Subtle or Drastic Changes

I often wonder when thinking about changing my diet if it is better to subtly change my diet or make drastic changes. Certainly, drastic changes lead to faster results. But, I just as quickly return to my old habits. If I were to stop diet coke cold-turkey, it wouldn't be long before I returned to drinking it and drinking a lot of it. It seems that if I were to limit myself to one or two a day, and substitute other fluids at the other times, my obsession would be lessened.

Food is different than diet coke. I need to stop eating fast food and I need to stop eating like I just returned from Survivor at night. My nightly caloric intake probably rivals that of a football player. So, do I limit my evening intake to a few choice items, or would it be better to eat nothing at all. If I ate nothing at all, would I find myself within a few days foraging for food like a bear in the spring?

One of these days, I will give it a try and let you know what works for me. Let me know what works for you.

Vices

As I sit and wonder why I struggle so much with food, I have come to rationalize that everyone has a vice, and mine is food. People drink, smoke, gamble, or other such things. My vice seems to be food. Life has been a bit stressful lately, and I have been conscientiously aware of my flight to food. The battle, of course, is to learn to control the vice and learn to turn to something else for "comfort". If you have figured out how to do so, please share with the class. In this case, a class of one.

It is February, How Was January?

We all make resolutions to lose weight in the new year. We might even take a few steps towards that goal. Before long, many of us have lost our desire and given into our weaknesses. We get frustrated and discouraged and give up. But, don't give up, the year isn't over. The year has just started. You have 10 more months (I don't count December, who really loses weight in December?).

Here's what we do, and you've heard it before, make small attainable goals. I want to lose 70 pounds. That is a lot of weight. If I look at it as 70 pounds, I will get discouraged. I will get overwhelmed by the prospect of losing that much weight. As each month goes by, I might get more and more discouraged.

So, I need to set a small attainable goal. Losing 70 pounds is too much in one year. But, 50 pounds is doable. If I lose 5 pounds a month through October (and before feeding season - you know, Thanksgiving and Christmas), that is workable. That is only 1 1/4 pounds a week. Anyone can do that.

I am happy to report that month 1 was successful. Now, instead of 50 pounds to lose, I have only 45 pounds to lose this year. But, 45 is still a monumental task. So, my goal is not to lose 45 pounds, but to lose 5 pounds in February.

We can do this.