Along with eating mindfully and intuitively, I had decided to stop eating sugar altogether and cut down on the carbs. Hmm, that sounds suspiciously like a dieter's mentality, doesn't it? Stopping the binge in favor or restrictive eating? Can you guess how well that worked for me?
That first day back to work there was the goodbye potluck for one of my all time favorite co-workers--a sad occasion, worthy of a good meal--to which someone brought the most amazing donuts I have ever seen in my life. Then there was not one but two big boxes of those fabulous little hazelnut chocolate balls wrapped in gold foil. It would be no problem if I could eat just one or even two or three, but no! I took it upon myself to work through those boxes as quickly as possible so that we could all be done with them and move on! I was shocked when someone pointed out that they actually have whole hazelnuts in the middle: I had never noticed! I don't like hazelnuts! Boy was I relieved when they were all gone.
It was not the start to the new year I had pictured for myself.
Now, as I'm reminding myself of all the things I have learned in the last year, I am calming down and relaxing into a more normal eating pattern, and I'm noticing that since I started working with all of these ideas four months ago, I do eat very differently. I couldn't eat as much as I did 6 months ago if I tried! I get full quickly and actually feel satisfied. I appreciate my food more, and, excepting the chocolate binge, I want less of it. This is no crash diet, that's for sure! It is testing my patience as a weight loss tactic. But it is so much more than that.
OK, it was time to retake that self assessment. Remember that? It was four months after I had taken it the first time when I started the weight management class. On a scale of 1-10, my satisfaction with all the areas it addressed had averaged a 5 back in September. Now it's a 7. Wow! I am 20% more satisfied with basic and important aspects of my life and my health than I was 4 months ago! That's a 5% a month increase--a pretty good return.
So, I had my Christmas tear, but overall, I am on a good path and want to continue in that direction. It is, overall, very satisfying.
As we transition into a new year, I am also going to transition the focus of this blog from eating to exercising--part 2 of 3. (Part 3 is about self care, stress management, spirituality, that kind of thing, but we'll get to that later.) I have much less to say about exercising than I have about eating because, well, it's just not as complicated, but it is just as important.
One last little aside I have to include about mindful eating before I move on, though: I told my 7 year old daughter about the mindful eating exercise I described in my last post, and she proceeded to show me how it's done. She spent the next FORTY-FIVE minutes eating three small squares of a chocolate bar. She's my hero!
Had to laugh at the fact that chocolate coating the hazelnuts successfully got them past your taste sensors.
ReplyDeleteI think with any regimen, part of the key to success is allowing yourself the occasional slip up. Sounds like you are back on track now.