Last week, after eating poorly after pigging out the
first few days I challenged myself to refrain from eating out the rest of the
week. I succeeded and was able to lose
the weight gained during the first part of the week plus a couple of extra
pounds. The challenge wasn’t as
difficult as I had thought it would be, but that doesn’t mean it was easy by
any means. My husband and I have been
eating take-out or dining out more times per week than we prepare meals at home,
for years.
My eating for the first few days of this week haven’t matched
last week’s poor choices, but I have had a few things that I wish I hadn’t,
including a couple of sweet treats.
While it hasn’t been a lot, I feel that it could lead to more. I feel like I relaxed a bit and let a little
of this or a little of that sneak into my diet.
I have decided that cutting out everything that I want to stop eating
all at once aka going cold turkey is probably not going to work for me. This doesn’t mean that I am giving myself
permission to eat whatever I like. I
only mean that I plan to eat less and less of the certain food types until I am
95% or more compliant.
Back to this week….I have had take-out once already and it
wasn’t worth it. Before my lazy habits
take over and ruin this week, I will challenge myself again. Working to win a challenge or meet a goal
seems to motivate me as long as the goal isn’t too far of a stretch or too far
in the distance. The challenge this week
will be to not eat out more than once between now and Sunday. So like last week, at least four of the
remaining days in this week I need to only eat meals prepared at home. It may not sound like much of a challenge to
most of you and someday it won’t to me either, but right now it does. If I make it the whole five days, that is
even better.
Last week, I prepared my own lunches and a couple of my
dinners. My husband did the rest of the
cooking and has been doing most of it this week. Even tonight, he’s attempting Broccoli &
Beef. A second component to my challenge
this week will to cook at least one dinner for my husband. Do I sound like a bad wife? I often wonder what kind of woman doesn’t
cook meals for her husband regularly. I
do my part around here, don’t worry.
Well that’s about all I have for you today. Have a nice evening.
I don't know how many times I false started my weight loss program, just that it was many, many times. One option might be to pick one day of the week to have your non-diet meal, or two meals per week. That way you don't feel totally deprived - Just a thought:)
ReplyDeleteEating out is such a struggle, you're doing an amazing job! You can definitely reach this goal too. And don't feel like a bad wife for not cooking! I cook a few things but my husband is BY FAR a better cook. And he enjoys it so I let him. Keep up the good work!
ReplyDeleteWhen I first started my weight loss last year, I didn't cut everything out either. I did it in stages. Everyone has to do what works for them. If you and hubby ate out a lot before and now you have cut that back a lot, well then you are making progress which great! :-)
ReplyDeleteI think those are great challenges :) I am in your corner! p.s I don't cook for my boyfriend everyday either if it makes you feel any better lol
ReplyDeleteIt's hard to do it cold turkey. I did my best at that-got 95% clean asap-because for me, it's the ONLY way to stop the cravings.
ReplyDeleteGood luck!
I too think you are doing awesome. It is not easy to change and it doesn't happen over night. And by no means are you a bad wife. Hubby and I take many turns in cooking, it really depends what time either of us get home first. I have a set schedule but Hubby doesn't. Doesn't matter we do for each other many things, same as you.
ReplyDeleteMany hugs
Hi! Do you food journal? My eating started to make complete sense and gain rhythm in good ways when I started journaling. I'm on day 267 of food journaling today.
ReplyDeleteMy 2 cents of advice: When you feel despair about your current eating, let yourself be upset about it. Do not overeat to food-sedate yourself to make yourself feel better. Don't beat yourself up over it, but also do NOT allow people to console you for eating poorly either. Let the despair work for you to help you change. If the restaurant food was not worth it, carefully absorb that disappointment in high calorie food that did not make you happier. When you get completely worn out of the eating despair, you change in serious ways. Then when you change, it is so incredibly happy to quit all of that despair.<<That is how I got fed up with overeating and changed my ways. I hope that works for you too.
You are still learning a lot. Trial and error is the best form of learning.
:-) Marion
I think Marc has a good idea about picking which days that you'll have your non-diet meal, then you have something to look forward to on the days that you are on track. I'll bet cooking more meals at home is easier on your pocketbook, too. You're doing great!
ReplyDeleteYay you on taking on the challenge!!! Good luck! We're here pulling for you!
ReplyDeleteHey, my husband and I split the cooking 50/50. If we didn't, I'd probably thwap him with a frying pan. I am NOT little suzie homemaker. :)
ReplyDeleteI will say the key to my eating healthy has been bulk-baking. I set aside a night where I have good movies or shows to watch, and make up all sorts of things I can freeze and reheat, because the truth is that I hate cooking. It's boring. I like eating though! So, one night sacrificed ton movies and the kitchen = about 3 weeks worth of food. Dinners, I make a bit bigger on the spot (so it's fresh for the natives. They bite...) and I set aside freezable or lunch portions immediately, so they're gone from the container to start with.
You are doing so great! You are catching yourself when you make a mistake and then you challenge yourself to do better next time.
ReplyDeleteYou are not a bad wife because you don't cook everyday. I sure wish my hubby could cook......although.....he does clean bathrooms. I haven't had to scrub our bathrooms since we got married over 11 yrs ago. ;)
Oh, you've got this!
ReplyDeleteI actually think I do better when I eat more meals out. Well, depending on where those meals are eaten. :) If money weren't an object, I'd be at Jason's Deli 5 nights a week. (That's about how many times I ate there when I was losing weight. LOL)
That method worked for me. I started trying to stop my heavy drinking and losing weight in January and made small change after small change. By March, I was hot and heavy on it and that's when I started to see results on the scale and in my behavior. Small changes became bigger changes.
ReplyDeleteYou are doing well. Writing about it (either on here or privately) in my humble opinion really helps.
We have to be related! I am the exact same way about eating out. I do TRY to cook meals at least four times a week. It doesn't always happen. I also refuse to cook on Saturday night and Sunday night, so do get into trouble some there.
ReplyDeleteIn theory, you SHOULD be able to eat anything in MODERATION. Just smaller portions (or so Weight Watchers says...) - just stay away from the "trigger" foods. That is what I'm trying to do now!