For this current challenge, I am going to eat just one little cup of mandarin oranges after a meal as my sweet dessert instead of chocolate. If I break down and insist on having chocolate instead of mandarin oranges, that will be ok, but I can still only have one piece. Three skip days permitted.
Day 1 -- Monday, January 05: Just one mandarin cup. Yeay first day back on the better-choices wagon!
Day 2 -- Tuesday, January 06: Just one mandarin cup. I knew I was meeting DH at a restaurant for dinner, and went so far as to pack a mandarin cup to deter myself from ordering a dessert. Small success!
For this current challenge, I am going to eat just one little cup of mandarin oranges after a meal as my sweet dessert instead of chocolate. If I break down and insist on having chocolate instead of mandarin oranges, that will be ok, but I can still only have one piece. Three skip days permitted.
Day 1 -- Monday, January 05: Just one mandarin cup. Yeay first day back on the better-choices wagon!
Day 2 -- Tuesday, January 06: Just one mandarin cup. I knew I was meeting DH at a restaurant for dinner, and went so far as to pack a mandarin cup to deter myself from ordering a dessert. Small success!
Day 3 -- Wednesday, January 07: Just one mandarin cup. I saw a sweet in the cupboard and wanted to eat it, but knew I'd already had my mandarin cup and didn't want to use a pause day just for that, so this challenge has already helped me make a better decision.
For this current challenge, I am going to eat just one little cup of mandarin oranges after a meal as my sweet dessert instead of chocolate. If I break down and insist on having chocolate instead of mandarin oranges, that will be ok, but I can still only have one piece. Three skip days permitted.
Day 1 -- Monday, January 05: Just one mandarin cup. Yeay first day back on the better-choices wagon!
Day 2 -- Tuesday, January 06: Just one mandarin cup. I knew I was meeting DH at a restaurant for dinner, and went so far as to pack a mandarin cup to deter myself from ordering a dessert. Small success!
Day 3 -- Wednesday, January 07: Just one mandarin cup. I saw a sweet in the cupboard and wanted to eat it, but knew I'd already had my mandarin cup and didn't want to use a pause day just for that, so this challenge has already helped me make a better decision.
Day 4 -- Thursday, January 08: Just one mandarin cup.
Day 5 -- Friday, January 09: Just one mandarin cup. The oranges are sweet enough to feel like a dessert, but tangy enough to be a strong taste so I don't want more. I have dreams of stashing mandarin cups and spoons in my work bag, office desk, weekend purse, glove compartment, etc. so I am always prepared to resist worse sweets.
PAUSE DAY -- Saturday, January 10: This was a planned pause day, and I don't feel too bad about it.
Day 6 -- Sunday, January 11: Just one mandarin cup. Not bad for a weekend road trip, which is usually stressful enough to trigger tons of eating sweets.
For this current challenge, I am going to eat just one little cup of mandarin oranges after a meal as my sweet dessert instead of chocolate. If I break down and insist on having chocolate instead of mandarin oranges, that will be ok, but I can still only have one piece. Three skip days permitted.
Day 1 -- Monday, January 05: Just one mandarin cup.
Day 2 -- Tuesday, January 06: Just one mandarin cup.
Day 3 -- Wednesday, January 07: Just one mandarin cup.
Day 4 -- Thursday, January 08: Just one mandarin cup.
Day 5 -- Friday, January 09: Just one mandarin cup.
PAUSE DAY -- Saturday, January 10: This was a planned pause day, and I don't feel too bad about it.
Day 6 -- Sunday, January 11: Just one mandarin cup.
Day 7 -- Monday, January 12: Just one mandarin cup. Terrible food choices for main dishes, but trying to change too much at once has never worked for me, so right now I'm just focused on limiting the amount and nature of my sweets intake.
Day 8 -- Tuesday, January 13: Just one mandarin cup. I am already fantasizing about what I am going to eat on my pause day this coming weekend. But the victory is that I'm not eating it today.
Day 1 -- Monday, January 05: Just one mandarin cup.
Day 2 -- Tuesday, January 06: Just one mandarin cup.
Day 3 -- Wednesday, January 07: Just one mandarin cup.
Day 4 -- Thursday, January 08: Just one mandarin cup.
Day 5 -- Friday, January 09: Just one mandarin cup.
PAUSE DAY -- Saturday, January 10: This was a planned pause day, and I don't feel too bad about it.
Day 6 -- Sunday, January 11: Just one mandarin cup.
Day 7 -- Monday, January 12: Just one mandarin cup. Terrible food choices for main dishes, but trying to change too much at once has never worked for me, so right now I'm just focused on limiting the amount and nature of my sweets intake.
Day 8 -- Tuesday, January 13: Just one mandarin cup. I am already fantasizing about what I am going to eat on my pause day this coming weekend. But the victory is that I'm not eating it today.
Day 9 -- Wednesday, January 14: But for the mandarin cup, I would have eaten two or three chocolate truffles. I am claiming that as a little win.
Day 10 -- Thursday, January 15: Just one
Day 11 --Friday, January 16: Just one
PAUSE DAY -- Saturday, January 17: Another planned pause. It felt good to do it on a planned day, not because I couldn't resist.
Day 12 -- Sunday, January 18: Just one
Day 14 -- Tuesday, January 20: Just one
PAUSE DAY -- Wednesday, January 21. Oh ****. Some well-meaning person left me the gift of a doughnut, and instead of figuring out who I could pass it along to or (gaaaah) throwing it away, I ate it. To add insult to injury, I then went home and ate a nearly tasteless, chemical-laden pair of Little Debbie cakes. I am sad and upset on a few levels, including worrying that I have now used up all my pause days. And that I spent the last one so, so unwisely. Bad day.
Day 15 -- Thursday, January 22: Just one. Back on the horse, making better choices.
Day 16 -- Friday, January 23: Just one. I am flat-out scared about tomorrow. Saturday was supposed to be my planned skip day, but I burned my last skip day on Wednesday. Tomorrow will really determine if I make it to the end of this challenge or not.
Day 17 -- Saturday, January 24: I did it! I did it! I vanquished the restaurant lunch without breaking my challenge! Only four more days to go with no pauses allowed. I am pumped to do this, a small victory is in my sights.
Day 18 -- Sunday, January 25: Sunday turned out to be as challenging as Saturday, but also just as successful. The only reason I did not eat sweets -- and sweets in abundance -- was because I could not bear to fail my challenge four days from beating it. I feel pleased with myself about this choice.
Day 19 -- Monday, January 26: Just one.
Day 20 -- Tuesday, January 27: Just one. Tomorrow is the big day when I will either win this challenge or fail at the eleventh hour. I want to win and I am resolved to make it through.
I blew it. I blew it on the last day of the challenge. Today was especially stressful, so I literally did not even think about my challenge when I went to the final meeting of the day that included finger foods and desserts. I just automatically added to my plate two different desserts and was given a third. It was so unthinking I didn't even realize I'd ruined the challenge until I got home. Stress eating is awful. Stress is awful.
Dr Geri, So good to find you here as I am in need of 21 days of no p.m. snacking. I am sorry to hear of your automatic meeting eating . Considering the long break from being a mindful eater, I think you did super to only have a total of 4 pause days. My son went to college this past fall and I gained his freshman 10, not funny. I was 152 in summer then suddenly 162. This month I managed to get myself back to 158 so at least I'm in the right direction. One of my worst habits is snacking and yes, you probably remember p.m. snacking. So I will be checking back and am hoping you will want to continue with another 21 day challenge.
Ok, let's do this. Tomorrow is a new day. Mandarin cup instead of sweets. I will take three deep breaths before putting anything in my mouth in the hopes of snapping out of mindlessness. Three pause days. I'm going to make it this time. Thanks for coming back to this thread so we can support each other, Diana.
. Considering the long break from being a mindful eater, I think you did super to only have a total of 4 pause days. My son went to college this past fall and I gained his freshman 10, not funny. I was 152 in summer then suddenly 162. This month I managed to get myself back to 158 so at least I'm in the right direction. One of my worst habits is snacking and yes, you probably remember p.m. snacking. So I will be checking back and am hoping you will want to continue with another 21 day challenge.
