Well, another three weeks have gone by and things are about the same. I didn't pare down my eating. In fact, my husband's birthday gave me a reason to drive the diet bus into the ditch and cruise around there for a while. So that ends another experiment. The results are in: I can't handle complete freedom of eating!
There's something to be said for the Overeaters Anonymous viewpoint. Compulsive eating is an addiction. I knew that, I just needed another round of convincing. I'm not sure the 12-step approach is the best, but that doesn't mean that I can't be careful of what I eat, staying away from those foods that generate whole-scale swerving, such as a half dozen frosted walnut-filled fudge brownies and a few pints of ice cream!
So I'm going to have to refrain from eating all those goodies once again and get back on track. Then I can continue to whittle away at the extra calories and pounds through less eating and more exercising. The exercising part is the more challenging, since I'm time constrained. But the calorie-whittling is also challenging, since it seems every time I try to eat less I end up being hungry and eating more! So I'm still deciding how I'm going to work this out. Maybe just doing the exercise part will work. I'm going to have to get creative about including more exercise in my day, though. We'll see what happens.
I'll record my progress here, as ever.
Sunday, July 15, 2012
Sunday, June 24, 2012
Week 71: Crunching the Numbers -- Again
Well, after three weeks of virtually no change in my weight, I've concluded that I must be at equilibrium--calories in equal calories out. I'm eating too much and not exercising enough, apparently, to change my weight.
I thought for a while about whether or not I wanted to stay at the weight I'm at and keep my intake and output as they are and eventually decided that I do want to be lighter. So, I had to go back to crunching numbers to determine what needs to change.
I took a look at my eating log to see what I was actually eating and determined that while I was ostensibly following the diet plan, I was really consuming more calories than I thought. On a good day, I am eating at least 1800 calories, which is about what I am using, apparently, in an average day of mostly sedentary activity.
So, what to do? Well, I have to pare down my eating. How can I do that? I looked at what I was eating and what I could give up without too much heartache. My plan at the present looks like this:
Even at 1600 calories, I need to exercise more to lose weight. A very active person, supposedly, burns 15 cal per pound of weight per day. A moderately active person, uses 14 calories, a lightly active person uses 13 calories. A sedentary person, I figure, uses 12 calories per pound per day.
I weigh 155 lbs right now. If I consider myself lightly active, that's 13 calories per pound or 2015 calories per day. If you subtract 1600 from 2015, you get 415 cal per day, or 2905 calories per week. A pound of fat = 3500 calories, so if you divide 2905 by 3500 you get .83 pounds per week. That sounds good, right? It's about what I've been losing, on average, over the course of 16 months. So then why have I stopped losing weight?
The answer must be that I'm eating more than 1600 calories a day, and exercising even less than 13 calories worth per pound per day. And indeed, as I said above, a quick estimate of my average caloric consumption equals 1800+ per day.
If I eat 1800 calories per day, and exercise at least 13 calories per pound a day, I would be eating the equivalent of a person who weighs 138 lbs (138 X 13 = 1794 cal). So, that would still net me 215 calories lost per day, times 7 is 1505 calories, or about a half pound per week.
But I'm not losing even that much, so I must be eating more than 1800 calories on average (very possible--adding in the short deviations from the straight and narrow), or I'm not even burning 13 calories per pound, or both.
Well, let's say that I'm eating an average of 100 more calories per day. That would make 1900 calories, or only 115 calories lost per day. 115 X 7 = 805 per week / 3500 = .23 pounds per week. That is less than a quarter pound, which means it takes me four weeks to lose one pound. That sounds about right. No wonder I'm not losing. That's very slow progress--too slow.
So, what to do? Well, I'm going to have to pay closer attention to how many calories I'm consuming. And I'm going to have to be sure I'm at least exercising lightly each day. I could cut down the calories, too, and try to exercise more. For now, though, I think I'll just focus on not going over the pre-arranged totals for the day. One way to do that is to write down everything I eat and also record the calories consumed. Measuring more accurately would also help, so that the calories I think I consume are actually the calories I do consume.
The meat calories are a case in point. I'm only allowed three red meat meals per week (fatty meats, that is), because those meats typically have more than 50 calories per ounce (1 meat = 1 ounce). Hard cheese falls into that category too, so there's a limit on that consumption as well (up to 5 oz). I'm supposed to eat 3 fish meals per week, but that's because fish is so nutritious. But it also helps that there are fewer calories in an ounce of fish, making up for the extra calories in the beef-type meats. If I eat more beef meals than I should, I end up consuming more calories per week. Same result if I don't measure/weigh accurately.
Fruits and vegetables are also a frequent source of excess calories. I often assume it's okay to eat as many fruits and vegetables as I want, but there really is a limit. They may be lower in calories, but they're not calorie free. I need to be aware of how much is too much.
One of the biggest factors in my calorie count is the Extras I eat every day. I'm only allowed 50 calories, so if I eat one hard candy (20), one tablespoon of ketchup (20) and two tablespoons of cereal on my yogurt (20), I'm over my total. Every day I'm doing that and more, so that's a source of excess right there.
Evidently, I have a lot of work to do. So this week I'm going to really try to stay within my plan and see if that works. I'll also try to exercise more, but for now, this is my plan.
I'll let you know how it turns out!
I thought for a while about whether or not I wanted to stay at the weight I'm at and keep my intake and output as they are and eventually decided that I do want to be lighter. So, I had to go back to crunching numbers to determine what needs to change.
I took a look at my eating log to see what I was actually eating and determined that while I was ostensibly following the diet plan, I was really consuming more calories than I thought. On a good day, I am eating at least 1800 calories, which is about what I am using, apparently, in an average day of mostly sedentary activity.
So, what to do? Well, I have to pare down my eating. How can I do that? I looked at what I was eating and what I could give up without too much heartache. My plan at the present looks like this:
- Breads: 3 X 100 cal = 300 cal
- Meats: 10 X 50 cal = 500 cal
- Milk: 2 X 100 = 200 cal
- Fats: 3 X 50 = 150 cal*
- Fruit: 4 X 50 = 200*
- Vegetables: 4 X 40 = 160*
- Starchy Veggies: 1 X 40 = 40
- Extra: 50 cal*
Even at 1600 calories, I need to exercise more to lose weight. A very active person, supposedly, burns 15 cal per pound of weight per day. A moderately active person, uses 14 calories, a lightly active person uses 13 calories. A sedentary person, I figure, uses 12 calories per pound per day.
I weigh 155 lbs right now. If I consider myself lightly active, that's 13 calories per pound or 2015 calories per day. If you subtract 1600 from 2015, you get 415 cal per day, or 2905 calories per week. A pound of fat = 3500 calories, so if you divide 2905 by 3500 you get .83 pounds per week. That sounds good, right? It's about what I've been losing, on average, over the course of 16 months. So then why have I stopped losing weight?
The answer must be that I'm eating more than 1600 calories a day, and exercising even less than 13 calories worth per pound per day. And indeed, as I said above, a quick estimate of my average caloric consumption equals 1800+ per day.
If I eat 1800 calories per day, and exercise at least 13 calories per pound a day, I would be eating the equivalent of a person who weighs 138 lbs (138 X 13 = 1794 cal). So, that would still net me 215 calories lost per day, times 7 is 1505 calories, or about a half pound per week.
But I'm not losing even that much, so I must be eating more than 1800 calories on average (very possible--adding in the short deviations from the straight and narrow), or I'm not even burning 13 calories per pound, or both.
Well, let's say that I'm eating an average of 100 more calories per day. That would make 1900 calories, or only 115 calories lost per day. 115 X 7 = 805 per week / 3500 = .23 pounds per week. That is less than a quarter pound, which means it takes me four weeks to lose one pound. That sounds about right. No wonder I'm not losing. That's very slow progress--too slow.
So, what to do? Well, I'm going to have to pay closer attention to how many calories I'm consuming. And I'm going to have to be sure I'm at least exercising lightly each day. I could cut down the calories, too, and try to exercise more. For now, though, I think I'll just focus on not going over the pre-arranged totals for the day. One way to do that is to write down everything I eat and also record the calories consumed. Measuring more accurately would also help, so that the calories I think I consume are actually the calories I do consume.
The meat calories are a case in point. I'm only allowed three red meat meals per week (fatty meats, that is), because those meats typically have more than 50 calories per ounce (1 meat = 1 ounce). Hard cheese falls into that category too, so there's a limit on that consumption as well (up to 5 oz). I'm supposed to eat 3 fish meals per week, but that's because fish is so nutritious. But it also helps that there are fewer calories in an ounce of fish, making up for the extra calories in the beef-type meats. If I eat more beef meals than I should, I end up consuming more calories per week. Same result if I don't measure/weigh accurately.
Fruits and vegetables are also a frequent source of excess calories. I often assume it's okay to eat as many fruits and vegetables as I want, but there really is a limit. They may be lower in calories, but they're not calorie free. I need to be aware of how much is too much.
One of the biggest factors in my calorie count is the Extras I eat every day. I'm only allowed 50 calories, so if I eat one hard candy (20), one tablespoon of ketchup (20) and two tablespoons of cereal on my yogurt (20), I'm over my total. Every day I'm doing that and more, so that's a source of excess right there.
Evidently, I have a lot of work to do. So this week I'm going to really try to stay within my plan and see if that works. I'll also try to exercise more, but for now, this is my plan.
I'll let you know how it turns out!
Sunday, June 10, 2012
Record Challenges
Things continue as they have been: I'm confronting diet challenges daily and making moderately successful efforts to meet them. One of the challenges I continue to have is keeping my food diary--my performance has been spotty lately on this task. So, this past week I decided to try an experiment--I would write down only those extras I eat, instead of writing down everything. I thought maybe that would substitute for the total accounting.
I'm not sure there was much of a difference, since I still had trouble remembering to record even those few items. The pared down recording certainly didn't stop me from eating those foods that were outside my diet plan, such as a cookie and a small slice of ice cream pie (both treats people in my office brought in).
So, I'm going to go back to writing everything down. I did lose some weight this week, despite those deviations. I think I'm at the point now where what I eat almost equals what I'm burning, so I have to eat less or exercise more in order to continue to lose. And, more importantly, since I'm going to have to get used to a lower caloric intake when I reach my goal weight anyway, I'd better start working on that now.
This week I also looked at a weight loss plan devised by my insurance company that does seem to have some good suggestions, especially with exercises for gaining muscle. I'm going to have to look at the plan more closely to see if I can start doing some of the exercises this week. More muscle tissue = more calories burned, so I really would help myself by doing more weight training.
The annual company picnic is coming up this Friday, so I'm going to have to stick with the diet plan every other day so as not to go completely off track.
I'll let you know how things work out next time!
I'm not sure there was much of a difference, since I still had trouble remembering to record even those few items. The pared down recording certainly didn't stop me from eating those foods that were outside my diet plan, such as a cookie and a small slice of ice cream pie (both treats people in my office brought in).
So, I'm going to go back to writing everything down. I did lose some weight this week, despite those deviations. I think I'm at the point now where what I eat almost equals what I'm burning, so I have to eat less or exercise more in order to continue to lose. And, more importantly, since I'm going to have to get used to a lower caloric intake when I reach my goal weight anyway, I'd better start working on that now.
This week I also looked at a weight loss plan devised by my insurance company that does seem to have some good suggestions, especially with exercises for gaining muscle. I'm going to have to look at the plan more closely to see if I can start doing some of the exercises this week. More muscle tissue = more calories burned, so I really would help myself by doing more weight training.
The annual company picnic is coming up this Friday, so I'm going to have to stick with the diet plan every other day so as not to go completely off track.
I'll let you know how things work out next time!
Saturday, May 26, 2012
Trigger Guards Needed
Well, it's been a while since I've posted, but I've been continuing to work the program, though not always successfully. I've been finding it hard to eat things that slim people occasionally eat--like cake, ice cream, pie, doughnuts, cookies, chips--without triggering cravings for those foods and a feeling of longing after just one.
The other day I had ice cream and cake for my birthday, but after I had eaten a rather large serving, I was feeling frightened by the desire to eat some more as soon as possible. I wanted to resist the powerful urge to finish them off, to get rid of them (by eating them, of course), as if they were radioactive. So I decided to put them into the freezer and have them at another holiday occasion, Memorial Day.
I tried to think what a slim person would do with leftover cake and ice cream. She wouldn't feel compelled to eat the cake and ice cream as quickly as possible. She wouldn't be consumed with thoughts of the treats waiting in the refrigerator until a socially acceptable time to eat dessert arrived. She'd probably ignore them until a festive occasion prompted eating such foods--a special occasion. She wouldn't be thinking, "Oh, there's cake left, let's eat it." She wouldn't feel as though good cake was going to waste just because it wasn't being consumed.
I never feel that way about alcoholic beverages. I never think good beer is going to waste just because it's sitting in the refrigerator for days or weeks. I don't think about the leftover whisky I might happen to have in my cupboard, even if it sits there a year.
That's how slim people feel about treats--they don't. They enjoy eating them when they have them, but they stop when they're satiated. And they don't feel compelled to continue to eat past satiation, just because the treats are sitting on the plate or in the refrigerator or the cupboard.
I'd like to be at that place someday, where I'm enjoying food without compulsion, but it's not going to happen any time soon. Meanwhile, I have to take steps to prevent the overeating that will inevitably follow the eating of any of my "trigger" foods.
It's all part of the process of learning to be thin. See you next time.
The other day I had ice cream and cake for my birthday, but after I had eaten a rather large serving, I was feeling frightened by the desire to eat some more as soon as possible. I wanted to resist the powerful urge to finish them off, to get rid of them (by eating them, of course), as if they were radioactive. So I decided to put them into the freezer and have them at another holiday occasion, Memorial Day.
I tried to think what a slim person would do with leftover cake and ice cream. She wouldn't feel compelled to eat the cake and ice cream as quickly as possible. She wouldn't be consumed with thoughts of the treats waiting in the refrigerator until a socially acceptable time to eat dessert arrived. She'd probably ignore them until a festive occasion prompted eating such foods--a special occasion. She wouldn't be thinking, "Oh, there's cake left, let's eat it." She wouldn't feel as though good cake was going to waste just because it wasn't being consumed.
I never feel that way about alcoholic beverages. I never think good beer is going to waste just because it's sitting in the refrigerator for days or weeks. I don't think about the leftover whisky I might happen to have in my cupboard, even if it sits there a year.
That's how slim people feel about treats--they don't. They enjoy eating them when they have them, but they stop when they're satiated. And they don't feel compelled to continue to eat past satiation, just because the treats are sitting on the plate or in the refrigerator or the cupboard.
I'd like to be at that place someday, where I'm enjoying food without compulsion, but it's not going to happen any time soon. Meanwhile, I have to take steps to prevent the overeating that will inevitably follow the eating of any of my "trigger" foods.
It's all part of the process of learning to be thin. See you next time.
Sunday, May 6, 2012
Let's Hear It for Science!
I've neglected my blog for a while, mostly due to ennui and being on the road, but I'm back!
I'm at the point now where I'm struggling to stay on track. I've not lost weight in the last two weeks; in fact I've gained .6 lbs after losing .8 since I last posted. So that means I've lost about .2 lbs in three weeks.
But it's not about the losing and never really has been. The problem now seems to be that I'm stuck on a few stubborn behaviors that don't want to change. One of them is not paying attention while I eat: I'm still eating too fast and not really tasting and enjoying the food. Another is not writing down what I've eaten. I'm still very lax in that regard. A third is eating foods that are not on my diet plan without accounting for them in some way.
This third is the most difficult to deal with. Perhaps I shouldn't have skipped that step where I deal with extra-diet foods by calling them "controlled trades" (127) and monitoring them. With the controlled trade technique, I am supposed to know ahead of time what foods I want to eat, then plan what foods on the diet plan will be the controlled trades. Otherwise, it's just an uncontrolled cheat and counts as a minus in the "right?" column.
So far, I've been saying that I'm experimenting with "normal" eating behavior by eating these foods and calling them okay and not deviations. That's not good. It's a form of unconsciousness and needs to stop.
For example, the other day, someone brought in doughnuts to share and I had one. A doughnut is a highly caloric food--fats and carbohydrates galore. Probably the one I ate was at least 300 calories. It was extra, plain and simple. I justified it by telling myself that once in a while I could have a doughnut like a normal person.
But I need to stop calling these deviations "experiments," I think, because I feel the urge to conduct more and more such "scientific" explorations, which really are just attempts by my fat self to get back into the driver's seat.
So, what to do instead? Well, if I want to do real experiments, I should use proper procedures. Shirley Simon's "controlled trade" method is that kind of procedure. When I want to have something not on my diet plan, I should plan ahead. And I'm only supposed to have so many of those trades. Since I've been on the diet for 63 weeks, I should be allowed 60 trades. That's too many, obviously, since it's about 9 per day. Shirley says I should still be eating the main diet most of the time. So let's say I eat about 20 different trade-able foods per day; at least ten of them have to be normal diet items. I'm not doing that most days, and don't really want to.
But let's take the case of that doughnut. If I'd planned ahead, I could have the donut, but only it it were a small, plain one. The one I had was not very small and it had chocolate frosting on it. But if I had the plain one, it would have been considered a Saturday special (a once-a-week extra that doesn't have to be traded), not a regular trade. And then, I needed to use the "thin gourmet" technique to really savor the treat once I'm eating it. After all, from what I've observed, that's how thin people eat.
So using the controlled trade technique is how I should be handling this "normal" eating behavior experimentation. I'm going to try harder this week to do that instead of just eating whatever I want and calling it an experiment.
Let's hear it for science! See you next time.
I'm at the point now where I'm struggling to stay on track. I've not lost weight in the last two weeks; in fact I've gained .6 lbs after losing .8 since I last posted. So that means I've lost about .2 lbs in three weeks.
But it's not about the losing and never really has been. The problem now seems to be that I'm stuck on a few stubborn behaviors that don't want to change. One of them is not paying attention while I eat: I'm still eating too fast and not really tasting and enjoying the food. Another is not writing down what I've eaten. I'm still very lax in that regard. A third is eating foods that are not on my diet plan without accounting for them in some way.
This third is the most difficult to deal with. Perhaps I shouldn't have skipped that step where I deal with extra-diet foods by calling them "controlled trades" (127) and monitoring them. With the controlled trade technique, I am supposed to know ahead of time what foods I want to eat, then plan what foods on the diet plan will be the controlled trades. Otherwise, it's just an uncontrolled cheat and counts as a minus in the "right?" column.
So far, I've been saying that I'm experimenting with "normal" eating behavior by eating these foods and calling them okay and not deviations. That's not good. It's a form of unconsciousness and needs to stop.
For example, the other day, someone brought in doughnuts to share and I had one. A doughnut is a highly caloric food--fats and carbohydrates galore. Probably the one I ate was at least 300 calories. It was extra, plain and simple. I justified it by telling myself that once in a while I could have a doughnut like a normal person.
But I need to stop calling these deviations "experiments," I think, because I feel the urge to conduct more and more such "scientific" explorations, which really are just attempts by my fat self to get back into the driver's seat.
So, what to do instead? Well, if I want to do real experiments, I should use proper procedures. Shirley Simon's "controlled trade" method is that kind of procedure. When I want to have something not on my diet plan, I should plan ahead. And I'm only supposed to have so many of those trades. Since I've been on the diet for 63 weeks, I should be allowed 60 trades. That's too many, obviously, since it's about 9 per day. Shirley says I should still be eating the main diet most of the time. So let's say I eat about 20 different trade-able foods per day; at least ten of them have to be normal diet items. I'm not doing that most days, and don't really want to.
But let's take the case of that doughnut. If I'd planned ahead, I could have the donut, but only it it were a small, plain one. The one I had was not very small and it had chocolate frosting on it. But if I had the plain one, it would have been considered a Saturday special (a once-a-week extra that doesn't have to be traded), not a regular trade. And then, I needed to use the "thin gourmet" technique to really savor the treat once I'm eating it. After all, from what I've observed, that's how thin people eat.
So using the controlled trade technique is how I should be handling this "normal" eating behavior experimentation. I'm going to try harder this week to do that instead of just eating whatever I want and calling it an experiment.
Let's hear it for science! See you next time.
Saturday, April 14, 2012
No U-Turns Allowed
This week was a difficult one. There were no particularly challenging moments, nothing out of the ordinary, but nevertheless, I felt myself sliding back into my old eating habits, and that concerns me.
That old unconsciousness is creeping back. One way it manifests itself is through not writing down what I eat. If I don't write it down, I forget I ate it. Then later in the day, I don't remember that I've already eaten more than I should that day so I go ahead and eat something else I shouldn't. Writing it down makes it conscious, and that's crucial.
For instance, I might pass by a coworker's candy dish and grab a piece of candy, go back to my cubicle, then pop it in my mouth while I'm working. It's gone quickly, along with my memory of eating it. Eating only at a designated spot (not my computer, by the way) and then writing down what I ate are two techniques designed to keep that kind of unconscious eating from happening. Writing down what I'm going to eat is also a way to prevent rogue eating episodes. I haven't been doing that one, but I'm just starting to see the value of it.
Another sign of unconsciousness is not measuring ("eyeballing"), or allowing measurement creep. If I pretend I measured it or that I measured it correctly, I can pretend I ate the right amount when I really didn't. It's a kind of magical thinking.
And then there's the problem of eating quickly and unthinkingly, putting away what's on my plate until it's gone and I'm uncomfortably full and I don't know how I got that way. (See above: measurement magic.) If I'm paying attention, I will stop eating when I'm full, even if I measured correctly. Reading can be a distractor, as can conversing sometimes.
Lest I forget, there's the compulsive "cleaning up" behavior--eating the bits left over in the pan or the serving dish that somehow don't count because they're left over. Magical thinking again.
All of this unconscious behavior allows the compulsive eater in me to take control of my thinking mind and--if not stopped--will put me right back where I was a year ago.
So, what to do? Go back to the basics, I suppose. I want to eat like a thin person, but that's not what I'm doing. I'm eating like a fat person, someone who is inordinately fond of . . . I was going to say food, but that's not it, really. It seems the food is less important than something else, something more compelling. Perhaps it's the desire for self indulgence, giving oneself a treat, rewarding oneself or comforting oneself with food. Whatever the reason, the behavior is compulsive, and it's fat-person behavior. A thin person would not eat the way I eat.
Will I ever be able to eat in a thin-person way? Well, I might be able to eat that way, but I will probably never think that way. As I've said before, it seems I'm always going to have to be vigilant in order to stay thin.
So this week, I'm going to try to be more vigilant and remember that my eating self is always looking for a way back in, a way to take the wheel again and drive us back to fat city. But I'm not going to let her!
See you next week, a little ways down the road to being thin.
That old unconsciousness is creeping back. One way it manifests itself is through not writing down what I eat. If I don't write it down, I forget I ate it. Then later in the day, I don't remember that I've already eaten more than I should that day so I go ahead and eat something else I shouldn't. Writing it down makes it conscious, and that's crucial.
For instance, I might pass by a coworker's candy dish and grab a piece of candy, go back to my cubicle, then pop it in my mouth while I'm working. It's gone quickly, along with my memory of eating it. Eating only at a designated spot (not my computer, by the way) and then writing down what I ate are two techniques designed to keep that kind of unconscious eating from happening. Writing down what I'm going to eat is also a way to prevent rogue eating episodes. I haven't been doing that one, but I'm just starting to see the value of it.
Another sign of unconsciousness is not measuring ("eyeballing"), or allowing measurement creep. If I pretend I measured it or that I measured it correctly, I can pretend I ate the right amount when I really didn't. It's a kind of magical thinking.
And then there's the problem of eating quickly and unthinkingly, putting away what's on my plate until it's gone and I'm uncomfortably full and I don't know how I got that way. (See above: measurement magic.) If I'm paying attention, I will stop eating when I'm full, even if I measured correctly. Reading can be a distractor, as can conversing sometimes.
Lest I forget, there's the compulsive "cleaning up" behavior--eating the bits left over in the pan or the serving dish that somehow don't count because they're left over. Magical thinking again.
All of this unconscious behavior allows the compulsive eater in me to take control of my thinking mind and--if not stopped--will put me right back where I was a year ago.
So, what to do? Go back to the basics, I suppose. I want to eat like a thin person, but that's not what I'm doing. I'm eating like a fat person, someone who is inordinately fond of . . . I was going to say food, but that's not it, really. It seems the food is less important than something else, something more compelling. Perhaps it's the desire for self indulgence, giving oneself a treat, rewarding oneself or comforting oneself with food. Whatever the reason, the behavior is compulsive, and it's fat-person behavior. A thin person would not eat the way I eat.
Will I ever be able to eat in a thin-person way? Well, I might be able to eat that way, but I will probably never think that way. As I've said before, it seems I'm always going to have to be vigilant in order to stay thin.
So this week, I'm going to try to be more vigilant and remember that my eating self is always looking for a way back in, a way to take the wheel again and drive us back to fat city. But I'm not going to let her!
See you next week, a little ways down the road to being thin.
Sunday, April 8, 2012
Some Challenges But No Major Disasters
Well, I managed to lose .8 pounds this week despite a few challenges. Coworkers brought in food that I did partake of, although in small amounts. On Monday, there was a delicious cake that I split with a coworker, and on Tuesday, a little tiny lunch from another coworker that was so beautiful and thoughtful, I ate it all, despite its being less protein than I usually like to have.
The rest of the week was normal, and I tried to keep up my exercise as much as possible. Today is Easter, and fortunately, I don't have an Easter basket to consume, so I'll make do with a special pot roast meal and possibly some ice cream. We'll see.
It'll be another six or seven months before I get to goal weight, so I guess there's no rush. I'm still aware every day of my potential for slipping down that slope, so I think I'll make it.
This week I tried to eat more slowly, something I'm still having trouble with. I can stretch out dinner pretty well, but breakfast and lunch still seem pretty short--15 minutes or less. I think I should take at least 20 minutes for my meals, so I'm going to try to work on that more this coming week.
Until next time!
The rest of the week was normal, and I tried to keep up my exercise as much as possible. Today is Easter, and fortunately, I don't have an Easter basket to consume, so I'll make do with a special pot roast meal and possibly some ice cream. We'll see.
It'll be another six or seven months before I get to goal weight, so I guess there's no rush. I'm still aware every day of my potential for slipping down that slope, so I think I'll make it.
This week I tried to eat more slowly, something I'm still having trouble with. I can stretch out dinner pretty well, but breakfast and lunch still seem pretty short--15 minutes or less. I think I should take at least 20 minutes for my meals, so I'm going to try to work on that more this coming week.
Until next time!
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