workbook day 16

Saying NO CHOICE to Unplanned eating
This is where my ‘rebellious teenager’ voice creeps in. I fool myself into thinking I can get away with things. Unfortunately each action has a price; it’s the law of cause and effect. If I over-eat I may get sick, but if I ‘substitute’ it’s easier to fool myself that this is an OK variation. Unfortunately, ‘substitutions’ start small (tomato for cucumber), but grow larger (chips instead of salad). My resistance muscle needs lots of work.

I am remembering to notice when I do something right in relationship to my diet, but I am forgetting to use my ‘counter’. It worked better in the summer because I wore shorts with pockets. Guess I’ll stop the ‘counter’ and record some of the improvements I notice.

workbook day 15

Start Diet
Weight: 189.5 (base line)
Back on track. The morning review session is easier for me than the evening planning session. I have gotten out of the habit of planning in the evening. The modifications I have made are important to my health and are reasonable. I know that I won’t drop more than .5 lb per week, but that is my goal. I do need to work with my Response Cards more. I remember the important ones and catch myself saying them to myself, but seeing them will be another form of reinforcement. Today was my Tai Chi class, so exercise was fun. Today I reminded myself to schedule ‘snack food’ (cheerios) for while I am watching the ballgame tomorrow. Anticipating eating triggers is a challenge. I did a good job grocery shopping in a healthy manner, planning to cook a ‘new meal’ tomorrow, using my Calendar to include diet and exercise time into my schedule, and using my Wellness Journal.

workbook day 13, 14

Day 13 & 14
Decrease Hunger and Cravings
One distraction that works for me is walking on the treadmill. Other effective methods are drinking a bottle of water, playing a computer game, reading, looking through a catalog, reading a book. If I do my distraction for 15 minutes, then the craving usually passes.
GET READY FOR TOMORROW
Knowing that I can modify my diet each evening to reflect something I’d like to have, as long as I chart the calories, helps. Tomorrow is my grocery shopping day, so that also encourages me to be healthy in my choices. I have purchased a couple of interesting books to learn about whole grains and other healthy foods.

Workbook Day 11 & Day 12

Difference between Hunger, Desire, and Cravings and Prove you Can Tolerate Hunger and Cravings:
Since the workbook exercises are review for me, I’ve decided to ‘do what I know how to do’ as I work through each day’s exercise from this point on. What this means is that I will be doing one day at a time, after today, by doing my evening review and planning session for the next day. Day 12 is my least favorite exercise. I have been afraid of hunger. I get the ‘shakes’ easily when I skip a meal. Oh, well. It’s just one day, & I’ll have a dinner I like. Besides, I’ve not cleared my system (that 3 day period it takes for the body to ‘panic’ about not having food), and haven’t officially restarted my diet, so I’ll probably sail through the exercise this time. Last time I made it 5 hours. (This time I made it 6 hours.)

Also, last summer I made a chart to go with this exercise. This is adapted from Judith Beck’s definitions, but I added “addiction” because sometimes I go ‘mindless’ and it gets past the Craving stage:
Hunger: haven’t eaten for many hours, specific body sensations (empty sensation in stomach, rumblings…anything will satisfy me)
Desire: just eaten but want to eat more, social or time response eating (specific thing sounds good)
Craving: strong urge to eat, tension and unpleasant physical yearning sensation (only xxx will do)
Addiction: anxiety + poor boundaries (unable/unwilling to restrict, unwilling to delay gratification; fear based eating; nothing will stop me from getting xxx to eat)

What I observed: At first, I was more aware of being thirsty rather than hungry. My craving will usually be for chocolate (sugar & chololate = 3 Musketeers), and will usually hit after 3pm if my protein intake has not been good for the day. I was aware of noon as a time to eat, by the clock. I didn’t really want to eat, I was just aware of the time. Around 3pm I experienced moderate hunger and a strong craving. I exercised and the craving lessened, but the hunger did not. By 4pm I started getting the shakes so it was the end of the exercise. One thing I learned is that sometimes I have a desire AND hunger, which can pull me off my plan of what I had intended to eat. If I can separate the desire for a specific thing to eat from hunger, then I will probably be more successful.