Overall, I did well yesterday. Except for maybe two things---instead of baked oven fries, I opted for chips and dip to have with my turkey burger. That's fine. Not as good a choice as fries, but fine to have once in a while---it would have been better had I really measured out the dip though. The thing that really got me the silver star though was dessert. We still have some shortbread cookies left from Christmas AND I love chocolate milk. I had too many cookies. Plus a couple of chocolate kisses.
How can I do better next time? Well---a couple of factors were going on here. I think part of me wanted to be sure I was full coming in to today's plan which is Lazy Zone day one--ergo--a hungry day. Also knowing I would be low on calories today did I think it was ok to go overboard yesterday? Also, I'd earned 5 gold stars in a row. Does part of me think that it's unrealistic to earn gold stars consistently? Or am I afraid of gold stars AND failure? Or, maybe it was just as simple as that I really like those kinds of cookies and I hadn't let dinner settle long enough that I registered as full?
Next time. I can make a point of waiting at least 1/2 hour after dinner before dessert. I can also have Dave or Catherine bring me a reasonable amount (one or two) cookies instead of going for them myself.
On a different note--I've been meaning to write down this thought. It just goes to show how different we all are. I've been reading Drop Dead healthy by A.J. Jacobs. Really fun book! He's trying to improve every health aspect of his life. And one thing he does is to try to slow down eating. He talks about how it feels weird that his wife and kids are done in 15 minutes and he's still at the table. Slowing down while you eat really is good advice. But I need to be more like his wife and kids! I'm already the world's slowest eater. What I need to emulate is the concept of being DONE with a meal. Like many overweight people, I use food like salt and add food to EVERYTHING--meaning everything I do. Sure I have meals, but there's the nibbling before the meal, the picking off the yummy bits after the meal and the pretty much continuous little eating in between every meal. Often the only reason I stop eating is because I have to go to work or sleep. I'm sure if I were a stay at home Mom I'd weigh much more. Work is really helpful actually. I bring my lunch, I eat my lunch and then there is no more food. I have to be done. This plan of mine is really helping with this concept. Weight watchers should have helped---after all, I'd eat and then be done--but I think because I was often so hungry after eating that it didn't register that I was really done. With my own plan it's better. Often I wish there were more food, but I recognize that I've had enough so I've been able to be more like A.J.'s kids---eat and then go off and do something else.
Today will help with that too. It's a silly day and I'm sure I'll be hungry, but since it's my own choice to do something stupid there's no resentment. On the contrary, I've been "commanded" by my diet to go and eat a quarter pounder at McDonald's tonight. Right on! I don't know that I've ever eaten an entirely guilt-free fast food burger, but I will tonight. That's because the rest of today's menu is: Breakfast--a high protein bar, lunch a Lean Cuisine with a slice of cheese and dinner--a quarter pounder and salad w fat free dressing. Lazy, not especially healthy, but low-cal. The real perk of these quack diet days though is that they generate real gratitude for the bounty of wonderful food I eat at all other times.
Losing weight in spite of myself.
I began this blog in February 2011 as a way to help me not quit trying to lose weight, and to learn a few things. It's been an interesting and powerful experience. It certainly confirms what I've long suspected--that although I am a genuinely happy cheery person in the main, I am NOT a happy cheery dieter. I DETEST losing weight. I resent being overweight in the first place and I am a virtuoso in the art of self-sabotage. And YET--I'm doing it! I'm fighting and kicking and EATING all the way down, but the weight is finally going down. The plan I was following in February was a half-baked one largely based on wishful thinking. I gained a little weight and decided to get real. I knew I couldn't just join weightwatchers or count calories or do any one plan and expect to be successful. I decided if I was going to bother to make the effort to lose weight I was going to throw everything I could think of at the problem. And so I do. My real "Day One" for this blog is April 1, 2011. I joined weight watchers, I joined caloriecount.com (awesome website), I read the blog losingweighteveryday.blogspot.com religiously, I keep this blog faithfully, I joined the health programs sponsored by my insurance, I use the principles from overeater's anonymous, I use my church's 12 step program as well, I subscribe--and use--Healthy Cooking Magazine.
The result of all this? Painfully slow progress (About 20 lbs in 10 months). But it IS progress and like the little engine that could I keep on trying in my rebellious way. I have no intention of quitting. This is by far the longest sustained weight loss effort I've ever made in my life. Successful I think, because for the first in my life I've done this MY way--which I've discovered, involves a lot of pizza and restaraunt food. I'm convinced this is the only way to lose weight. For me it must be MY way. For you it MUST be YOUR way. Not weight watcher's way, not your doctor's way, but YOUR way. Any plan or idea I use is only a tool.
The latest plan to lose weight my way began on Oct 29, 2013. It really is my own crazy plan. As you'll see if you read that post. I've implemented the best ideas of all sorts of eating plans and thrown out the scale. A couple of months in and I'm definitely healthier. I'm actually enjoying myself. I won't weigh until April 1, 2014, so I'll see then if this works the way I hope it will.
There is no magic weight loss bullet. But there IS a great deal of magic in the discovery of what I can happily live with (very different from what weight watchers tells me I can happily live with) and still have the body and health I want.
Good luck to all of us on this journey. It's quite a trip!
The result of all this? Painfully slow progress (About 20 lbs in 10 months). But it IS progress and like the little engine that could I keep on trying in my rebellious way. I have no intention of quitting. This is by far the longest sustained weight loss effort I've ever made in my life. Successful I think, because for the first in my life I've done this MY way--which I've discovered, involves a lot of pizza and restaraunt food. I'm convinced this is the only way to lose weight. For me it must be MY way. For you it MUST be YOUR way. Not weight watcher's way, not your doctor's way, but YOUR way. Any plan or idea I use is only a tool.
The latest plan to lose weight my way began on Oct 29, 2013. It really is my own crazy plan. As you'll see if you read that post. I've implemented the best ideas of all sorts of eating plans and thrown out the scale. A couple of months in and I'm definitely healthier. I'm actually enjoying myself. I won't weigh until April 1, 2014, so I'll see then if this works the way I hope it will.
There is no magic weight loss bullet. But there IS a great deal of magic in the discovery of what I can happily live with (very different from what weight watchers tells me I can happily live with) and still have the body and health I want.
Good luck to all of us on this journey. It's quite a trip!
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