Everyday Systems

Day 18 and I had to look into the mirror and ask myself "who's kidding who?'.

I have alot of green on my Habitcal (except Mondays) but I don't feel successful. As a matter of fact I started to feel like I've found yet another way to fail at a diet.

I've got the 3 meals a day down (no snacks/no sweets/no seconds). I'm walking every day. So what's up? Why do I feel like I am getting the opposite results of what I want (which by the way is to feel better and have more engery)?

So I took a look into the mirror and myself said to me "who's kidding who?".

I found the answer on my plate...too much food (big sigh here)! Not just too much food but not great choices either (oh no not again).

Now I have to go home and bake cookies, cakes and donuts for a church coffee hour. I may have to use tape to keep my mouth closed

I am determined to re-group and keep a closer eye on my plate. Maybe if I use one eye I'll eat less. Wish me luck

Buffalo Gal

*HUGS*

I'm sorry you seem a little frustrated - at the moment.

I'm throwing this out there and maybe it doesn't apply to you. Could you be overthinking it all? I mention that because it's a pitfall of mine.

Buffalo Gal wrote:I found the answer on my plate...too much food (big sigh here)! Not just too much food but not great choices either (oh no not again).

And instead of throwing away all of your hard work and heading for the cookie jar you took a long, hard look at what you may be doing wrong. That sounds like a big step in the right direction to me.

Thanks! The support on this forum is priceless!

Hi. I'm in the same boat. I've *technically* done a perfect month -- three plates and nothing else -- and I know I'm putting too much on my plate, so I suspect I'm not losing. I'm not measuring yet.

However, I am gaining something -- this first month has given me a strong momentum. Three meals and nothing else. That, for me, is a big win. Another week or two, and I'll start changing the types and amounts of food.

For now, though, I'm happy to have moved from uncontrolled eating to something with a bit of discipline.

Anyway, best of luck.

You aren't failing at anything. If anything you are succeding quite nicely. You've mastered not eating the Ss on N days and now you are noticing WHAT is on those plates. You've made it to the next level. Now pick which is more important and more livable for you, the quantity or the quality of what is on you plate and start to make it look more like what you want it to look like. When you've mastered that you can move on to the other.

Congratulations.

(That all said, don't tweak, make healthy choices, but don't tweak)

I think that what is happening here maybe is that we are wanting instant sucess which is a big part of our culture so very normal. If we go by the 1/2 lb weight loss per week that you're expected to lose then it's very possible that you've lost a couple of lbs from this but can't really notice any difference yet.

Now you could get really frustrated and say forget it "it's not working" and go back to the I'm guessing not so satisfying way you were eating before OR you could continue what you're doing. Give yourself a lot of credit for creating a habit. And in um maybe 6 months have lost 10-12 lbs in a very satisfying simple manner.

I understand you wanting to try to cut portions down and focus on eating different foods but my concern is this will soon become tiresome and backfire on you big time.

I've also been doing this for about 3 weeks. I've been perfect and also upped my walking yet my clothes fit mostly the same. My tummy has gone down a bit and even more incredibly I'm not obsessing about what to eat, when to eat it how much to eat ect.... constantly. For a moment i too was having that disappointing feeling of not getting results fast enough till I thought realistically and decided my goal is to lose 50 lbs w/in the next 2 years. I think that is doable even if I don't change a single thing or amount I eat on my plates. Perhaps when I get down to the last 10-15 lbs I may to do a little streamlining here or there but I'll cross that bridge when it gets here.

In two years I'll be two years older no matter what right? I could either be eating in a very satisfying calming way and 40-50 lbs lighter or I could be the same weight I am now and miserable about how I'm eating. So in that light the choice seems simple. And frankly, even if I were to lose no weight I'd still choose to eat this way because my compulsion and constant obession around food WAS truly making me miserable. So I see this almost as something I have to do for myself absolutely. It's not some fad diet that I can jump on and off of as I please.

Sorry to be longwinded but just really want you to think about this before dumping the whole thing.

Linda

Buffalo Gal wrote:I've got the 3 meals a day down (no snacks/no sweets/no seconds). I'm walking every day.

I found the answer on my plate...too much food (big sigh here)! Not just too much food but not great choices either (oh no not again).

Now I have to go home and bake cookies, cakes and donuts for a church coffee hour. I may have to use tape to keep my mouth closed

I am determined to re-group and keep a closer eye on my plate. Maybe if I use one eye I'll eat less. Wish me luck

Buffalo Gal

First...woo hoo on staying on habit AND walking daily. That is GREAT!

Second...Reinhard says don't worry about making the plates too generous at first...just keep sticking on habit, and you will begin to start listening to your body, and how much food it needs.

Third...go buy something for the church coffee hour. Much easier to stay away from it if you don't need to smell it baking!

And I like lmt2pt's advice, "That all said, don't tweak, make healthy choices, but don't tweak."

I loved drswife's post, too, as well as everyone else's!

You are all so right and thanks again for the support! Usually this is where I would convince myself I cannot do this...it's too great of a challenge! So last night I went back to the book and refreshed my memory. This IS a simple and effective plan for a life long solution to bad eating habits. In the past I never told anyone I was on a diet. I never looked for support. That never worked which is why it's so great to have all of you!


Crazy Cat Lady

I am going to take your advice and let the local bakery do the baking for me. The church coffee drinkers will never know the difference

I too wrote just earlier in the week about gaining and I felt I was following the rules. But a good hard look revealed that I wasn't take two plates but the amount on my plate could of equalled two plates. So I have been working hard on keeping sensible portions and really paying attention to that.

It is all a work in progress.

You are doing wonderful and keep up the good work.

That's where the "gentle pressure on the eyes" Reinhard talks about comes in.

It's cool how that works.

I don't think you're failing- you're succeeding because you took an honest look at your plating and realized it's too much. It takes a long time to get over that feeling of deprivation, I think.

I ended up switching from our regular 13" plates to 9" salad plates. Now regular portions look like plenty and over plating just makes it look ridicuolous LOL.

Keep keeping on, Buffalo Gal. I read once on someone's siggy:

"A lot happens between "it fell" and "I dropped it."

You're doing really well so far, building that habit and exercising!

Now it's time to figure out the quantities of food on your plate, start experimenting with how much you really need to feel satisfied.

I had this week one day where I had three meals, but all huge and fairly unhealthy with lots of fat. On one hand I was glad that it didn't count as a failure, on the other hand it did not feel like a success either.

But that's all part of the learning process. Just keep going!

Progression not Perfection!!

It takes a while to stop seeing your body as enemy territory.... never losing fast enough or responding exactly as you'd hoped ! You are doing great things for yourself and your body will follow. Take a look at a 1 lb. package of butter, even 1/4 of that amount is a lot of fat to expect your body to break down and flush out of it's system in one week! Rome wasn't built in a day. Be patient with yourself and your body.

I admire you and everyone else on these boards who is willing to make this journey.

Kathleen

I was thinking about you on my ride into work and all day yesterday and I couldn't think of anything to say that's helpful except just to keep on trying and try to think positive.



. . . And read all the other helpful advice, since I don't have any!

Nice to know someone is thinking about you and trying to find the right words to show their support.

FYI to all who have read or responded, I feel much better today. This is going to be a green day for sure!

Buffalo Gal

As others have pointed out, it's GREAT that you're no longer fooling yourself about excess. The scale might not show it yet, but this is huge progress!

You have good "mealing" habits down, and you see that your plates are excessive. The sight of this excess bothers you. This isn't a problem, this is great. I doubt much more will be required in the way of further heroics -- staying the course is probably all the conscious, systematic effort you'll need. Keep forcing yourself to confront and be bothered by excess as you've been doing and it will gradually go away.

Best wishes and keep us posted,

Reinhard[/i]

I had my first Green Monday since I started. So it looks like a broke another bad habit and replaced it with a good one.

After my frustration last week I made a little deal with myself. If I was going to load food onto my plate I was going to have to begin with fruits, then veggies, then protein and if I had any room left....starches. For the sake of honesty I always have some room left for potatoes or rice or pasta.

The fact that I can eat the starches is one of the reasons I am still here. If I was not allowed potatoes I would quit after a week.

Like Reinhard says beats don't make you fat...eating too much makes you fat!

Thanks again for all of the support

Buffalo Gal

Of course I meant beets not beats!

I'm in the same boat. I think there are lots of us in there with you.

I need to plate my food as if there were always others there eating with me. Since we work at different times here at home, we rarely all sit down together for a meal. Right now I LOAD (and I mean overload) my plate if I'm eating alone. What a silly game. I'm smarter than this!

Thanks for removing more of the blinders.

Resting

Buffalo Gal,

CONGRATULATIONS on your GREEN MONDAY!

I find Monday's tough as well,

Blueskighs

Way too go Buffalo Gal!!!!!!!!!!! I'm so glad that your Monday was Green

Great job Buffalo Gal,
Mondays can be a struggle.

Jamie

In my horoscope today Jonathan Cainer said "Don't expect to go straight from blending the ingredients to icing the cake." How did he know