Weekends are challenging

I'm learning that the weekend is the hardest time for following my two simple habits. The other night, things were a little crackers at home with tension running high. I so wanted to chow down and prowl through the fridge and the pantry. It was like my rational brain was arguing with my impulsive brain. "Ok, go drink a glass of water and do something else now. And brush your teeth too!", I told myself. And it was HARD, ridulously hard to tear myself away and do what I knew would be the better choice. I actually did, and it worked for a little while, but in the end, I came back to the kitchen and started snacking. I told the rational side to shush up and did what felt good for the moment. Crazy, the struggle in my head. And in the end, I was disappointed with myself. Something to think about and teach myself.

On Monday, I was back to doing the better choices again though. I drank more water and brushed my teeth post dinner and didn't snack after dinner as a result. I couldn't curb the urge to snack while I was making dinner even though I drank the water, but I decide to give in to the urge with celery and salsa. Not perfect, but at least a better choice.

PriorFatGirl talked about some experiment from the Beck plan, and point of it was that it is not an "emergency" when you started to feel hungry before it was meal time. I tell myself this - "This is NOT an emergency", but how do I get myself to believe it? Maybe it just takes practice.

That reminds me. I said in a comment on Jen's blog that I would try these experiments too. I guess it's time to pick a few dates on the calendar and get it done.

Brushing and flossing

I have been doing to much nibbling and snacking post dinner for the past couple of days. Time to reenforce the habit of drinking water instead and brushing my teeth.

Maybe it's time for habit number 2 -- Brush and floss the teeth within 20 minutes of finishing dinner. Ok, I'm doing it. I WILL do this EVERY night, starting with today.

I'm contemplating the next new habit, but this one will be much, much harder... Starting March 1st when it will actually be light enough out a 6am, I will get up when my SO does and go for a brisk walk. I need to start doing some regular exercise because I'm not getting any. If I can accomplish this, then maybe later on, I can do a C25K training program. More on this later.

Time to fill up the cup with water.

Status

I have not done well with the water to curb the snacking since Thursday. Thursday I was on the road all day and didn't drink lots of water because I didn't want to make a lot of pit stops. Then, since Friday, I haven't been consistent about drinking water, I've been locking horns with my daughter, and PMS is yanking me around too. Ignoring the good habit, emotional turmoil and hormones - Three things which led to some major munching, last night especially. And I knew it too. I knew I was reacting to how I felt, not eating because I was hungry. At some point though, I stopped and didn't fill up a bowl with chocolate ice cream and the ridiculous urge to consume non-stop passed. Phew.

Today is a new day. I'm going to go pour another glass and find my inner peace. I can't control the hormones, but the other two items I can do something about.

You are probably sick of hearing me blather about water, but...

Last night at a very long meeting, somebody brought brownies. Now I love brownies. They are probably in the top three of trigger foods for me. I never met a brownie that I didn't like. But I looked at that plate and a feeling of anger and loathing came over me. "How dare you try and lure me into eating you!", I thought. I got ticked off and decided to deny those brownies that power over me. I had just had dinner and I had remembered to bring a full water bottle with me. And dang if I wasn't able to just drink my water and ignore that plate under my nose. And that was for THREE hours of sitting right in front of those darn brownies. Wow! Who'd have thought THAT would happen. I credit the H2O with helping me to keep things under control.

Water, water, everywhere

Still trying to drink more water.

Last night, I really wanted to pop a cookie in my mouth after giving my son a few to eat for dessert. I tried the drink a glass of water bit. Again it was rough going at first, but I finished the glass. Then to top it off, I brushed my teeth. That did it. Cookie craving was gone. Phew.

H2O

Yesterday, I got home and REALLY wanted to start snacking. I mean go into total snarf down mode. But I followed my rule... before digging into the pretzel bag, I would drink some water. And for good measure, I also strongly suggested to myself to have an apple too, first, before starting in on the pretzels.

Well, I did it. I drank the water. I ate the apple. Then I had the pretzels with a little mustard for dipping, on a small plate. And I feel it was a success. I stopped after the pretzels were eaten. It was hard but I did it.

Who knew drinking water first would be so difficult? And will it get easier?

Time to go pour another glass of H2O.

2 years later

Well, I'm back to try this blogging thing again.

I'm not dieting. I'm attempting to instill better habits. But I do want to lose a few pounds too and get back to a smaller clothing size.

First habit is to drink more water. Also, under this heading, to have some water BEFORE I start a snack attack.

So, in that vein, I'm going to go fill up right now.

This theoretically should be a simple habit to create, right? I promise to report back. And sooner than two plus years, ha ha.