Six weeks! Not much to say here, except I’m limiting the cheating after this weekend. I found myself going overboard and getting into a cycle where it was getting way too easy to justify not doing the right thing. I won’t go into great detail, but, “I’ll get back on it on Monday,” is not a good mindset, and the whole food-as-reward mentality is really starting to freak me out.
I hadn’t fully realized it until now, but I have been viewing the excessive intake of food I shouldn’t ever eat (or at least not eat with any regularity) as this comforting, pleasing, Good Thing that I was essentially punishing myself by not eating. I don’t think this is a safe, healthy way to think about food; in fact, I think that if I don’t address it now I am just setting myself up for eventual failure when, unbound by the restrictions of my current diet, I fall back into the same pattern of continual self-reward that pushed me to almost 230 pounds. It seems obvious: if I perceive food I shouldn’t eat (or beer I shouldn’t drink, and whatever else) as a reward, then won’t I simply find every excuse in the book to reward myself? Tough day at work? Get some Arthur Bryant’s and relax with a six pack. Mowed the lawn? I deserve some cheesecake. So I’m pretty sure I need to change that mentality, I just don’t know how. But I’m working on it.
Stats for this week:
Date: 04-25-2007 (Days on program: 42)
Weight: 201 (Total lost: 26 pounds)
BMI: 30.6 (Category: Obese…barely!)
Belly: 39.5″ (Started: 45″)
moderation. Thats the key. Nothing wrong with a beer as long as thats like the only carbs you drink. AND DONT DRINK FUCKING 6. The biggest issue with dieting is its not cool to go cold turkey no matter what the TV shows and books tell you. You drop the cheesecake and beer completely and your going to fail. Its a gradual thing. Dont eat it nearly as much, then after 2-3 weeks cut it out some more, then some more. Eventually your body wont notice you cutting off what it used ot have in it and increasing the good things. These days I have maybe some cookies or a piece of cake every 2-3 weeks.
Im actually down to 230-225 myself, but my BMI is between 26-24. Still have a bit of a chub, but its slowly being replaced by muscle.
I’d say its about time to add a sprint routine to your workout. It’s very time efficient and you’ll notice some great results.
Figure 8 100’s is a good starting spot. Maybe 2 400’s. If you don’t live next to a track you’ll have to guestimate.
Food as a reward, I know that feeling. I can’t help you there – it wasn’t a conscious decision on my part to stop seeing food like that. But I just kept telling myself that I didn’t need those snacks, that I didn’t want to eat that, that I had no need to open the fridge – and the whole attraction kind of went away. I still have cheat meals and occasionally a cheat snack, but not the way I used to back when I didn’t diet. I guess the PhysicsDiet site really helped, seeing your daily weights influence your average trendline like that really reinforces you choice to diet… Making it much easier to reward yourself with something fun instead of food.