Wednesday, January 28, 2009

Not Dieting Three Week Mark

Has it really only been a little more than 3 weeks since I embarked on this new adventure? It feels like a lot longer than that! Some days have been really easy. A few lately have made me want to fall back into my former bad habits.


The thing that I think is different this time is that I am very (very) aware of what I am putting into my body. Everything I eat is a very conscious decision made by me. There has not been any mindless eating. When I have overdone it, I knew I had.


Another thing that is different this time is my mental attitude. I over did it. So what? I'm human. I've only been doing this for 3 weeks. I did not ruin all my progress on one or two episodes of overeating. I have not undone the exercise that I have recently started. Tomorrow is a new day. God's grace is new every day. If God can do that for me, shouldn't I extend that grace to myself?


I have made progress on the scale. I am trying not to let that be my motivating factor, but some days that is the only reason I get out of bed...well, that and the three kids screaming for their breakfast.


I am trying not to weigh myself until Feb. 2. That will be one month on this new "not dieting" thing. It will be my next update on the right hand side of my blog. I have not weighed myself since last Thursday. This is really hard for me. I would eventually like to get to the point that I only weigh myself once a month, but as of now that seems entirely impossible.


I have also noticed that there are a lot of opportunities to eat when I am not really hungry. Just because someone else has a snack does not mean that I need one. Just because the ice cream is staring at me in the freezer does not mean I need to eat it. I have had an amazing thing happen recently. About a week (2 weeks ago?) I opened a pint of Ben and Jerry's. I ate a little less than a 1/4th of it and put it away. It has remained untouched in the freezer since then. That in itself is a miracle. In the past, I would eat an entire pint in one sitting. I'm not sure what the difference is this time. It's definitely a God thing. Normally, even talking about the Ben and Jerry's like this would have me getting up from the computer and grabbing the ice cream and a spoon and coming back to type the rest of the post. I honestly don't even have the desire. Amazing.

I have started reading some more in the "Lose it for Life" book. The part that I am reading now is talking about the quality of the food we put in our body. The last part I read was about all of the physical problems caused by obesity. There are many more than I realized.

I have eaten out about 4-5 times in the past week. That is very unusual for us. However with all the "strange things (are) happening" (anyone know the movie that song is from?) around here, I have eaten out more. The difference now is that I never leave stuffed and feeling miserable. I've had a Big Mac, Steak, loaded mashed potatoes, bread rolls, onion petals, and chai tea among other things. On any other "diet" I've been on, most of those would have been huge NO NO!s. I can't express enough the freedom of "Lose it for Life".

I have started walking on the treadmill 3 days a week. Usually I only walk a mile. I do it while the boys are awake, which has proved to be a challenge at times. However at this point in my life I am not committed enough to get up at 5 am in order to walk before they wake.

The first mile I walked took me 26 min. The other day I walked a mile in 18 min. and 44 seconds. I have no doubt after the weight loss of the first week or so that I would continue to lose weight without exercise. This is just my attempt to speed things up and get a little more toned along the way.

4 comments:

SamandSawyersMom said...

I am glad it is going well. keep it up..you can do it..i can't but you can

Cheryl said...

i am glad it is going well for you! keep it up!!

Unknown said...

This gestational diabetes thing has made me really focus on every bite. AS I am a carb fiend, having a strict amount I can have for each meal and snack is really hard. I think it might be the hardest thing I have ever done with eating. I challenge any of you to look at what the total carbs are in anything you are eating (even "sugar-free stuff) I can have 30 grams at breakfast, 45 for lunch and 60 for dinner add in 2 15 gram snacks and one (bedtime) 30 gram snack. Just for examples, a slice of bread=15, a tortills (8 inch)=15 grams, 1 lasagna noodle= 15...oh and I am also supposed to get 3-4 oz of protein for luch and dinner. And make something that my husband and sons will eat! I won't even list what I want, I never had "cravings" with any other pregnancy, but since I have to pay such close attention I have a list of things I want b/c I don't only want the portion I can have! Oh and 1 Hershey's dark choclate truffle is 6 grams...they have to be figured in sometimes or I might just snap!

Lura said...

When I was doing Protein Power and Atkins, there were times that I was limited to 20 carbs a day. Since then, I realize how many carbs are in everything! I still try to watch my carbs, but I don't count them. I'm sure it's hard when you're pregnant. Not too much longer!! :)