Planning to Fail?

 Food, Keeping Going  1 Response »
Oct 092009
 
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Ok – deep breath.  This is one thing that has tripped me up more times that I can tell you.  If you don’t deal with stuff like this you may be too sane for Talking It Off.  If this sounds like you then, welcome to the Remedial Weight Loss Room.

It almost always involves an impending social event – dinner with friends, a weekend away, the arrival of house-guests.  This week it happens to be all three rolled up into what promises to a joy-filled few days.

So what am I going to do about it?

Option 1

Part of me says that it’s only sane/normal/human (oxymoron?) to want to relax, enjoy and forget about the eating to lose weight. This sounds so sane, but the reality is that I use it as an excuse to eat everything I can find – even in the days running up to the event.  I refuse to do this to myself any more.

Option 2

Make a plan now and stick to it.  Just don’t drink the wine or eat the pie or nibble the biscuit.  And now my negative, whiny, excuse-making voice starts in with all the reasons why this is impossible.  Time blah blah – cooking blah blah- eating out blah blah – socializing blah blah.

Option 3

In my life, there has rarely been an option that is somewhere between ON and OFF (see here) .  So maybe this time I need to redefine an ON day and relax and enjoy.  So here’s my plan.  I’m going to accept that the next couple of days will be filled with food situations either that I can’t control or that I just don’t want to control in that controlling kind of way. (told you I was special)

Therefore, I will do my best.  I will eat till I’m full and not beyond.  I will chose the dessert I most want and enjoy it.  I will constantly remind myself that I am more content and at peace when my clothes fit – not when I’m bloated and hung over.  (WHY is that so hard to remember?)

I can only think ahead a couple of days at a time but here are the choices I can make for today and tomorrow:

  • Where to eat dinner tonight for lighter options.
  • Non-alcoholic drinks for between glasses of wine.  I love Fever Tree Naturally Light tonic water.  Maybe some cranberry to go with it.
  • Make the decision to eat normally the rest of the time – and by “normally” I mean healthily.
  • Move when I can – even if I can’t get to the gym.  Just move.

OK.  I think I’ve banished the “eat now eat now eat now” voice.   I have a plan.  I have a flexible attitude.  I’m looking forward to a weekend with friends rather than dreading guilt and physical discomfort.  I’ll let you know how it goes.

 Posted by Millie at 9:14 am  Tagged with:

Emotional Eating

 Thoughts on the Process  No Responses »
Oct 092009
 
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I almost wrote, “Let’s not talk about yesterday”, but that would rather defeat the purpose of this whole exercise.  It wasn’t horrible food-wise, but it wasn’t great and there should have been a sign screeching  “EAT YOUR EMOTIONS HERE” over my house.

There was lots to feel emotional about but, in my (insert emotion here), I forgot that I was choosing between a healthy slimmer body and a temporary release from (insert emotion here).

Plan for today – this is a tough one.   We’ve got guests coming for two nights, a group for Canadian Thanksgiving tomorrow night, and then I head to London to work until Tuesday, losing the Man again in the process. (Denmark, I think, thanks for asking.)

So today’s plan has a lot to do with planning all the way till Tuesday. Even while I’m writing, a little voice is whispering that I might as well start all over on Wednesday.  But I know where that leads so I’m going to work this one out now.  I’m going to grab a coffee and give it some more thought.

 Posted by Millie at 8:20 am

Motivation

 Keeping Going  1 Response »
Oct 082009
 
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Yesterday was remarkable for my return to the gym.

I will always be thankful for what I call Mardee’s Marvellous Motivation tool.  She fully admits to having poached it from somewhere else but I like alliteration.

Here’s the original explanation:

There are so many times I don’t want to exercise but again, I’ve found a few tricks to keep me going. For one thing, if I’m tired and don’t feel like exerting myself, I tell myself that I will walk slowly (I walk on a treadmill) so that I don’t have to push myself – no more than 3 mph. I start off this way – walking very moderately – while I watch whatever DVD I’m watching. Invariably I speed things up after about 10 minutes and then I’m cranking along. But sometimes I don’t, and that’s okay – I figure as long as I’m moving, it’s good!

When I remember to apply this technique it pretty much completely does away with “gym dread” – or any other kind of “dread” that you can think of.

 Posted by Millie at 9:20 am

Tidy house ~Tidy eating pattern?

 Thoughts on the Process  3 Responses »
Oct 072009
 
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Millie, I need to circle back to your post on tidy house>tidy mind>tidy eating pattern.  I’ve really been thinking about this a lot recently.  My house has been in a real mess lately as we’ve been having tile and hardwood installed.  I’m more than a little surprised at the impact it has made to my eating patterns.  I am not dealing with the mess at all well.  I sometimes joke about being a little OCD but maybe it’s not really a joke.  It’s been very stressful having everything out of place and messy.  I’ve never been a clean freak, but I don’t do well with disorganization and I’m really not happy about things being out of place.  It’s leading to me not journaling my food intake (where’s my pen and notepad that I keep on the counter) and not measuring my quantities (dang, the scale is under a pile of dishes sitting on the kitchen counter) and not getting in my exercise (the mini tramp is in the basement behind a bunch of furniture) and being very stressed about the entire thing.  Am I really that structured? Yeah, I guess I am.  I just never really thought of it that way when I was busy putting clean dishes at the bottom of the stack so that the dishes all got used about the same amount (plus the glasses, the tupperware, underwear, socks etc).

Where am I going with this? Well, I guess that I need to face this aspect of myself and prepare for it.  Just because the house is disorganized doesn’t mean that I have to be.  I can dig out my scale, my journal is on my pc, the treadmill is still upstairs and accessible.  If I can keep these things on track, maybe it will help me deal with the rest of the mess.

 Posted by Donna at 4:58 pm  Tagged with:

Body Shape 1

 Body Image, Thoughts on the Process  3 Responses »
Oct 072009
 
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I probably could have said that yesterday was a “catch” but I didn’t move except to walk from the car to the grocery store.  I did park at the furthest space from the doors but I didn’t quite manage to work up a sweat by the time I got to potatoes.  Which I suppose I should count as a bonus.

As for food, it was easy because I’d cooked the night before.  (Every once in a little wee while I manage to get organised.)  It was hard because I wanted more.  Not more of a particular anything – just more.  It’s that time of night when the Man is out of town and I know I can eat whatever I want and no one will ever know.  Except me.  And you if I choose to be honest.

But here’s the big new:  I got out the tape measure.

My weight is pretty steady these days and I think in terms of a handful of pounds to my goal.  But I feel “squidgy” from lack of exercise and wanted to know why.

After almost 3 months away from the gym and depending only on walking and a bit of running, the change is as follows:

  • Bust: was 38 – now 39.5
  • Waist: was 32.4 – now 34
  • Hips: was 39 – still 39

The Inverted Triangle Returns!

So it’s back to the gym three times per week. That’s all it takes to change the shape of my upper body and it’s worth it.  (Cue fantasy of my own Concept2 rower- not outrageous but would need a new house to accommodate.)

The miraculous element of all of this is that I don’t feel like a failure, or like eating ice-cream, or like crying into my morning coffee as I write (all things I may have done in my food-insanity past).  Instead, I just feel like going to the gym.  Which is where I’m headed now.  Interesting.

 Posted by Millie at 8:18 am  Tagged with:

Nutracheck – online food journal

 Things to try  No Responses »
Oct 072009
 
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Nutracheck is now an old friend and indispensable tool for getting weight off by tracking calories and exercise.

I love how you can set your weight loss from half to two pounds per week and your calorie and exercise goals change accordingly.  There are so many options that it takes a while to find your way around, but after a few days you’ve got a fantastic tool.  The only thing you supply is the honesty.

Here are my favourite features:

  • free mobile version is fantastic for those who travel for business
  • 5 a Day (fruit and veg) and units of alcohol trackers.  Those are two areas where my “guestimates” are frequently “wishful-thinking-imates”.
  • The “Week View” setting. This has helped me get over the “I blew today” feeling that often attends dieting.  Instead, you see how to develop healthy patterns of living over the longer term.
  • I also love the fact that I can ignore the site for a few weeks but everything is there when I choose to go back.
  • Affordable.  Nutracheck isn’t free but, having taken advantage of numerous special deals, I’m now paying only £4.99 a month which is almost free in my not-very-frugal mind.

It’s specifically British which will disappoint many.  Maybe my other comrades can help me by reviewing the North American options.

Thanks Nutracheck!

 Posted by Millie at 7:30 am  Tagged with: ,

Bootcamp Buddies

 Things to try  No Responses »
Oct 062009
 
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Besides Weight Watchers, this is the group that has got me further towards food sanity than any other.  Why?  Because they will lovingly tell you to suck it up if you fail on your Weight Watchers journey.  It’s not that they don’t tolerate weakness – everyone on that board admits to weakness – it’s just that they don’t tolerate failure that doesn’t lead somewhere positive.

So you ate 7,000 calories at your cousin’s wedding?  Tell us what you’re going to do next time.  Even better, if social gatherings are your weakness, come here before each and every party and tell us your plan for the event.

The accountability is second to none.

And there’s a place for everyone – even non-American peacenicks like me who, frankly, aren’t very comfortable with the military imagery.

Anyway, last year a few of us decided that “just doing it” could get the weight off but not keep it off and we started a special thread to work through the stuff that gets in our way.  And that is the basis for this blog.  I’ve only moved it away from BCB because I want this to speak to people who aren’t necessarily following Weight Watchers.

Cheers Buddies.  Forgive the cliché, but I couldn’t have done it without you.

 Posted by Millie at 9:59 am  Tagged with:

Weight Watchers

 Things to try, Thoughts on the Process  No Responses »
Oct 062009
 
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Ah WW.

I have joined and left WW at least twelve times in thirty years.  We have a relationship akin to a very rocky marriage. My most recent return was in the middle of grieving the death of my dad and I realised I needed some “non-cyber” support for a bit.  I was pleasantly surprised by what and who I found there.

Downside:

  • I hate spending money in order for someone to tell me to do what I already know I should be doing.
  • I’m not keen on marketing in general, so I just never buy WW food products on principle.
  • Good WW leaders are like gold dust.  It has taken me 30 years to find one that I really want to listen to.
  • Scale insanity – my problem, not theirs – and fodder for another post altogether.

However, there’s the love side too.

  • WW has given me good eating habits when I otherwise wouldn’t have figured them out for myself.  I didn’t know spaghetti didn’t have to come out of a tin until I was twenty years old.
  • They will always take me back.  I know that when I need some structure that I can’t provide for myself, I can walk through that door with no guilt, even after years away.
  • The meetings can be helpful.  After thirty years,  I’ve found one worth going to!  I never thought it would happen.
  • It works and it doesn’t harm your health in the process.

The only bit of WW that I don’t use is the journalling. I have found a journalling tool that works better for me than WW and I use it.   I realized some time ago that my personality demands to know “WHY?” and I never quite trusted the points thing – either for food or exercise.  My life became a game against WW to see what I could get away with and still lose weight.  That road does not lead to a sane and healthy relationship with food.

But that topic will be another post, probably entitled “Why I always have to be the boss”.  Or, if written by my mother, “You can’t tell her anything.”

But the principles of WW will always be with me.  They are sound and healthy and good.  And I would recommend WW to anyone who needs to lose weight.

 Posted by Millie at 7:58 am  Tagged with:

A thought about tidy

 Thoughts on the Process  1 Response »
Oct 062009
 
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Once again made that connection between a tidy house and a tidy mind – and a tidy eating pattern.  Something as simple as vacuuming the cat hair off the stairs can help me make sane food decisions.

Has that ever been a Weight Watchers meeting topic?  It should be.

 Posted by Millie at 7:02 am

Stress Eating

 Thoughts on the Process  No Responses »
Oct 052009
 
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On the oral allergy post, Donna wrote:

At the rather advanced age of 51 I developed a rather strange allergy – pressure urticaria. It seems that if I’m over tired or stressed, it flares up worse than usual. I’m trying to use it as a guage to tell me when I’m stressed but not acknowledging it. That’s something I’m really good at – not acknowledging that I’m stressed. I’ve always claimed that I don’t stress eat, but lately I’ve had to face up to the fact that I do. They seem to be intertwined, feeling stress but not wanting to acknowledge it, eating because I’m stressed but not facing the reason why I’m eating. I have to face the fact that I’m not super woman and it’s not a weakness to get stressed.

This was too important to leave as a comment.  Aren’t we all in this situation?  It kind of  ties in with what I wrote on the Daily – acknowledging the problem without giving into or wallowing in it.  It sure affects how I want to eat. I don’t think there’s an answer – just a constant practising of noticing the problem and either dealing with it or giving it away.

Thanks Donna.

 Posted by Millie at 4:45 pm  Tagged with: ,
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