Weakly Habit Cal

The Great Fatsby · Post by **The Great Fatsby** » Mon Jul 13, 2009 3:11 pm

Pun intended! I have had quite a few failures in the past week, and I hate the way my habit cal looks. It's so depressing to see all the red that I'm less motivated rather than more.

So I've decided that until I get the hang of this I'm going to do weekly habit cals and hang them on my fridge. If I can start fresh every week maybe I can even go a week or two without straying from habit.... Maybe I can give myself a little gold medal for every week that is all green...

I do like No S, but I'm having a whole lot of trouble being strict. Any tips out there to get my hand out of the cookie jar???

Thalia · Post by **Thalia** » Mon Jul 13, 2009 3:56 pm

Hi, Fatsby! Love your user name.

Hmmm, tips to keep your hand out of the metaphorical cookie jar ... might be something useful for you in one of them:

Freeze the cookies! Or basically, don't stock sweets or whatever foods you're snacking on in the house. For at least a few weeks, get your treats individually on S Days -- go and pick out a single pastry from a good bakery and eat it, or visit the best ice-cream parlor in town for a gelato. Once your single-serving treat is eaten, it's gone and will not be sitting around your house to bother you on N Days. If you have homemade goodies or anything like that, stick 'em in the freezer for the next S Day, or take them to work and share.

Look back at your Habitcal reds and see when you get into trouble -- nibbling after dinner? Hungry in the afternoon? Narrow down the problem and then solve it. If you're eating after dinner, clean the kitchen, close the door, and brush your teeth right afterward -- you won't want to eat after that. If you know you get hungry in the afternoon, plan heartier lunches.

Find displacement activities for the times when you're likely to snack -- do something with your hands that isn't compatible with food, call a friend and talk on the phone, or go for a walk or a bike ride.

Plan other fun and rewards into your week that don't involve food. And make sure that your three meals are really delicious and satisfying, things you really enjoy eating.

Gut it out. Determine that you will have a green day today, and plan to make it happen -- eat your breakfast, pack your lunch, and plan your dinner ahead of time. Don't eat anything else. Then get up in the morning and do it again. Between-meal eating simply isn't an option, so don't do it. You are a strong, sensible No S Master, and you can go for the GREEN!

midtownfg · Post by **midtownfg** » Mon Jul 13, 2009 5:56 pm

I love your response, Thalia. So great. It can be hard to pinpoint the triggers that make us slip up but I think you covered all of the options. I really hope this helps you, Fatsby. You can do it. Just picture the beautiful green HabitCal. Doing weekly ones in your kitchen is a fantastic idea, too. There is no reason to see last week's red days staring at you if that isn't helping you stay motivated. You have to find what works best for you.

The Great Fatsby · Post by **The Great Fatsby** » Tue Jul 14, 2009 8:56 am

Actually, I'm going to take the granularity down even further. Since between meal snacking is really the problem, I'm going to record my sucesses three times a day, between breakfast and lunch, between lunch and dinner, and after dinner. First up is to get 21 of these little green ticks down before going for a whole week or a whole month.

I don't plan on doing this forever, you understand, just until I can buff up my almost non-existent will power muscle