I used to be a spontaneous spur of the moment gal. Whenever my friends called to go on a road trip or a hockey game, or a sports filled weekend, I'd go. I never thought about what to do the next hour, let alone think about plans for the upcoming long weekend. Whatever came my way was what I was going to do. If I stayed out late with friends and had to go to work in a few hours, whatever, I'd sleep later. Invite or not, we'd somehow find a party to go to. I never really thought much about what I was doing. I'd let the chips land where they may. Seems they would to land in a bowl and fly into my mouth from there. I never cared who came to the party in my mouth, whatever I wanted to eat, I ate.
When I started WW 2+ years ago, I'd go to meetings and listen to people talk about how they plan their lives. And I am not talking just about meals, but everything right down to bed time. I thought they were a little over the top. I mean seriously, how can you say you are going to go to bed at precisely 9:30 PM or that you will be walking your dog from 6:00 to 6:45. They were talking about writing lists, and tracking and monitoring everything, not just food intake. Whoa, that's crazy, who does that kind of stuff.
I joined WW with the realization that I love food and I will always love food. I really don't care what kind of food it is, with the exception of onions or peppers, I will pretty much eat it. I will try most things once as long as there is not a grossness factor to it. Heck I have even started to enjoy curry and tofu, however I have not ventured into chocolate covered insects and I doubt I ever will. I have been struggling on how to have control without being obsessive - because I can be a little OCish. I certainly didn't want to be one of those planners I listen to at the meetings.
It all started so innocently. I started out tracking, because tracking what you eat helps you to see where the weight loss happens. Then I started planning my meals weekly, because that will help me not just grab and go on the fly for meals. Then I started planning my activity and how much of it I would do daily. I have been resisting the need to monitor my hunger signs, but now feel that if I don't, I won't know why the scale hasn't moved so much over the last 6 months. So I have now started that. And guess what.......
To plan my activity/exercise time, I have to schedule my bed time. I need to get to bed at a certain time if I want to leave the house early enough to get to the pool for a reasonable time to get in my 30 minute workout and still have 20 minutes to walk to work to be on time. Otherwise, if I get to the pool later, I have to switch up the time spent swimming because I was late and now can't do the 30 minutes and then that throws off how many points I earned (or calories I burned) and I have to correct my tracking.
Wait it gets better...... I have to eat at certain times because I have my planned run or spin class in for the afternoon and I don't want to be empty or too full. Then I have to have my snack at a certain time, to hold me over until I get home. You see if I eat it too early then I will probably want another snack at the appointed time and I won't have an extra one handy so I'll get the chocolate bar from the vending machine and then that throws off the tracking again. Don't get me wrong, I actually do eat chocolate bars, I just have to plan them into the weekly meal scheduling to eat them. The biggest realization is that these people who shared this information about routine, planning and structuring things aren't crazy. They are the ones who are successful at losing the weight and keeping it off.
So now I treat my lists and tracking skills like bouncers in a Hollywood club. It is by invitation only. If the food is not on the planned menu, it is not allowed to come to the party. This allows me to have control on what I eat and continue on my journey of being happy and healthy.
No comments:
Post a Comment