After I wrote the last post, I really had it out with myself. What was my problem? Why was I almost purposely derailing myself, lapsing into the old habits that I don’t really like?
I’m still not sure of the answers to those questions. But I decided not to think about it too much. Instead, a better tactic for me is to just DO what I should do, rather than try to over-analyze. And in this case, doing the right thing is simply AVOIDING the foods that derail me.
It’s actually pretty simple. If I quit having cake every afternoon (like I’d gotten into the habit of doing after my birthday, when I’d carefully sliced and froze the rest of my delicious birthday cake), I’ll soon quit craving cake. The first couple of afternoons were a little rough, as I thought about how there was cake in the freezer and how easy it’d be to have some. But after the third day, I didn’t even really think about it any more.
Same with the garlic bread and wine. Quite honestly, after the last time, when I gave myself tremendous heartburn and a 3-pound gain, I wasn’t so keen on the idea. Even so, though, I did start obsessing about it in the evening, as we were watching TV Monday night. But then I decided to just push through those obsessive cravings. I forced myself to remember how miserable I was in the middle of the night…and how much I hated seeing the scale numbers creeping up. That 165-pound range does almost put me into a different size range, and I really, REALLY do not want to “outgrow” my new clothes, particularly my new swimsuits.
This morning when I weighed in, I was back down to 161.5. What a relief.
I’ve been running on the treadmill lately, mostly because the intensity seems to help my weight loss more than the other exercises do. I’ve worked my way into being able to run at a level 6.2 (which is a 9:40 mile on my particular treadmill) for 10 minutes straight. After a quick 30-second break of brisk walking, so I can swig some water, I put the speed back up and run another mile. It feels like such an achievement.
Since recording my food choices did seem to help me and keep me honest, I thought I’d do that again. Here is what I ate today (calories are in parentheses):
South Beach bar (140); yogurt (100); grapefruit (140); broccoli (100); Slim-Fast Optima shake (190); green beans (100); Lean Cuisine Teriyaki Steak bowl (270); milk (90); prunes (160).
Total: 1,290.