Saturday, November 13, 2010

To do or not to do...that is the ?????

I got some great supportive comments yesterday after my negative Nancy post, for which I'm very grateful.  When I posted yesterday morning I was steeped in negativity and self disgust; perhaps too emotional to rationally assess and modify my Hot 100 goals for this coming week.  So my main goal was to not binge at all for the week.  Secondary was not to eat after 8 p.m. any evening.  I've been so pathetic at sticking with goals that it was feeling impossible to consider I could actually do what I said I was going to do.  But not establishing a few specific behavior changes to shoot for is, in essence, giving up.   And I'm not giving up.

A couple of comments noted that I was focusing only on what NOT to do rather than what TO DO.  Point taken, and I agree.  I was responding to the horrible remorse and regret that follows the abject self disregard and self hatred manifested in a binge.  UGH.  Disrespecting myself even more by not establishing a plan of action to begin move in a right direction.  With that in mind - I am going to change my goals for this week.  I started yesterday doing a couple things I haven't yet been able to see through an entire day.  Rather than do it in secret, I need to write them down so to help them manifest.

1.  I am going to track.  Every bite.  Including calorie estimates.  I did this all day yesterday for the first time in years.  (The all day part.  I've written down many b'fasts and lunches - just haven't made it past midday.)
2.  I'm limiting my calories to 1870/day for this week.   And drinking at least 98 oz of water each day.  This is from Allan's Challenge you can read about here.  I like the soundness of this challenge, where you establish a goal weight and eat the number of calories daily it takes to maintain that goal weight.  This is my first week starting this, and I picked a goal higher than my eventual goal for starters.  I picked 170, but truly would like to get to 160.  However, if I aim too low from where I am now, I know I'll be setting myself up for failure by having too low a daily food intake.
3.  I will continue my exercise goal of at least 20 minutes 6 out of 7 days.

That's it.  I'm feeling better today after having just the one day of doing something I haven't done - the tracking.  I can't do this alone, but I can stay in one day, one hour and one minute if necessary to get through the inevitable food desires that will come up.  They are not with me right now, and for that, I'm grateful.  My new weigh in day will be Sundays on Allan's challenge, but I'll still be updating Friday's with my fellow Hotties.  The more we keep trying, the closer we get to finding our groove.  I KNOW that's true.

10 comments:

  1. I hope you find tracking as good a tool as I do. I pre-track, that is, I plan my food for the day (which is not as restrictive as it sounds), track everything into fitday and so I know where I stand and what I've got to play with. It doesn't always work, but most times it's enough to keep me from that "first bite".

    I think your decision not to limit your intake too much is a good one. If I get too restrictive, then I get rebellious. It's the darndest thing - I'm still a toddler at heart.

    I hope today brings you some peace and ease with your new plan. I think it's a good one. Wishing you all kinds of success, Leslie.

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  2. :D Sounds good. Although Allan scares me.

    I put the mall video link on my blog this morning. I can't get enough of that clip!

    Thanks again for passing it on to me--I know other bloggers are posting it, too.

    Deb

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  3. I have tracked for two days now. I have eaten well both days. Not that one necessarily leads to the other... it was time to get off my own little binge wagon and move on. So here we are. Each day we stay on plan will make the next day easier. And if the days are too hard, we can think about each hour or each bite. You and I can do this Leslie.

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  4. Deb, I scare me as well. Losing weight is not fun at all, but the flipside is being not healthy. Drink, water is your pal, and be patient..

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  5. So happy to be doing this with you! I'm also doing both challenges, but yesterday, after following the guidelines of Allan's DDDY for the first time, the food chatter ceased, and I felt like I was on my way for the first time in a long time. We can do this--it's a great support system!

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  6. I like the changeup in the goals. Sometimes it is necessary to get things back on track. You can do it!

    ~South Beach Steve

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  7. Good work on staying current with your current needs. I think I need to do that, too...

    Polar's Mom
    www.polarspage.blogspot.com

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  8. -Hang in there. We have to refine our plans to make it work or to make it mean something.
    I'm feeling better though today was a little lax compared to the last 4 days. I'm inspired to be fully on track tomorrow.Tracking and writing all my stuff down is sometimes a drag but also is a sign of respect to myself that I actually do care. I just know I feel better when I'm doing the right thing.

    Sometimes I think we need to just have a goal of not bingeing, then after we get that down then work on the calorie controls and everything else...So if all you can do is goal #1 great..add goal #2 stellar ...all the way to goal #3 -great!.

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  9. tracking is a very good 'to do' - sounds good

    I may have said this before - have known many people who have inched their way to really healthy lifestyle with one habit a week. they figure out one small thing - do it all week, keep doing it, and then pick up one good habit the next week. it builds to really healthy habits, one tiny step at a time.

    I think it is really beneficial to look at 10 lb increments rather than goal weight.


    PS - not saying a word about another challenge, because I have said them all before. . .

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  10. "I'm limiting my calories to 1870/day for this week."

    Now that's sensible and realistic!! Go Leslie, go!

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