Our Manifesto - A Reminder

At the start of this enterprise in 2010, Over-Educated Mother and I drew up our ten point weight loss manifesto. We didn't do too well at sticking with it, so maybe we need to remind ourselves...:

1. Eat less food.
2. But eat everything we want to in moderation.
3. No deprivation allowed.
4. Eat slower and with more thought.
5. Don't think about food all the time: Menu plan at the start of the week.
6. Limit daily calorie intake to 2,200 in the first four weeks. Reduce to 2,000 daily in second four weeks; then 1,800 in last four weeks. See what happens.
7. Good breakfast is essential.
8. No more than one visit to a coffee shop per day.
9. Stick to a proper time table for meals: No late lunches or dinners. No snacks between snacks.
10. Exercise once a week at first rising to three times a week.

OEM, How would you say you are doing on these points right now?

Emotional Eating

What you need, OEM, is a strategy for gaining control of your "emotional eating". I found several articles on the web about this, including this one from the Mayo Clinic. Seems to me that you are already following a number of the suggestions, such as keeping a food diary (and the no deprivation one is clearly very important).

I am also a toadal emotional eater. Eat when I'm bored, eat when I'm happy, eat when I am cross... I guess the strategy would be to reach for something that is less calorific for a start. So reach for the yoghurt not the crisps. Have a cup of cocoa instead of a chocolate bar. Plus the action of having to make something will decrease the amount of food you eat, because you have less time!

I also suffer from Lack of Willpower. Today I'm heading off to a hotel in Santa Cruz for a conference (today and tomorrow). Which means - hotel food. Large portions. Too much choice. Cooked breakfast maybe. Temptation and almost guaranteed failure. I'm thinking of going vegetarian for the couple of days, but I may have missed the boat on that one.

On the bright side, I did do my dance class last night. Any progress on that front for you? Now it's stopped snowing in good old Blighty, might a brisk walk around the park be another way to work off the annoyance?

Cake and Happiness

We did go out for pizza last night and I was sooooo goooood. I ate half a pizza, when I would normally have eated a whole one (some 1200 calories, according to the California Pizza Kitchen's nutritional menu); and I also shared a salad with Hubby. He suspects that the salad had a fair few calories in it, as he chose the "Thai Chicken Salad" which turned out to have deep fried noodley things on the top and a sweet dressing, but still - ! Salad!

The best part was that I went to bed without a headache and got up in the morning without one too. There may well be something in my mother's theory.

Today I was quite good and a little bit bad. Weetabix for breakfast. Wholewheat pitta bread with curried chicken salad for lunch.

I did accidentally eat a two egg cheese omelette mid-morning.... Well, I was teaching Deep Thought how to make one (for her own snack) and Little Starlet requested one. Then Little Starlet was very rude about Deep Thought's product (which was actually perfect) so I told her she couldn't eat it. And I couldn't waste it, could I? And WeightWatchers thinks that eggs are good - a "filling food". So that was only four points of harm done.

Then this afternoon we stopped off at my favorite coffee shop - the French one - to pick up coffee and snackerel for the afternoon. The kids had been at a dance class and I'd promised them a treat. We each had a very small chocolate cake (1" square) which was delicious, and just the perfect size. I count that as naughty but nice, and in keeping with manifesto points 2 (everything in moderation), 3 (no deprivation) and 8 (one visit to a coffee shop per day).

The thing I am noticing is that I am not wanting to eat so much in one sitting. I had got into the habit of eating till I felt a bit queasy, or had that badly stuffed feeling, and now I am able to stop when I get to the end of what seems an appropriate portion.

Tonight we are having healthy roast chicken, boiled potatoes and some other vegetable. (Hubby is cooking.)

The

A Few Teething Troubles

Lack of food is not really an issue here in the great US of A. There is abundance all around, and particularly in coffee shops...

Referring back to the manifesto, yesterday I managed to score on one, but fail dismally on at least two. I went out in the evening to my regular Scottish Country Dance class, so I get a win of two hours exercise. However, I score badly on the coffee shop visits, as I went once at lunch time and once again in the afternoon. On the second occasion, Deep Thought compelled me to share a piece of chocolate cake with her, and how could I deprive my child?

Today I had a fairly modest salad and grilled chicken lunch - possibly with too much bread - but this evening there are dinner plans, so it could all go horribly wrong.

Sticking with the Manifesto

The challenge of having a manifesto is finding a way to accomplish all its parts simultaneously. I think I succeeded yesterday in achieving at least two.

First, I ate less and in moderation: Weetabix for breakfast, soup and a slice of bread for lunch, modest homemade fish pie for dinner. Then I rejected deprivation by eating half a tin of biscuits after the kids had gone to bed.

So far so good, eh?

I also re-ignited my WeightWatchers account yesterday. I added my current weight (to be revealed tomorrow, which official Day One) and started inserting the data for the food I'd eaten. But since the tin of biscuits sent me over the edge for the entire week, I decided that perhaps I'd better start again.

Dieting Manifesto

Over-Educated Mother and I have drawn up our ten point weight loss manifesto, and here it is:

1. Eat less food.
2. But eat everything we want to in moderation.
3. No deprivation allowed.
4. Eat slower and with more thought.
5. Don't think about food all the time: Menu plan at the start of the week.
6. Limit daily calorie intake to 2,200 in the first four weeks. Reduce to 2,000 daily in second four weeks; then 1,800 in last four weeks. See what happens.
7. Good breakfast is essential.
8. No more than one visit to a coffee shop per day.
9. Stick to a proper time table for meals: No late lunches or dinners. No snacks between snacks.
10. Exercise once a week at first rising to three times a week.