I know weight fluctuates by the minute, but on a particular minute of this very morning I weighed 196. This makes me happy, but not as happy as I will be when I see the number 189. That will mean a mental BOOST, a ME Reward, and I can not wait!
I went to the gym this morning even though I didn't really want to. I ran 2.5 miles on the indoor track and my knee is a little mad at me for doing it. The sidewalks are icy and I just couldn't bear the treadmill so track it was. I should have added some weights as well, but time was not on my side and I had to teach swim class.
When I got home I wanted to eat. I wanted to eat this morning too, and I'm trying to decide if it's PMS or if there is something else that is causing me to be RAVENOUS. I hope it's the PMS, because I can deal with a few days -- anything more and I will cave. I grabbed chips, but took a few out of the bag and closed it. I made a turkey wrap with mustard and lettuce and NOW I FEEL MUCH BETTER.
It's hard to reign in the EATING MONSTER. REALLY HARD. It has nothing to do with willpower, nothing to do with "finding other activities to occupy your time". I always hated that WW strategy session of trying to find things to do when you wanted to eat. I don't know how others feel about it, but I find that I am practically in a trance. I am NOT thinking. I am not rational. I am hell bent on eating. SO the question is HOW TO STOP THE MONSTER? Today what I asked myself was WHAT DO YOU WANT? I wanted chips. I took some chips and closed the bag. I ate the chips, regained sanity and made a healthy lunch.
I think what makes binges linger for me is trying to avoid what I want and never feeling satisfied. Honestly I have eaten a whole box of 100-calorie pack cookies rather than taking a scoop of the icecream that I really wanted (and eventually had in the end). We'll see if my new approach continues to work. 7 pounds to GOAL 1.
2 comments:
hi! i can totally relate! a week ago i invited a friend over for dinner. i made a nice ww pasta dinner and he said he was bringing dessert. i asked for reduced fat yogurt instead of ice cream, and he brought a big tub of chocolate. well, we each had a little bowl after dinner and i couldn't be more excited to see him go...because sure enough, the second he walked out the door, i ran to the freezer, whipped it out, and finished the dang thing off! haha! sometimes you just have to give in to the question of "WHAT DO YOU WANT?" - and just GET IT!
Three things have helped me turn the eating monster on its head:
1) Sometimes when I think I want a fattening food, it's because I have seen (or seen an ad for, or heard about, or heard someone eating) that fattening food. It's a biological urge to eat high-calorie things when we know they are present; it comes from the time when people lived in more periods of famine than feast. Your body wants you to store up fat. "Eat it! You might not get any later if you don't!" I learned this trick from a study (or developed it from a study about similar things): I remind myself of everywhere around me that all the fattening foods lie, including that food. I reassure myself that there is plenty of food around. It sounds like it would make me good mad with desire, but it doesn't. Usually, it calms the beast.
2) Sometimes when I get that urge to eat something (as I just wrote about in a post), what I really want is something else, and it masquerades as a desire for a particular food. I may want comfort, or sleep, or something to occupy my mind. Keeping myself busy or doing a random activity won't shut that off, but taking the time to go get what it is I am really wanting will shut off the urge to eat.
3) I find that offering myself compassion helps a lot. When I get that strong urge to eat something unhealthy, there can be a screaming match inside me between the part of me that says, "Eat it!" and the part of me that says, "Why are you thinking of this food? Can't you let it go already? Don't eat it!" I can shut down that argument by offering myself compassion and saying to myself, "Wow, Sal, you really are confused about what you want right now. You just ate lunch, so it's not actually food. I'm sorry you're confused, but let's try to consider what you really need."
Of course, when a craving is an actual craving for a food and isn't any of those situations, it can be good to just eat a moderate portion. Abstaining entirely, as you know, can just make you give in and binge on stuff later.
Sally
http://aprovechar.danandsally.com
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