All week I’ve felt very “In Control” with my eating. And I’ve had a very busy week on both the work front and at home. But no matter what was going on, I managed to keep my goals in terms of food in the front of my mind….. [Make Peace with Food and Treat Myself with only 1. I’ve kept to my 30 ppvs every day this week! I also have 10 weekly ppvs left over AND I have 54 Activity ppvs in the bank. It’s been a STRONG week of control, restraint and conscious eating. Then Friday happened.
Ok, here is where you expect to read about how I blew it and ATE my kitchen! Well, no. I’m NOT doing that this week. No matter how much I want to. Uh, and I DO WANT TO! No, this week I’m ready for this feeling. The Stress Eating Urge. I knew IT would come. Um, how did I Know? Um, because IT ALWAYS COMES. That’s how I got overweight. My habit has been to use food to soothe, to calm, to relax myself. So, another one of the tools against Sabotaging Myself is to prepare for when the tough times come, and to Be Ready to do something ELSE besides EAT!
Key #1 was to Be Ready for it. Be Ready for the insatiable urge to drown my stress and anxiety (typically caused by work) with cookies, granola bars, those WW coffee cakes that are calling me! D@am coffee cakes!
Key #2 was those signs on my pantry doors. Those post-it notes that today read 9.2. 9.2 pounds to lose until I am under 200 pounds. That’s the goal I want MORE than coffee cakes. So those post-its gave me the 10-20 seconds I need to remove my hand from the pantry door handle….and stand there….and Think.
Key #3 was to already have my Thoughts figured out. To already KNOW what I was going to do INSTEAD of eat those coffee cakes. For me, I decided I am going to drink 4 ozs of Diet Plumagranate Snapple (because its sweet, and I don’t have it very often, so I Liiiiike it). It answers the Calling for something Sweet or Sugar, which until now has typically been my “go to” drug for stress and anxiety relief. Then I went into my purse and I put on some lipstick. LOL, yea Lipstick. Have I ever told you how much I love lipstick?? Yea, it makes me feel pretty, and most importantly, when I put it on, I am alot less likely to eat or drink anything. Lipstick is like a signal to myself that “the mouth is closed”…..except to kisses! 🙂 Then I took a walk to the mailbox. Er, it’s way too early for the mailman to have come to my house…..BUT I took the walk anyway. I left the house, I got as far away from the kitchen as I could. I let the cold air clear my head. I got a chance to look at the beautiful blue sky and the winter-ready trees. I had 5 minutes to remember….to remember what my longer term goals are, and to remember…..remember just how AWESOME I did this week…..and to CHOOSE not to wreck myself.
So, on this stressful Friday — my best thought for today is — Get Ready for the Stress. Plan for it. Expect it. Figure out now, while you have all your strength and best thoughts to use as tools — Figure out now how you will DEFEAT IT. Because it’s not about IF the Stress will come….it’s about WHEN it will come….and how you can prepare a STRONG plan to fall back on , so you know what YOU are gonna do in your weakest moment!
Ciao for now…….Diane