Quote:
Originally Posted by InnerChild
I don't get it. I can stay on my eating program, carefully watching my calories and what I put into my mouth all day long, but when the evening time comes it all goes down hill. I don't understand why I can do so well and have such good self control all day until evening. Does anyone else experience this as well?
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In my experience, it is out of habit. I, too, have great self control all day. Some days I am not even hungry until well into midday. But I tell ya, at night, watch out. I will eat a good sized dinner (and pre-diet it would be a substantial dinner) and yet, as soon as the kids are off to bed, I am in the kitchen. It's a bad habit.
And after starting back on my diet, I can clearly tell it is just that - a bad habit. I have done well for the first 6 days of Fat Smash Diet, I haven't given in to temptation. But I have noticed some disturbing things about my nighttime routine. Each night this week, I find myself getting up during commercials and milling around in the kitchen. I open the cabinet with the dried foods in it. I stare. I shut the door and head to the fridge. I open it up and stare. Then I walk back to the cabinet and stare in there again. I mosey on over to the kids snack supply in the closet. I stare. Then, I repeat it all again. Sometimes, for some added variety, I open the freezer and stare in there too. It's habitual behavior that has developed over a long period of time. It's not just at this new apartment, which we have been in since July. I recall doing it at our last place, too.
Last night I gave into the habit and picked some things to eat out of the fridge. Thankfully, they were diet-approved foods, but they were still unnecessary. Like... I didn't need to eat 2 yogurts. Just because Fat Smash allows for 2 yogurts a day doesn't mean I have to eat them one right after the other. And cheese. I had 2 string cheese. Darn it, I wish I didn't know that new rules allow for 1oz of cheese during Phase One. I have taken advantage of that, and probably would see better weight loss if I didn't. I also had celery and hummus... which is okay... but it was all unnecessary. It was habit.
I've heard that it takes 30 days to break a bad habit. I know that this is not true. For instance, I have bitten my nails for my entire life. In August of 2006, I stopped biting them. I didn't bite them until June 2007. Then, after hearing from my kids father for the first time in months, I started biting them again. I know the trigger, but the habit was not broken. I recently stopped biting them again, back in August, and they are getting lovely and long... but I consistently find them in my mouth. Habit. Habit. Habit. It is the same with food. And cigarettes. And everything else in the world that is habitual.
My only advice to you is to work with yourself on breaking your habits. Take it one teeny tiny step at a time. Make promises to yourself. I promise not to binge for 24 hours. Once you make it through the 24 hours, promise a few more hours. If you think you can do it, promise yourself X amount of days. Once you get to the promised time, think back about whether it was easy or not. Try not to give yourself permission to binge... but if you do, try and control how much, and don't punish yourself afterwards. Promise again to yourself that, hey, I made it 48 hours or whatever... which is better than normal. This time, I am going to try for twice as long. I'm not saying it is going to be easy... and I certainly don't have all the answers because I am still wearing out a path on my kitchen floor from cabinet to fridge, but know that many others understand where you are coming from and support you.
