Week One

Week one of the new 5+1 weight loss program ...

Sunday: Not a problem. Really. I was motivated, and I wasn’t hungry. My meals and dinner tasted good. No worries.

Monday: Some of the new food didn’t taste so good, but overall it was okay. I am going to the bathroom every 30 minutes. I must have lost five pounds of water. There were Christmas cookies and candy for the staff meeting, but I wasn’t even tempted.

Tuesday: I had a headache all day. At my lunch meeting there were brownies (which happens to be my favorite dessert), but I still abstained. In the afternoon, I heard someone eating potato chips; I almost lost it. If I would have smelled them, I may have cracked. We had a pretty good dinner and I had my fifth meal as a snack. That ended a hard day on a high note.

Wednesday: Another hard day at work. Every Wednesday at 3:00, at my work, we have “healthy snack.” Well this time, for a reason that escapes me, it was catered with a taco bar (AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!). I sat in my cubicle eating one of my meals, wishing it was a taco. This is getting harder. On a high note, however, I have lost 11 pounds since my visit to the doctor.

Thursday: My wife’s work Christmas party. Dinner at a fancy restaurant. I did pretty well. I didn’t stick to the plan – exactly, but I ordered small portions of healthy food, and only nibbled at the stuff I should stay away from.

Friday: Today was HARD! I WANT DORITOS! Alas, I choked down my meat and veggies for dinner, and tamed the tiger by eating Frank’s Red Hot Sauce – with a spoon, for a snack. It put me way over on sodium for the day, but it didn’t add any calories. It kept the tiger at bay.

Saturday: I would say I totally blew it today, but compared to how I usually eat – I was actually pretty good. I had a couple slices of homemade pizza, a few cookies, and some crackers. Fortunately I have planned for a few slip-ups along the way (especially the first month). I plan on getting right back on the program in the morning.

Prolog:
It’s so funny how addicted I am to food (that’s “funny”: weird – not “funny”: Ha ha). I was so gung-ho at the beginning of the week, and by Friday I was ready to eat myself into a coma. I wasn’t hungry, but the cravings were so overwhelming.

The good news is that Sunday, Monday, and Tuesday weren’t that bad. I have stayed on plan and I felt pretty good about myself. I still get the cravings, but I remind myself that I am really not hungry – because I’m not. I just hope the weekends get easier.

Trigger:
I have found that if I am not watching television, it is much easier to stay on the plan than when I do watch it. I have eaten in front of the T.V. for so many years that the Pavlovian response kicks in when the power comes on. It’s going to take a lot of positive self-talk and support to overcome this. Maybe I will just watch less television, and find something more constructive to do (again, history is not on my side here).