Postby LadyMaverick » Fri Mar 02, 2018 9:51 am
Harriet - thank you for this monthly thread! You are a wonderful encourager for us to take good care of our health & fitness.
My first of the month check-in.
Day #44 No sugar, no flour.
Day #32 No artificial sweetener and no corn.
Day #21 Toolbox used
Day #14 No instant potatoes
Day #10 Exceeding sleep goal (6 hrs)
Day #8 Exceeding step goal (7K)
Day #6 No nuts
Day #2 Freedom from overeating.
Overall I am pleased with my progress in February. Although, I have MANY areas to work on and improve I feel like I am heading in the right direction.
My biggest struggle is still overeating. This is a complex issue that doesn't have a single solution. There is a physical side and a spiritual side. The physical side is fairly cut/dried. When I eat certain foods then it causes me to crave more and more. The solution is to eliminate eating them because if I restrict myself and try to eat just a little bit, then I'm in constant negotiation with myself with how much and when I can get my next fix. Or I'll just eat something else to make up for not being able to eat as much as I desire. For me - 1 bite is too much and 1000 bites aren't enough of these trigger foods. To eliminate the insane physical cravings it is simpler to just eliminate the trigger foods. I am learning what my trigger foods are and the DANGER signal goes off in my brain now when I think about them. I don't want to eat them because I know what they will do to me. I am enjoying a peaceful & calm feeling as I learn what will set off these physical cravings. Once I remove them from my eating plan and get over the initial withdraw, then the desire to eat them goes away.
But the issue I am working on the most now is the other part of the problem. I have discovered that this is a spiritual problem more than a physical one. I realize that might sound totally wacko but I have come to realize it is the truth for me. I am seeing progress in my understanding which is encouraging. I am trying to hang on to my patience and not get frustrated that it isn't happening NOW. On the positive side, I am not hiding my overeating but logging them. My binges now are only eating too much of healthy type of food, but they are still overeating because I'm not satisfied with "enough".
I am doing the exchange system with the OA program. That means I plan to have a certain number of servings of all of the categories (protein, dairy, fat, vegetables, and fruit( each day. This ensures that I am doing a well-balanced food plan. Once I meet the exchange system categories, I am using MFP to tweak the size of the servings to meet my calorie goal (1200) because I want to know this information. This is not part of the OA program but something that I am doing for myself.
This is my food plan for today -
B:
Protein 2T Collagen
Dairy 4 oz Greek Yogurt
Grain 1/4 c Oatmeal dry
Fruit 2 oz Applesauce
1 oz Blueberries
L:
Protein 2 HB eggs
Fat 1 T butter
Grain 4 oz potato
Veg raw 6 oz raw veg (celery, tomato, cucumber, carrot)
Veg Cooked 6 oz cooked veg (summer squash)
D:
Protein 4 oz chicken breast
Fat 2 T sunflower kernels
Grain 3 oz pinto beans/1 oz brown rice
Veg raw 6 oz raw veg (celery, tomato, cucumber, carrot)
Veg Cooked 6 oz cooked veg = 3 oz Salsa/3 oz Artichoke hearts
MA:
Protein 8 oz organic chicken broth,
Dairy 4 oz Cottage Cheese
1. Know what you want.
2. Go after it relentlessly.