Jane
Okay, so I made it through the first hard week and lost some more weight and felt very proud of myself, and then I started into Week Two. There were a few rough spots, such as when I watched my daughter eat a Bojangles biscuit for breakfast or when I smelled pizza in our house, but they never got as rough as I feared they might. It helped to have my program bracelet around, which reads, “My Life, My Choice.” Whenever I consider eating something that is off program, I think about that. I made the choice to be here. I’m paying the money. I’m not going to mess it up, no matter how many cajun chicken filet biscuits my daughter consumes! I even started exercising a little bit–considerably more than I’ve done for about a hundred years but not enough to qualify me for my sister’s favorite show, ”The Biggest Loser.” That’s coming next!
What I learned this week: 1) that I’m especially crazy about the chicken soup when it has lots of undissolved lumps of powder in it because it makes me feel like I’m eating pieces of chicken (if I use my imagination, a la Pollyanna) 2) that people have different triggers that make them overeat 3) that Optifast mixed with lukewarm water really doesn’t cut it (it’s got to be cold). Kim is responsible for our knowing this last thing, since she tried mixing up her shake at the clinic, right before class, using water from the sink in the bathroom, and almost gagged right there, in front of the woman knitting her weight away into a blanket. Kim also is responsible for the brilliant idea of adding extracts to the shakes. So, now we have the option of a vanilla shake with raspberry extract or a chocolate shake with banana extract! Kim tells me the banana extract even gets rid of the aftertaste from the shake (which has been a problem for me, forcing me to brush my teeth more than they’ve ever been brushed.) We’re both very excited about the extracts. We figure their novelty alone will carry us through the week that everyone says is the hardest to get through, i.e. Week Three on Liquids, when apparently boredom can become a problem. I knew I could count on Kim, since she’s one of the best cooks in the world, to make this program do-able.
Optifast Shake in One Hand, Water in the Other
The group session on food triggers was very interesting. I know that one of my triggers used to be just walking into my mother’s house. My mother was a phenomenal cook, and there was always tons of wonderful, Southern food to eat at her house, such as smothered chicken, broccoli with hollandaise sauce, watermelon rind pickle, roast leg of lamb with onions and mint jelly, etc. etc. (Sorry! I’m clearly getting too hungry here. Time to take a shake break.)
That’s better!
Visits to her house always centered around meals, as did our lives when we were children. So that helps to explain it. But there seems to be more to it than that–because I didn’t just eat when meals were served. I ate compulsively, from the minute I walked in the door, and I didn’t stop until I left and got back into my own life. I would sneak into the kitchen and pull out a Haagen Daz chocolate-covered ice cream bar or some Pepperidge Farm chessman cookies–even if dinner was on the way soon. Or I would eat a bowl of cereal with heavy cream, right before bed. There was just something about being there, in that house, that made me overeat. I sometimes still feel that same urge when I’m around my sisters, if we are all 4 together in a group. It doesn’t seem to happen as much when I’m with one of them, individually. But when I’m with all of them, I start to eat differently than I do at home. It’s the weirdest thing.
In any case, it helped me to think about triggers. It’s frustrating that some of my other triggers are sadness, boredom, happiness, joy, and anger. It’s somewhat limiting to have that many triggers. I know it’s good to stare them in the face, but it’s also frustrating to see how many of them there are. It helps me understand better why I’ve had an easy time putting weight on and a hard time taking it off all these years! If food has always been your main reward/comfort/therapy for every human experience, you’re in trouble! The goal of the program is to help us 1) recognize our triggers and 2) learn to find ways to calm those triggers down and even find things to replace those triggers with! It’s exciting to think that just the process of being more conscious about eating can make a difference. Wish me luck!
Related posts:
- Jane’s World: Week One on Only Liquids!
- Jane’s World: Week Three on Full Liquids and the Joys of Fake Nails
- Jane’s World: “Week Zero” on the Weight Program
- Jane’s World: Hospital Weight Program: Week One
- Final Week on Only Liquids
Tags: dieting, Optifast, overeating, weight management
Thank you, Lisa! What great suggestions. Jane
As for extracts… go to Da Vinci Gourmet and order their many sugarless flavored extracts to add to your shakes: amaretto, peanut butter, chocolate chip cookie dough, and Kahlua are four I ordered and enjoy in protein shakes without worries or fears of adding calories (they contain 0) or fat (0). Just a thought… bravo and hats off to you!
I’m impressed with what you have learned and how well you have been able to use it to bring up the choices to be made and pick the one you want! Good for you. I’ll sure be following your progress.
You already look thinner. WoW!! Hang in there!