Fear Itself

Okay, so I didn't succeed that day--or any other day since then up until . . . today!  Today I stayed on my diet plan, even through supper!

I thought about how I've been so hungry lately during the day and that hunger makes me vulnerable to temptation (of which there is plenty at my work place).  I thought about how it feels to be hungry or experience intense cravings and I decided that it's really a kind of fear--fear of going without food, I suppose, which must have something to do with brain chemistry, because it's highly unlikely that I'll starve any time soon.

Feelings of hunger produce feelings of fear; feelings of craving also seem to produce fear, which produce a frenzied hunt for food that will satisfy the craving.

The problem is, the satisfaction doesn't last very long.  Two hours later (and sometimes sooner) I feel hungry all over again, but then I'm also calories heavier.

So today, when I felt hungry or tempted by calorie-laden snacks, I told myself there was nothing to fear but fear itself, that I could handle being hungry, that I didn't really need to eat those M&Ms or donuts.  Then I held out until it was time for my healthy snack that I brought and I ate that, as slowly as possible.

Those strategies seemed to work well today.  Also helpful was eating cottage cheese instead of milk, especially with celery reserved from lunch.  It was crunchy and had protein for longer lasting sustenance, something I need in the afternoon between lunch at 11:30 and supper at 7:30.

And for supper I consulted my old Weight Watchers cookbooks for inspiration, which really seemed to help me come up with a good supper that was also on my diet plan.

So I had a successful day today and proved that I can do it! On to the next!

Finnegan Begin Again

Well, now I know why I've failed at this diet so many times. It's hard! But I'm determined not to let happen again. I'm at least not eating all that fattening stuff I was eating, and it seems I've only gained about 5 pounds--not too bad, considering.

So, today I'm going to try to eat only what I should and to measure everything once again.

We'll see what happens.