Today's reading from 100 Day of Weight Loss is about monitoring your portion sizes. One suggestion is to picture the size of a portion you would usually eat and then take half of that. This kind of goes along with what I was posted earlier about asking for a doggie bag to be brought when my meal is served in a restaurant. The chapter goes on to offer other suggestions for limiting your portion size. One is telling yourself you will not go back for seconds. Of course this doesn't mean loading your plate with double the amount in the first place. Another suggestion is to decide in advance how much you are going to eat. This is actually a very powerful tool. I've used it successfully at wedding receptions and family gatherings. It's all about reclaiming your own power and not letting anything - food or people - to derail your efforts.
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The Beck Diet Solution reading for today deals with mindset techniques for dealing with cravings. I loved this chapter because it give me something to "do" rather than something not to do. I don't know if that makes sense. I might have written about it yesterday. How it's easier to do something than to refrain from doing something. If I'm not supposed to eat at night, then I need something to fill that gap. When I quit smoking 10 years ago, part of what made quitting so hard was the fact that I didn't know how to make a substitute for whatever it was that smoking did for me. In my smoking days, I could combat compulsive overeating by periods of eating less, and smoking was an important tool in that arsenal. When I quit smoking I lost my "crutch." A cigarette was the period on the end of a meal. It signaled that it was time to stop eating. It was something to look forward to when the food was gone. Only a smoker could understand this, I suspect.
Monday I institute my food plan. I will have 21 days straight of working out to my credit. 21 smiley faces on the calendar that Nicola gave me for Christmas. Exercise is now a habit. Not working out is not an option. Today I was excited about a project. I was tempted to skip the workout, but I knew how great I would feel afterward, and how disappointed in myself I would be if I didn't work out. I got on the treadmill for 20 minutes. It's not the length, it's the consistency. I'm glad that I didn't skip the treadmill today because later I was feeling bad about how I look. I am so tired of trying not to catch glimpses of myself in mirrors. I'm tired of not having things fit right. I'm tired of not ever feeling like I look nice.
So, Monday starts the food plan. For 21 days I will commit to following it. I will start with a 2000 calorie plan divided into 4 meals. (blood sugar, remember?) I have a nutritional tracker. There will be no rules about what I can and cannot eat (within reason) but my food has to fit within the 2000 calorie framework. After 21 days I will fine tune my food choices but for now it is important for me to contain my eating to 4 times a day and to know that I am accountable here.
When I'm on the treadmill, I have a routine. Today I set the incline to 4, the speed to 3, and read for the whole 20 minutes. There is another book that I am reading in conjunction with the 100 Days and the Beck Diet Solution. I'll write more on that book later.
Your food plan sounds very wise and healthy. May it do well for you ! And you are wise to take it one step at a time. Some people do better with an aggressive all at once approach but more do best with gradually easing in of the life long habits. You are doing very well !
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