Week One is the toughest, so they say, but for me I always find it goes well, I guess because of the excitement of something new. Perhaps Week #2 is my true "first" week.
Notwithstanding I had some moments of triumph, caution, and failure last week.
Wednesday: Family Dinner
My Mom found a recipe on Pinterest that she wanted to try. Just about every other thing she says these days is preceded with the phrase "I saw this thing on Pinterest..." It was for baked chicken smothered in cooked spinach, cheese, and artichoke hearts. Yummy!!
"Will that fit into your diet?" she very courteously and considerately asked me (before we fully committed to this dish being the star player in the family sit-down-together dinner she wanted to have since my brother was coming by to visit after work that day).
Hmmmn... good question. Baked chicken? check. Artichokes? check. Spinach? Double check. Cheese and other stuff to make rich sauce? Ehhhhhh.... wobbly.
I haven't yet talked specifically about the "meal plan" part of my list of goals, which is for me the most important, the greyest, and most slippery slope. For now, suffice it to say I'm not calorie counting (too work-intensive and not something I care to do for the rest of my life), but I'm focusing more on portion control and maintaining a certain mix of food groups. The cheese was an indulgence but one I decided was acceptable if I kept those portions in check.
This magic meal was hot and ready and waiting the minute I walked into the door Wednesday evening and we sat down to eat right away. I got a small dinner plate out and put two of the small pieces of chicken (with the sauce) and a small extra blog of the spinach-cheese-artichoke mixture, doing my best to try and make it mostly spinach.
"That's it, this is all I get," I said to myself, looking challengingly down at my plate.
We sat down to eat. I took a bite and immediately felt the "diet depression" descend because it was super delicious and I wanted to inhale my entire plate and go for seconds. And I could've done it too.
"Nope, this is all you get," I re-emphasized to myself. I still needed to drink my third water bottle for the day so I had that with me and I focused on finishing off as much of it as I could with the meal since I'm disinclined to drink a lot of anything between meals. I took smaller bites of my food and tried to savor and rather than inhale it, just like all the nutrition pundits, books, and blogs have suggested, and you know, it actually worked. Between the food and the water, I wasn't feeling physically hungry by the time I got through my portions and by the time I downed my evening glass of vegetable juice I was actually feeling stuffed.
But I didn't collapse into a food coma. That's probably important to note.
The evening moved along. A few hours later I had my evening snack and shortly thereafter went to bed.
I had triumphed over my enemy, the desire for seconds. What would have been my seconds became a repeat of the same delicious meal the next evening.
Saturday: The Theater Party
My theater company had our annual "character awards" ceremony on Saturday night, with the promise of pizza, cake pops, and soda provided. Obviously this was a dangerous situation. After some thought I came up with the plan of foregoing my evening whole grain cookies in favor of one or two cake pops (depending on their size) and eating my dinner just before I left in the hopes of staying away from the pizza.
However, something atypical happened on Saturday. I had gone roller skating that morning with my little sister (mentoring program, not my actual little sister, for those of you who know her), and I skated hard. I wanted to make sure the skating counted as my cardio for Saturday. It's a really fun workout, though I do wish they'd turn everybody around and let them go in the opposite direction a little more often.
Anyway, I think as a result of this heavy workout, my metabolism revved up into high gear. I was extra, extra hungry all day long and I know it wasn't just in my head. I ate my supper just as planned before leaving for the theater party, but I still felt ridiculously hungry. When I got there, and saw the pizza and all the desserts (no cake pops-- but a bunch of other choices), it only got worse.
After half an hour's deliberation, I finally made a choice. I chose one piece of pizza (medium to small-ish, but with lots of olives), and one cookie (some sort of super delicious cranberry oatmeal mix). Then I sat at my table with my friends and doodled like a mad woman until the awards were over so that I wouldn't be tempted to go back for seconds. It actually wasn't that difficult. Once the pizza had settled down I finally, finally didn't feel hungry anymore. I didn't even think twice about the pop, so that was a win all around.
Even though eating pizza technically lost me my "stick to meal plan" points for the day, I still felt like it was a victory since I'd kept it under control-- until I got home. Then my brain did this:
Evil Brain: You've already lost your points for today... you might as well have extra evening snacks.
Me: But I'm not hungry anymore, and it's almost time for bed anyway.
Evil Brain: Oh, come on, you know you always want an extra bagel in the evenings. Have your usual cookies anyway. They're all healthy!
Me: Oh, all right. Since tonight is a lost cause anyway...
And then I ate about 600 calories I didn't need. Anti-success story.
Still, the situation has given me much to reflect upon with regards to recognizing true hunger and how to cope with it.
Next check-in, the Week #2 results!!
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