It’s felt like a slippery slope lately. One bite of chocolate chip cookie here. Two tastes of bacon there. I see how easily I could just slip right back into bad eating habits, no matter how much soul-searching I’ve done over the past few months. Old, lifelong habits die hard.
I know 2 things now: 1) I will always have to think about my eating and keep it under control because I love food and am addicted to food (so there really is no finish line in this race) and 2) it will probably never get easier.
It helps to know that.
It also helps to stress, once again, to myself that there is no room in this battle for black-and-white thinking or acting. So, no matter how I might slip up and eat a chocolate sundae one night, that will never again be an excuse to blow everything I’ve worked so hard for over the past seven months. And, also, just because I might give into temptation, it doesn’t mean I’m a failure at the whole program. It just means I have to “reset” my thinking, as they say in the program, get back on track, have a shake for dinner, exercise for 30 minutes more.
Before I go on, I just have to do a “Before” and “After” of me in my office. 
So, to answer one specific request, here is what I’m eating now:
Breakfast: 1/2 cup of Greek yoghurt (low-fat) with 6 almonds, a cut-up medium-sized apple, and 1/4 cup of Fiber One or, every now and then, an omelette made of 1 egg and 2 egg whites and veggies and low-fat cheese
9:30 a.m.: one high-protein, low-calorie Optifast bar
(8 glasses of water throughout the day)
Lunch: 6 oz of fish or chicken on a salad of lettuce, tomatoes, peppers, onions, etc.
2:30-3:00 p.m.: 1 piece of fruit and 2 low-fat Mozarella cheesesticks
Dinner (as early as possible): 4-6 oz of fish/chicken/other lean meat and lots of vegetables or salad (1/2 of the plate) with a teaspoon of dressing, so I make sure I have a little fat
That’s it. It’s simple. So, when I go out to dinner or lunch, I have to choose the meal that is closest to this regimen. No fried fish. No mashed potatoes and gravy. Just whatever delicious vegetables they are offering, with whatever delicious broiled fish or chicken they happen to have. And, when I can’t stand it and need more variety, then I have some red meat or some pork–and just adjust the rest of my day accordingly. I’m working up to carbs. When I add them back in, it will be 1/4 cup or brown rice.
Related posts:
- Signing up for a Hospital Weight Management Program and Wonderful Grown-Up Children
- Jane’s World: Hospital Weight Program: Week One
- Jane’s World: “Week Zero” on the Weight Program
- Husband says I need to lose weight
- Week Six Down and Heading forThanksgiving!
Tags: eating right, exercise, Optifast, Weight loss
Many years ago, I lost 55 pounds – through sheer will power, exercise (bleh!), and nutritional knowledge. As Jane has observed, the hard part is what comes after the weight is off. It’s the realization that one has undertaken a serious lifestyle change, and the “change” must become the “permanent.” The reward for the continued vigilance is less health problems, more energy and a stronger sense of self-worth. Some women, such as those in my husband’s family, managed to carry extra weight with elan and flair. But for the rest of us, weight management, and when we’ve shed those pounds, weight maintenance, is a key to new vitality and a renewed boost to our self-image.
Jane, thanks for being such an inspiration!
Jane, You look beautiful in both photos, but you look a lot happier now. I know it’s hard and will be hard, but I have faith in you. You can do it (even if you have to dance off the plate of ribs).
Kathy
Jane, you look great! Thanks for sharing your inspirational story. Hang in there. And show off those red shoes in the next pic.
Jane–You have done great things! You continue to do great things. Accept, accept, accept.
Jane,
For those of you who can’t see you – I can testify ab out how great you look. I think you should of taken a picture of your long slender legs – in those fab red shoes, of course.