This. I actually spend less time thinking about food when I have it all planned out. When I don't know what I'm going to eat, I spend a lot of time thinking about my options, how to fit XYZ into my day, if A is a better choice than B, and I am at risk of making an off the cuff choice for something that is unhealthy.

Planning is actually my favourite part of the whole process. I love, love, love shopping for food, buying all my vegetables and fruits and so on, and deciding what I'm going to be doing with them. I've been keeping things interesting by trying new stuff a couple of times a week, based upon what I've bought at the greengrocer, but I've got plenty of things I eat all the time, and they're already in my FitDay, so it's just a matter of slapping them into place. I usually plan a couple of days in advance, and it lets me be pretty flexible, actually, since I can just switch the meals around from day to day if I change my mind, or get up in the morning and decide I'm just really not in the mood for whatever I have planned that day. I don't find it burdensome at all, I find it freeing, since failure to plan is what got me so bloody fat in the first place.

Exactly!!! Catherine, I can't tell you how much I sense that we have very similar experiences to one another.


You see, I kinda look at it as a hobby! People have hobbies of all sorts, mine just happens to good and healthy eating. I love looking at recipes and tweaking them, finding some great ones to add to my ever expanding repertoire of fabulous healthy fare - good enough for me, my family and company alike, for each and every occasion. I love shopping in kitchen stores and finding new gadgets, containers, knives and what not to help me along this journey, I do love all my gorgeous linens, bowls, baskets, platters, candlesticks and everything to do with making my dining experience more pleasurable.

I think it is SO important to find the joy in this, to celebrate it and revel in it. Not to see the dread in it. I think that has been crucial to my success.

It is VERY important to love what you're doing, if you love what you're doing AND love the results, than how can it be a hardship? How can you look at it as anything but wonderful? At least that's how I feel better than 98% of the time. And for that other meager less than 2%, that feeling lasts a very short time as I am soon snapped back into reality and realize just how much I love everything - not only about being slim, but what it takes to get and stay there.

Yes, that's exactly it! I've been saying all along that this is a hobby. And it really is. All the things I do in pursuit of weight loss and fitness are very much like my other hobbies; I do endless planning for my garden, before I even go out there and pick up the secateurs. I look through seed catalogues, magazines, I read books on the subject, I make notes, etc. (And, interestingly enough, my gardening focus has switched from mostly ornamentals to fruits and vegetables, as I've been working on losing weight.) I like this. I enjoy this. All the time I spend planning and researching and deciding what to cook and how to exercise, etc., is time when I am <i>actively</i> engaged in getting thinner and healthier, even as I'm waiting for the number on the scale to drop again, or to finally get into the next size down. Pursuing this as an interest, a hobby, keeps me from getting bored and slacking. And in doing so much research, so much reading, so much planning, I've come to embrace it thoroughly. I know entirely too much now to go back to the lifestyle I led before.

Howdy,
I am another one who finds planning enjoyable. I have a nice luncheon at a historic hotel and a get away both on Friday with a buffet breakfast on saturday. To ensure that I enjoy these events, I have scaled back my eating this week to have more of a calorie cushion. There is nothing worse for me than to get back from a trip and be in debt- either money or calories. Planning solves both which makes it more pleasurable.

rockinrobin- I agree about beautiful dishes, setting, etc. I am also revamping my recipe repertoire. Healthy must be appealing and beautiful to be a lifetime pursuit.

Best wishes.