Everyday Systems

My user name is "automated eating" because I have noticed that my Dad (and many other disciplined people I know) eats pretty much the same things every day--oatmeal for breakfast; veggie burrito and churros for lunch
EVERY WEEKDAY his diet is really similar to every other weekday. Growing up, Saturday nights we always ate ice cream and watched Lawrence Welk. He is just as disciplined about working out, but I won't go into too many details. After all, this post is about me, right?
So, I really believe that a winning plan for me is to automate my own eating and (eventually) my exercise. I go back to work Sept. 13th (I am a teacher) and so things are still a bit random, but I'll be looking for automatic breakfasts and lunches, then whatever my husband or I make for dinner.
Struggles for me are mindless eating.....and emotional eating! I've only noticed this in the past year or so. If I get mad, I walk over to the counter and will eat any junk that may be there. Sometimes I won't even really taste the food and suddenly realize what I've just done!!
I work full-time as a teacher during the school year, my husband also teaches; we have two boys (7 and 4), and I also somehow fit in homeschooling our 7 year old. So we're busy.
I was extremely athletic and busy in competitive sports until college. I didn't gain weight until I had kids though. Before my first child, I was 115. I think my weight gain is due to a variety of factors: 1. stopped walking every day (our dog died); 2. HIGH stress when my husband went back to grad school when our firstborn was still a baby; and 3. Degenerating into more and more disordered eating with our busy schedules.
So, I am tinkering with the idea of walking to/from work this year to add back in exercise; and obviously I have chosen the No S diet as a way of regaining some routine to my eating.
Thanks for listening. I wouldn't be posting here if I didn't truly feel that using these message boards will give me a greater likelihood of habituating my eating. BTW, I am using my home calendar and RED, GREEN and ORANGE markers to visualize my journey (rather than habitcal). One full week green!
:

One full week green -- congrats and welcome! You'll find this community very supportive. I think you might especially like the sticky on intelligent dietary defaults -- it is exactly what you describe as "automated eating." Best wishes!

Welcome, and congrats on a full week of green!

Welcome and congratulations on your first week's success!

I came back to read your post in order to respond to Skelton's post. I realized that I've been doing essentially the same thing since before I started No-S.

My plan is as follows:

Breakfast (if I eat breakfast): toast, fruit, maybe an egg OR oatmeal and fruit
Lunch: soup, bread, fruit
Dinner: whatever I decide to make

I think a routine like this works because not only does it eliminate deciding what to eat, it limits variety.

wosnes wrote:Welcome and congratulations on your first week's success!

I came back to read your post in order to respond to Skelton's post. I realized that I've been doing essentially the same thing since before I started No-S.

My plan is as follows:

Breakfast (if I eat breakfast): toast, fruit, maybe an egg OR oatmeal and fruit
Lunch: soup, bread, fruit
Dinner: whatever I decide to make

I think a routine like this works because not only does it eliminate deciding what to eat, it limits variety.

Your plan is awesome! I'm going to implement a variation of it based on what I like.

Hi Automatedeating,
Love your story about your dad! Mine is the same. Good luck with implementing it.

Keep up with us. I like more variety, but my meals are very similar in their ratios.

The French eat pretty much the same breakfast every day, and I'm pretty sure their meals are pretty similar in the courses, if not the content of those courses.

Once you get a sense of what the meals are made of, it's a lot easier to shop and keep those building blocks on hand.