Everyday Systems

Day One: July 7 - success Funny stuff -- felt like I was eating a LOT. All of my meals much larger than usual -- afraid that I would be hungry between meals.

Day Two: July 8 - success. Same funny stuff as previous day. Meals seem abnormally large.

Julie,

when I started my meals seem larged too. That being said I wasn't used to eat just three times a day AND sometimes my meals STILL seem large

WELCOME!

Blueskighs

Thank you very much for the welcome!

Yesterday was day three -- SUCCESS.

Breakfast was much more realistically sized... lunch and dinner still a little larger than usual. I try to imagine, though, what the plate would look like if it had my usual portions on there, plus whatever snacks I would normally be getting into between meals.

This was interesting. We were somewhat delayed in getting our dinner yesterday. I found myself getting really irritable. But in retrospect, the irritability came when the delay presented itself, not later on when it was actually causing me to eat later. It must be that as soon as I felt my meal was farther away, I got angry or worried.

I haven't been tracking it because it's already a deeply ingrained habit, but I do hit the treadmill every morning for at least 40 minutes. Monday and Wednesday this week (days one and three) I also biked for 30 minutes each day...

Welcome, Julie! I wish you every success, so glad to find you here.

Day 4 was yesterday - SUCCESS. Meal size is getting better, I think. Not feeling absolutely stuffed afterward, but still able to make it to the next meal (or to bedtime) without getting hungry again.

Now what to do, what to do. My birthday is tomorrow but my husband and I are going out to celebrate it tonight. My instinct here is to follow No-S up until dinner time, and then maybe splurge a little bit when we go out. In any case, I'm not tacking an entire S-Day on the front of the weekend.

Friday was Day 5, and I played it as planned... normal day up until dinner. Saturday and Sunday were day 6 and 7, S days.

I feel that I did pretty well on my S-days. I thought maybe I would go completely crazy and eat a whole pint of ice cream, or too much birthday cake, but it didn't happen that way. I think I already may be getting used to the concept of eating three square meals...

The one thing I wonder about is the two-in-a-row S-days on the weekend. That second day, it was a lot easier to throw caution to the wind, being farther removed from a good-habits day. Need to know this in case I ever wind up in a situation with 3 S-days in a row... Probably need to try and avoid that.

Yesterday was Day 8. Success. There was a little bit of funny business as I ate about six peanuts while making dinner. Shouldn't have been nibbling.... caught myself and called it an "appetizer" instead. I guess I could argue that there was definitely room on my plate for the peanuts. I was just ravenous because I didn't eat a great lunch. (My son wanted to have a picnic and made me a peanut butter sandwich and some cheese puffs).

Day 9 was yesterday - success! And no funny business, either.

I'm learning a new normal for breakfast. I used to just try and spend 3 points on breakfast, never more, because I reasoned that I needed those points later in the day. These are bigger breakfasts, but they keep me full for quite a long time, so I don't feel even a tiny bit hungry before lunch time.

Yesterday was Day 10 - success! Dinnertime, I had an absolutely disgustingling large portion of potato salad. But we ate an early dinner so I knew it was going to have to keep me full 6-7 hours until I went to sleep.
It did indeed keep me from having to snack later in the evening.

I wanted a treat at one point... I wasn't really hungry but everyone else was having Hershey's kisses or chocolate chip cookies. I just reminded myself that I could have as much of those as I want to in just a couple short days, and it helped me resist the urge.

Yesterday was Day 11 - success!

Today we will be camping so I'll have a smore tonight as a sweet.

congratulations on your success so far. Keep up the good work.

Day 12 - success
Day 13 - exempt
Day 14 - exempt

Today is Day 15.

I've been weighing myself every day but not paying close attention to the numbers. Looked at it today for trends. During each week, I've lost weight, and then on each weekend, gained it back, for an overall gain of two pounds over the two weeks. I think I need to tone my S-days back a bit. This weekend, especially, I just went nuts. I need to remember the "sometimes." I'm going to stay on track though!

Yesterday was day 15. A success.

I had "planned seconds" at dinner time. It was just for convenience, really. We were having soft tacos. I could have made all three at the same time and put them on my plate with my chips and rice; however, with the beans and cheese in the kitchen and the lettuce, onions, tomato, and salsa at the table, it was just easier to do them one at a time. I planned on having three, and I had three.

I really wanted to go back for more rice, but I didn't. That would have *really* been seconds.

Once again, Monday was hard. Having my guard down for two days in a row is hard.

Yesterday was day 16. Success.

Tuesday always feels easier than Monday, I think because being "S" two days in a row makes me feel like I could keep on being "S."

I wonder if there is any precedent for splitting the S-days. Maybe have one on WedneSday and the other on Saturday.

Yesterday was UNSUCCESSFUL.

My son ate one tiny bite out of a huge biscuit. While I was washing the dishes, that biscuit called out to me. I had been waiting all week for the weather to cool off enough that I could make those biscuits, and I had one of my own... I didn't want to see the other one go to waste.

However, after taking two or three bites of it, I was able to think about what I was doing, and put the other half of the biscuit in the garbage disposal. So while yesterday was unsuccessful, I think I had a small success in stopping halfway through the biscuit, and then staying on track the rest of the evening as well...

Successful yesterday! No funny business to report.

In the evening I had a stressful encounter with another individual -- it left me shaking afterward, I was so angry. In the past this would have been assuaged with cookies or ice cream. Instead, I took some deep breaths and talked to my husband about it. Score one for the good guys.

Good job, Julie! It sounds like you are doing great. Sorry about your encounter yesterday. They seem to happen from time to time and you came out the winner this time!! Proud of you.