Friday, November 23, 2012

OBB part 2

Well, I'm starting up a routine. It's small, but I guess small is a good way to start.

I just have coffee in the morning. I'm never hungry in the am, so I figure it's useless to eat when I'm not hungry. I'll just end up feeling sluggish the rest of the day. I'm at home all day, so my mornings are when I check my mail and tidy the house.

Then for lunch I usually whip up a salad with grilled meats and some fresh veggies. Everything varies with what I have in my kitchen. Yesterday and the day before it was chicken. Today it will be steak.

Then I'm usually not hungry for the rest of the day. I know it sounds stupid, but supper is my worst enemy. I'm almost never hungry in the evenings but because it's 'suppertime' I feel obligated to eat. That, coupled with the fact that I genuinely love to put food in my mouth, makes it a mental battlefield to eat or not to eat. For the last year I've lost almost all the battles, but I think I've developed a few strategies to win them now.

1) RELAX.
Stressing myself out just makes me want to eat. So I purposefully put on relaxing clothes, get comfy on the couch and de-stress.

2) Drink Water and Tea
Sometimes just the act of bringing something to my lips and swallowing is enough to satiate me. (Get out of the barn, gutterbrain). I like calming teas, such as sleepytime, or lemon/honey and drink a few cups while I relax.

3) Exercise
I find that if I exercise right before suppertime, all I want to do afterward is rest. This goes hand in hand with drinking tea on the couch.

4) Read
This also goes hand in hand with drinking tea and relaxing on the couch. And it also works in with MDA's Law #10 Use your brain. What is reading, if not a mental exercise? And it also goes hand in hand (depending on how exciting your book is) with my fifth strategy, which is:

5) Sleep
Go to sleep early! If I'm relaxed, and satiated, and I've exercised and I've read a bit, I can go right to sleep, and catch a few extra winks. Which goes right with MDA's #6 Get Adequate Sleep.

I realize I'm fortunate to have the time to do all this. Some people work evening or night shifts, some people have children, and some people have evening activities that keep them away from home until 10pm. But right now this is what works for me. After 2 days I'm down to 196 pounds.

I'm very calm and happy at the moment. I'm not angry, or nervous, or upset or anything. It's a nice feeling :) I feel as if I'm on a track that will lead me to happiness and I'm looking forward to it!

My challenge today is to continue my routine. My challenge tomorrow will be interesting, because I will be spending the day in Winnipeg. I will have to find healthy meals for lunch and yes, supper. As long as I stay away from grains and keep my portions small I should be ok. Well, I'm not going to worry about that right this minute, there's no point.

Here's to keeping calm and carrying on.

No comments:

Post a Comment