I did well to do with my two Small Steps of eating only in my places for eating and eating only food that serves me well. So, I'm feeling ready to add a third Small Step of eating four or five distinct times a day (three meals and one or two snacks). It's time to stop the grazing!
So here are the three practices I'm focusing on right now:
Monday - Congrats to Britain for winning Wimbledon
Diet Coaches/Buddies Walked before it got so hot, CREDIT moi. Each time I went out I produced enough sweat to allow me to believe that I was working hard.
Eating was good enough, CREDIT moi. I converted the refreshments at the opening for an art exhibit into lunch and avoided the worst of the sweets being offered. One benefit of the heat is that I'm not drawn toward the tree nuts that call me so loudly on cold days.
onebyone Kudos for "no several times to sugary candy-like things" - sugar is so seductive.
Joy (gardenerjoy) Cheers for "It's time to stop the grazing!" I fought off a desire for a snack by the old trick of observing that it was only one hour till the next planned food. One hour isn't difficult.
nationalparker Yay for a three mile hike with your dog. Neat that you're preparing yourself physically for vacation.
Readers -
Quote:
day 4Give Yourself Credit
How and When to Give Yourself Credit
Giving yourself credit can take the form of a word or brief phrase that you say silently to yourself, such as:
Okay!
That was good.
Great!
Good Going!
That deserves credit.
Yes!
I did it!
Judith S. Beck, Ph.D., The Beck Diet Solution (Pink book), pg 74.
Good morning! My 4th went well but then I just slumped. I still kept track of everything I ate, but I have been maintenance-high all weekend, eating more than I planned and then adding extra stuff. Because it tasted good. Because I was hungry. Because why not? My resistance muscle is weak...I am choosing to be weak!
Thinking about it, I am wondering if the higher cravings are tied to the sugar-free ice pops I have been eating daily for the past week or so...
Spontaneous trip to Six Flags with DH, DS and cousins. Food was way out of ordinary for me. I NEVER eat fried stuff—don't like it. But yesterday I had a few onion rings and most of a burger. Credit for not jumping into my thing which is sweets. Credit for walking the extra mile to the parking lot both ways instead of the tram.
First weigh in since June! Only two pounds above ticker which I am very pleased with after two weeks of vacation and a cross country flight. Today and tomorrow are my two 700 hundred calorie days. I feel confident I can get back to ticker by the end of the week.
nationalparker: love the dollar/credit idea. Glad you are back walking.
onebyone: swimming sounds great. Hope you get there.
BBE: Our last day in Boston was a sweating-fest. Makes me appreciate California which was a cool 69 degrees this morning.
gardenerjoy: I am contemplating your " eating places" and wondering if that would work for me.
Back to the quarry, today (Fred Flintstone-speak; not sure why...) But anyway, starting another week out and have done okay so far through breakfast and lunch. Took our dog in to the vet and found she has bladder stones, and has surgery now scheduled. This is a financial hit for both today's appt. with xrays, meds, etc., and for the surgery. Will run through it all with DH tonight; he was sleeping from working all night when I finally got back home.
I stress-ate my dry cereal at my desk this morning... It was nearly gone before I realized it. I wasn't "present" but rather let my mind wander.
Hopefully this evening includes a trail walk with DH if not storming. if it is, I'm committing to getting on the treadmill. Oh, please let it not be storming. Funny - the treadmill used to be my routine, in addition to walks at lunch, hiking, etc., I didn't use it much for my weight loss goals, but rather just for fitness and toning.
Dinner will be turkey italian sausages grilled and spinach salad ... and watermelon. Gotta cut that beast.
Bill - Have you seen the trailer/preview for Still Mine? Looks interesting. I want to also see Unfinished Song. While I'm still in my 40s, I'm loving that movies are offering good roles for some seasoned veterans and everyone isn't 25 and have the same hair/teeth/chest.
I had to look back .my last post was Friday morning .it seems like longer. I tried after work last eve but no internet.
I have been 99% op since my last post. I am finding myself more comfortable with smaller portions and I've been consistent with my at home exercises. credit.
BBE, interesting that the tree nuts don't call to you when it's hot. Credit, anyway, for not eating any..BTW-I tested picking at the chicken while sitting down and it worked quite well. lol
gardenerjoy, thanks for sharing your get back on track process with us. Small and specific steps seem to be working quite well. credit.
nationalparker, sorry to hear about your pup. I hope surgery goes well. Sorry, too, for mindless eating. How about a sticky note on your cereal? Something that reminds you to think before you start?
MaryAnn, credit for acknowledging a success at 6flags...not eating sweets even though you had a few onion rings. In my experience, the sweets are the big trigger.
sparks, SF stuff does seem to cause cravings for some. Good idea that you've thought about it!
onebyone, credit for all your exercise even though it has been hard and taxing. Probably one of my greatest weightloss joys has been leaving that "baggage" behind.
silverbirch, Yes, shakiness is when hunger is an emergency. credit for taking care of yourself.
Beth(from Dayton), kudos on your continued success with monitoring your food during the anticiipated weekend.
I followed my three Small Steps, but I need to add a fourth right away -- no seconds and no inventing extra courses. A big reminder that hunger is not an emergency might help here -- hunger that I fear I might possibly have in a few hours if I don't eat more now is really not an emergency!
So these are the four Small Steps I intend to follow tomorrow:
maryann - credit for a great post-vacation weight!
nationalparker - why do you keep cereal in your desk?
Lexxiss - credit for consistency!!!
Beth - hope you had a great vacation!
gardenerjoy - I like your list of rules very much.
Well, I had a great day yesterday. Lower calorie range, plenty of fresh veg, good amount of carbs, exercise and went out walking twice....I felt very in control. Credit!
I still had two of the sf ice pops and I did not have any cravings. I honestly felt a little woe-is-me after having to control myself so much on the 4th and so I tried to treat myself over the weekend as much as I could without going overboard but I was on the extreme edge the whole time!. I am up to Day 30 - Stay in Control when Eating Out and there is a great sections on changing my mindset on special events. I really do feel entitled to celebrate and I do not like not treating myself when I feel festive. I will be working through the list of sabotaging thought for a few days.
Diet Coaches/Buddies One neat part about this hot weather is leaving the house without thinking about an extra shirt or jacket. Neat until we stepped out of the car and it had started raining. Ouch - neither DW nor I had expected that and had not a single umbrella between us. We observed that it was still hot enough that getting wet would evaporate quickly, so walked away from the car for our short two mile path, CREDIT moi. We won! The rain stopped within a minute, the local world was cooled down a bit. We were rewarded with six Cormorants perched on a dead tree for the evening and two baby Tree Swallows clinging tightly to a branch.
Food was on plan, CREDIT moi. Dinner was the last of the pasta salad and deviled eggs from the Fourth of July, eaten on the patio. Cold leftovers means little clean up; every meal should be left overs. I'll have a banana with breakfast this morning only because I took an emergency walk yesterday to replenish our supply. Being out of bananas is an emergency.
Joy (gardenerjoy) It's neat to be sharing your construction of the fundamentals of sane eating.
Debbie (Lexxiss) 99% OP is true Kudos worthy stuff. [Kindly post a YouTube video of picking a chicken sitting down - I'm not a believer, LOL.]
maryann - Sending supportive thoughts to those of you who regularly fly into the San Francisco airport and have to process the recent crash on a more personal level than the rest of us. Yep, Kudos for avoiding the sweets at Six Flags.
nationalparker Ouch for the vet news with your dog - hope it all works out. [I watched the Still Mine trailer and think I'd like to see it since I've had issues with zoning boards. And I'd like to see how one man alone can lift those rafters. Unfinished Song didn't grab me - I've known miserable old men and they died that way.]
Beth (bethFromDayton) Welcome back from your eat-a-rama vacation. May you find your groove.
sparks17 The punch line of the Beck quote for the next couple of days is that it's important to give ourselves credit for our partial successes. So, Kudos for "I still kept track of everything I ate" even when feeling weak. For me, sweet hits are a trigger whether sugar free or not.
Readers -
Quote:
day 4Give Yourself Credit
it's all in your mind
Giving yourself credit just takes a moment, but it's essential in your weight loss efforts. To understand the importance of giving credit, consider these scenarios: Scenario 1
Sue is at a restaurant for a large family reunion. She sees bread - which is many dieters' downfall - on the table as soon as she sits down, but tells herself, I'm not going to eat it ... I can wait for my meal to come. She tries to resist the bread, but her dining companions each take a slice, remark how delicious it tastes, and keep passing the basket. Finally, she reaches in for a piece and eats it. Then she tells herself, I can't believe I was so weak ... I have no willpower whatsoever. She gives up, proceeds to eat another slice, and then overeats for the rest of the evening.
Judith S. Beck, Ph.D., The Beck Diet Solution (Pink book), pg 75.
Hello! Off to a decent start this morning. Looks like storms are on their way here. Dark skies.
On the cereal front, I had measured myself a cup of it for breakfast and took the baggie in to work with me, but wasn't hungry so felt I shouldn't have been eating it since it was stress-based vs. hunger-based eating. But it worked into the plan, so was okay in "theory" but ...
Stayed on plan last night and DH and I wrapped up the night with a good trail walk with the dog, who didn't seem to be too down. A third $1 went into the jar when I remembered this morning. Credit.
Found an old computer "journal" and I read how completely stressed at how out of control I was with my eating when DH and I got together - and was at 153. Hm. Sure as heck wish I'd have gotten control THEN.
Subway (I hope) lunch with a coworker today; and another lunch scheduled for tomorrow. NO CHIPS is my motto. Even baked chips=No. Need to save the extras for dinner - bruschetta and linguini.
I sure wish i'd have hit this more focused at 153, instead of let it climb. Phooey.
Yesterday OP and I am very grateful. DS and I have started again with the chore calendar. He picked dusting the blinds and left me with cleaning the door knobs and the light switches. We both changed bedding.
Making big plans to economize these next ten days to offset cost of our wonderful vacation. I am thinking of it as a fun challenge. I have about ten bucks in cash, a full frig, a full tank of gas, access to a pool, and a trip to the library planned with DS. Will that get us thru the weekend? Stay tuned.
Weight one pound from ticker.
Sparks: "Entitled to celebrate" really resonated with me. For me, the overeating eating is also "a vacation" from responsibility and pain. In many cases it is also an act of rebellion from the dark days of childhood when my slim parents told me I couldn't eat something.
BBE: Currently I am on a "banana a day" plan. This is a habit that unfortunatley condemns me to going to the store every four or five days because they go brown. I want to shop every two weeks!
Lexxiss: Credit for getting back to posting and 99% OP. That is a big deal.
nationalparker: Glad you got to walk with your hubby. May I ask what kind of work he does that keeps him up all night? It is my idea of a nightmare. I work best on about nine hours of sleep a night.
Maryann - DH works for a printer, so he alternates between working days and nights every two weeks. Very hard for his body to adjust.
Reread that journal I found and feel bad all over that I didn't "catch" myself sooner. I am kicking myself today. Not productive, I know. And discouraging to see that I have failed to achieve this goal for way too long.
Goal for tonight = get on treadmill for only one mile (more is fine), and pull out yoga mat for some floorwork. It's raining and we probably won't get out on the trail if stormy. Have many chores lined up but an hour for mental relief is needed. Sorry for the quick report back. But that kept me accountable.
Credit for following all four if my Small Steps today. Now, I really feel back on the path of healthy eating! I'm going to stick with those four tomorrow.
Yesterday was OP. Ticker moved down 1, which is a big deal for me. Credit. I'm still focused on minimizing, both with portion size and eating very simple. The two combined seem to have the effect right now that I am far less interested in food....what I eat, when I eat. Last night was the second 1/2 of a veggie omelet (no cheese) from work with salad and high fiber toast. I didn't even heat the omelet which seemed totally "cool" during these hot summer months.
BBE, kudos for another OP day AND for remembering that being out of bananas IS an emergency. I love how we have learned to prioritize healthy foods VS...(fill in the blank) lol
gardenerjoy, yay for following your four steps and planning to do it again.
nationalparker, credit for standing down those chips at Subway!
MaryAnn, yay for 1# off ticker and a great weekend challenge! You can do it!
sparks, yay for a very in control day!
Beth(from Dayton), welcome back to the "groove"!
I'm headed over the hill this morning for 3 days of raspberry picking and pooling. I've included a small fresh berry/NSA ice cream or yogurt treat each night. The good thing about living at two different altitudes is that we'll have another raspberry crop at our higher elevation in a month or so.
Monday - Congrats to Britain for winning Wimbledon
Funny - the treadmill used to be my routine, in addition to walks at lunch, hiking, etc., I didn't use it much for my weight loss goals, but rather just for fitness and toning. 
Yes, shakiness is when hunger is an emergency. credit for taking care of yourself.
