processed and/or contain a lot of fat and added sugar. She suggests choosing only three servings or less per week from this list.)    Once I had had my little splurge, I concentrated on enjoying the conversation and catching up with friends \u2014 with my hands staying out of the chips. Our friend Mac even entertained us with a few card tricks. So there was lots of non-food fun.  Later that evening, we went with the gang to see fireworks, and I brought along, in addition to saltwater taffy and peanuts for the kids, some water, low-fat cheese and low-fat Triscuits.  By the time I went to bed, I was actually a tiny bit hungry. Yea! I figured that meant I had done a pretty good food-balancing act for the day. And when I looked at the photos from the day, I was tickled to see that, with 10 pounds gone, I&amp;#039;m losing my small-but-much-loathed double chin, which always seemed to show up in family pics. And that was more of a treat than any brownie. How did you handle your food plan on July 4? Share your thoughts in &amp;quot;Comments.&amp;quot; \u2014 Kathy Sena "^^<http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema#string>
<http://www.womansday.com/life/a41051/burgers-fireworks-a-even-a-few-card-tricks-6602/>