When I was last successfully losing weight – eating well, exercising and having a good, positive mindset – I had a list of rules of things I needed to do to make it work for me. I’m not talking about crazy or weird rules, I’m talking about sensible changes to my behavior. I’m not sure I remember them and that blog got eaten in the great php update. Still, I remember some and they are intended to help me stay on track.
*As already noted, never shop after visiting Mom or Dad in the nursing home. I’m a stress eater. I’m an emotional eater. I want to fill up those emotional spaces after I go to the nursing home and I will justify anything when I am in that head space. It isn’t “willpower” it’s being smart enough to not put myself in that position.
*I don’t believe in totally denying myself anything. Some people feel better doing that but it doesn’t work for me. It feels like punishment and that is not loving myself – but then again, eating a whole bag of chips isn’t loving myself. There are some foods that I can only buy in small quantities or only eat in restaurants. It’s hard to buy or make only enough Mexican food, for example, for one serving. I could make a lighter dinner when I make my own chicken enchiladas, but then I have a whole bunch of tortillas which will get eaten one way or another. I’m better off eating them at a restaurant. I’m better off buying a small single serving bag of chips when I’m craving the crunch. I’m better off having a frozen custard only when I’m up in Springfield – maybe once per month – rather than buying even small amounts of ice cream at home.
*Writing stuff down keeps me honest. It’s easy for extra food to work it’s way into my meal plan when I don’t weigh and measure. I didn’t write stuff down this weekend because it felt pointless. If I had, I might have slowed down sooner. Sometimes seeing the numbers helps break the cycle of a binge. But it is true also that sometimes I just use it to beat myself up further.
*Along with writing it down, it’s important to be mindful. I like food. I think food should be enjoyable. But it isn’t really enjoyable when I’m eating automatically and habitually – that’s just eating until I hit food coma. Paying attention to what I’m eating and enjoying the flavors and textures make it more meaningful. Small bites. Slowing down.
*Not drinking during meals. This is a lap-band rule and helps keep food in the stomach so you feel full longer. For me, this is complicated by gastroparesis but that seems to be settling down now so I can go back to not drinking during meals.
*Starting over immediately. I’m not going to be perfect. I’m going to make bad choices now and then. But I have a history of telling myself I’ll start over tomorrow or next Monday or the beginning of the month or after the holidays. Putting it off doesn’t really make it any better or easier. Starting over right then does. If I ate too much at dinner, blowing off the evening (or the whole weekend) just makes me feel worse.
*Planning. I don’t do well with really rigid plans but I do need a plan. It helps to have reasonable, portioned snacks available. It helps, especially when shopping, to have meal ideas for the week and to make a list based on the plan. I need a certain amount of routine, not just eating whatever I feel like.
*Going to rehab three days per week and weighing once per week. Not getting freaked out or too excited by the numbers. Remembering that there is a certain amount of natural fluctuation daily and monthly because of water retention. Keeping the big picture in mind.
It can feel overwhelming. If I try to be too perfect I tend to give up at every failure. So making changes slowly, a change or two at a time helps. On the other hand, most of this list is about viewing eating differently. Enjoying instead of stuffing, being more mindful, slowing down, and taking care of myself. Some of it is about not setting myself up for failure, like not buying things that will make it more difficult for me to stick to my eating goals.
It sounds like a very logical and reasonable plan; I like that it is forgiving and yet organized. Having strategies is also very important.
Flying by the seat of my pants is a bad idea for me – I keep thinking that I can get away without planning and writing stuff down but it really, really doesn’t work.
I like your rules. They seem relatively sane in a world full of non-sane.
I have come to the conclusion that my rules have become somewhat crazy. Lately I have been trying out paleo/primal ways of eating. However they do seem to be working better than what I was doing.
I’m trying to cut out sugar as much as possible. If I’m at the supermarket and the word sugar, any “ose” eg fructose sucrose etc, any maltitol or sorbitol, any artificial sweeteners appear in the ingredients list, I won’t buy it.
Somehow this has cut out 90% of processed foods. Because apparently they can’t make anything without adding sugar. I mean, beef, chicken, veg stock? Tinned tomatoes? These things need sugar, do they? I THINK NO.
I have been making a lot of stuff from scratch and loving the results. I made sweet potato fries. I roasted cauliflower the other day, it was incredible. I’ll be doing it again and blogging it when I get a chance.
I am so there with you on the planning. I was on Lite N Easy (a 1200 calorie all food supplied plan here in Australia similar to Nutrisystem in the US) for a while which helped me in many ways and seeing how they planned helped a lot. It also helped me find new healthy snacks I did not know about before.
I make a lot of stuff and put it into containers – I made my own chocolate and I have these little plastic tubs I put it into. I use ziplock bags for nuts and other snacks. If it is there, easy to grab and eat, I am more likely to do that. This is why potato chips have been my friend.
I’ve had to cut out the weighing myself as much as possible because it is far too easy to get discouraged. Instead I am measuring with a tape measure.
I’m going up to Sydney tomorrow and it is likely that I will consume sugar in amounts I have become un-used to. It will be interesting to see how that feels.
I like when you write it down.
I’m thinking about portioning out healthy snacks. Sometimes that works for me, sometimes it doesn’t. I think that right now I am in that fragile place where it’s really far too easy to slip into old behaviors. It frustrates me so much that I can see myself doing it, know what the end result will be, and still do it.
I’ll be curious to see how the sugar affects you. Could make you feel pretty sick since you’ll be spiking your blood sugar in a way you haven’t been doing.
Zazzy,your rules sound good to me.
Stress is like a snowball,sometimes it’s better for me to let it roll and hope it stops rolling a few feet away.I’m struggling with weight too.If I can remember HALT,(hungry,angry,lonely or tired),I can cope better.I try to munch on “free” foods,but I love Nutella.I could eat it with a tablespoon.LOL
When I’m down,I try to remember funny things.Like the pictures of signs someone sent to Consumer Report magazine.Crap sandwiches and mouse cake.Every time I think of it,I can’t help it,I have to grin.
Hugs ))))) ((((((
HALT is a good reminder. Seems kind of silly to me that as someone who over-analyzes everything that I can’t analyze my way out of a binge.
Numbers are the devil incarnate for me when it comes to losing weight. As long as I don’t know them, I don’t know that I’m not succeeding– so I stay psyched. But once I start paying attention to them, I become anxious that I’ll screw-up– so I start to worry which leads to me eating more than I should.
Love the HALT reminder. Never heard of that before. Like it because it relies on letters, not numbers!
Yeah, the numbers do stupid things with my head, too. I do need to track the calories but I’m better off noting getting crazy with that. And I need to track my weight at least some, but I can’t have a scale at the house.
HALT comes from AA. You’re more likely to slip if you let yourself get too hungry, too angry, too lonely or too tired. You can add too much pain to that list, too, as far as I’m concerned.
Some great things on this list, Zaz.
I’m an emotional eater, too. I can only imagine myself causing serious trouble for myself at the grocery store after emotionally trying events.
Zazzy,I agree emotional pain should be part of HALT,I learned it and several good slogans in Al-Anon,is a support group for friends and family,not AA.
Emotional and Physical pain. Physical pain can drive me right to binging. HALT is a part of all of the AA-style 12 step programs.