Day 15 - Monitor Your Eating

We are to monitor our eating, so here it is:

BREAKFAST:

1/2 cup plain, non-fat greek yogurt with 1 tsp honey
1/2 cup fresh raspberries
1/4 cup toasted pecans, swirl of honey

LUNCH

1/2 whole wheat pita stuffed with chicken salad prepared with:
Poached Chicken Breast
Red Grape Halves
Greek Yogurt/Mayo
Toasted Pecans
Salt/Pepper
Cider Vinegar
Honey

Green salad with greek vinegrette

SNACK

Homemade hummus:
Chick Peas
Lemon Juice
Garlic
Olive Oil
Chick Pea Juice
Calamata Olives

Eaten with remaining pita mix

DINNER

Sirloin steak marinated in a chimichuri:
Red Onion
Garlic
Olive Oil
RW Vinegar
Oregano
Parsley
Red Pepper Flakes

Green salad and veggie
Macaroni and cheese (with 2% milk cheese sauce) (about 1 cup)

EVENING SNACK

100 calorie snack pack (sweet or savory)

I am hungry, but I avoided cravings today by drinking coffee.  Maybe not the best approach, but, I needed that sweet element, and didn't want to succumb to snack machine treats.

Tomorrow, I will follow my meal plan as above (except dinner).  We will order Chinese food for dinner, as I am allowing myself 1 night per week to indulge.   However, we are going to be very active tomorrow as we are cleaning the house thoroughly and treating for fleas.  They are so bad this summer!

Spontaneous exercise - walked the block with Logan while he rode his bike.  Non-spontaneous - did workout three for phase I of JMBR.

Day 14 - Plan for Tomorrow

Basically, if we haven't already started our diet, we will start it tomorrow, so we must plan ahead, which will help us with the following things:

• Thinking about what we're going to eat and prepare it.
• Remember when to eat and what.
• Eliminate spontaneous eating.
• Fight through cravings. 
• Make healthy decisions.

We are to plan and monitor our eating EVERY DAY.

BREAKFAST:

1/2 cup plain, non-fat greek yogurt with 1 tsp honey
1/2 cup fresh raspberries
1/4 cup toasted pecans, swirl of honey

LUNCH

1/2 whole wheat pita stuffed with chicken salad prepared with:
Poached Chicken Breast
Red Grape Halves
Greek Yogurt/Mayo
Toasted Pecans
Salt/Pepper
Cider Vinegar
Honey

Green salad with greek vinegrette

SNACK

Homemade hummus:
Chick Peas
Lemon Juice
Garlic
Olive Oil
Chick Pea Juice
Calamata Olives

Eaten with remaining pita mix

DINNER

Sirloin steak marinated in a chimichuri:
Red Onion
Garlic
Olive Oil
RW Vinegar
Oregano
Parsley
Red Pepper Flakes

Green salad and veggie

EVENING SNACK

100 calorie snack pack (sweet or savory)

Exercise will include AM JMBR (Jillian Michaels Body Revolution) cardio and evening strength training JMBR

I have already written everything down, and I will continue to track cravings in my notebook.  Friday, I'm doing the hunger tolerance test.   Nervous about that :(

Craving Log

It's 12:40 pm on Wednesday, July 11. I've just finished my lunch, which consisted of a chicken salad sandwich on wheat bread and a green salad with greek dressing.  And now, I'm craving chips, something cheesy and crunchy, like the Ruffles Sour Cream and Cheddar Chips in the snack machine. 

Rating on the discomfort scale - 3. 

Anti-craving technique employed:  I'm telling myself that I've done so well today, and that the joy I feel while eating it will only be eclipsed by the guilt I feel after eating them.  I'm also going to get a big ol' glass of ice water with lemon in it. Let's see if that helps.

Around 2:00, I'll eat my pita chips with hummus, which should satisfy my crunchy salty craving.

Day 13 - Overcome Cravings

Measure your cravings - using the discomfort table below, rate your cravings on the table below that:

0 - 2 sitting on the couch, playing on the internet, reading facebook, or watching TV.

3 - 4 Worrying about money, constant nagging thoughts

5 - 7  Having to write someone up at work.

8 - 9  Having a shingles outbreak

10 - BEING IN LABOR!!!!

The table for rating cravings requires the following items:

1.  Time of craving.
2.  Rating on discomfort scale.
3.  Anti-craving technique put into action.

Here are Beck's examples of anti-craving techniques involve mindset and behavioral techniques.

Mindset techniques include:

1.  Labeling it, telling  yourself that it is just a craving and it, like hunger, will go away.
2.  Stand Firm - don't strengthen that give-in muscle.  Strengthen the resistance muscle.
3.  Don't give yourself a choice - simply tell yourself that you CANNOT give in.
4.  Imagine the aftermath of giving in (boy, this one hits home).
5.  Remind yourself why you're not giving in.

Behavioral techniques include:

1.  Distancing yourself from your food craving - move away from the craving.
2.  Drink a low or no calorie beverage - speaks for itself.
3.  Relax - one of the best ways for me to do this is yoga breathing.
4.  Distract yourself by doing something else other than eating.

There is an awesome distraction chart in the book, and it encourages you to rate the items on the chart as to how helpful they were in times of craving. 

Of course, at the time of reading this page, I feel slightly hungry, but, there is no craving for anything in particular.  I look forward to using this chart.  I'm going to print one up and glue it into my diet notebook.  Same with my discomfort chart.

Day 14 is coming tomorrow, it's the day BEFORE you actually start dieting (if you haven't already). 

Days 1 - 12

Day 1 - Record the advantages of losing weight:

1. I want to have a baby, therefore, I want to get in better physical shape for a healthier pregnancy.
2. I will have more energy.
3. My clothes will fit better (at this time, nothing really fits).
4. I can wear cuter clothes.
5. I won't hate looking in the mirror.
6. I will be more comfortable in times of intimacy.
7. I will feel better physically and mentally.
8. I won't be embarrassed when I run into old friends.
9. I will live a long time for my child (children).
10. I will get more attention and not feel invisible.  Let's face it, the fatter you are, the more likely people will look right through you.  

I am supposed to read these three times per day.  In order to facilitate this, I've decided to read them before each meal and once before sleeping.

Day 2 - Pick Two Reasonable Diets

One diet is the primary diet, and the second is a back up JIK you fail at the first, that way, you have something to quickly fall back on.

Diet Choice 1 for me is a low calorie (1200 - 1400) diet, mainly following Jillian Michaels' Body Revolution meal plan.

Diet Choice 2 for me is Weight Watchers, my sister does this, and she's had LOTS of success, but, I don't want to pay for my diet right now.

Day 3 - Eat Sitting Down

Done!  I never eat sitting up, except when I cook.  So, I need to make a conscience effort to not eat when standing and cooking.

Day 4 - Give Yourself Credit

I have decided that I will reward myself $0.10 for each credit, which includes reading my cards, following my diet plan and working out.  I'll keep up with tick marks in my diet notebook.

Day 5 - Eat Slowly and Mindfully

Eating slowly and mindfully helps you realize when you are full.  I am going to make a conscience effort to do this.  If I eat mindfully and slowly each meal, that's another $0.10 credit!

Day 6 - Find a Diet Coach

This one is hard for me.  I really wanted my DH to be my DC, but, he gets angry with me if I discuss my weight with him, because, for the most part, I'm pretty negative about my fatness.  So, it can't be him.  I'm going to rely on friends Mari, Hillarie and Brooke for support.

Day 7 - Arrange Your Environment

We don't have bad foods at home (at least bad foods that I want), so this will be easy.  The  hard part is work, so I will not bring cash to work to hit the snack machine for that mid afternoon chocolate craving.

Day 8 - Create Time and Energy

I will take Sundays to prepare my lunch.  My decision was to choose only cold meal options for lunches at work.  This way, there isn't a ton of cooking and prep each night.  This will include salmon salad, chicken salad, and tuna salad.  Also, cold breakfast preparations, which include toasted nuts, with fruit and yogurt and a little honey.  Also, I am going to do my best to see about meal preps on Sundays to make meals to go through the week, or crock pot meals.  Not so easy with JMBR, but, her meals are not that hard to make in a quick amount of time, which was her goal.

I am going to do my best to get up in the morning to workout.  But, if I cannot, I'm going to work out once I get home from work, before I make dinner.  This may encourage me to leave work at 4:30 instead of sticking around socializing or putting in just 30 more minutes of work.

Day 9 - Select an Exercise Plan

I am going to do JMBR (Jillian Michaels Body Revolution).  I love her workouts.  Either by the end of this month (July) or in August we're (DH and I) will purchase bicycles so we can ride those together as a family.  The plan encourages spontaneous and planned workouts.

Day 10 - Set a Realistic Goal

EASY!  They kind of tell you 5 POUNDS!!  So, it's 5 pounds, with a reward system when I reach the goal.  For the first 5 lb goal, it'll be a gift under $5.00, then $10.00 - etc.... you've got it right? 

Day 11 - Differentiate between Hunger, Desire and Cravings

To do this, pick a day, and note what you experience before, during, and after you eat.  Note how your stomach feels, and then after 20 minutes, do the same.  This should help you distinguish whether you are hungry or not.  I have picked Wednesday, July 11 to do this, while I am at work. 

Day 12 - Practice Hunger Tolerance

Create a discomfort scale, totally unrelated to hunger.  Then, choose a day to skip lunch.  I will choose Friday, July 13.  Every hour from the time you normally eat lunch until you eat dinner, rate your hunger on the discomfort scale.  Reflect each hour.  They recommend to choose a day that you're busy, not a weekend day.  I'm scared about this!!

So, those are days 1 - 12 in a nutshell.