Day 12 Cravings And Calendars

Day 12

Cravings and Calendars

I’ve already noticed subtle differences after 12 days. I have to tighten my belt a couple of notches before I walk at night or my pants will fall down! Only 12 days and I’m starting to feel better and my pants are getting a noticeably loose. The first couple of weeks can be a really tough time. Staying focused and on track 100% is absolutely necessary. When Tuesday rolls around and I get to weigh, that will be a positive boost to carry me through to the next weigh day. It is a daily struggle. Even with all that is on the line, it can still be extremely challenging every day. Someone said to me today “You make it sound so easy!” Well, I can assure you it’s not easy. If you’ve made the choice to do this too, then you know about the difficulty I’m talking about. Changing bad eating habits that I’ve had for my entire adult life isn’t something that just changes over night. I still have stray thoughts about food. Yes, stray thoughts! You know what I mean about stray thoughts…cravings. Most people call them cravings. Every now and then I get cravings for all kinds of things. I’m not hungry, I just long for a Quarter Pounder with Cheese out of the clear blue. And one of these evenings when I have 740 calories left for dinner I may have a Quarter Pounder with Cheese (510 calories) and a small McDonalds French Fry (230 calories). But cravings normally don’t come around meal times. They come whenever they want regardless of the time of day or where you are. The good news is: They usually pass within minutes. That’s what I’ve noticed anyway. The more ammunition you have to fight the “stray thoughts” the better and the quicker they pass. My ammunition is in the form of my motivating thoughts and my calorie count for the day. Can I afford a 260 calorie candy bar? Maybe, but do I want to sacrifice a bigger dinner later to have it? No, probably not. Usually that’s all I need to overcome these cravings. Having some low calorie alternatives on hand is always a good idea. Occasionally I like a nice big dill pickle. And guess what? It’s like 15 or 20 calories for a decent sized pickle! I’m buying a big jar of these pronto! The good news is this does get easier the longer I do it.

I get excited when I think about the future. I like to look at the calendar and think about where I should be by certain dates. I can remember filling out a calendar with goal weights marked all the way through an entire year and I remember how depressing it was when I would fall off the wagon, then be stuck staring at those un-met goals on the calendar. “Wow, I would be 150 pounds lighter if I would have stayed on track”…And that brings me to another good point. The clock is always ticking, slowly counting each day, and eventually it will be late September 2009. And it’ll be late September 2009 no matter if I stay on track or not. Time doesn’t care if I do this or not, it’ll keep going regardless. I don’t ever want to have that sick feeling again of looking at a weight loss goal calendar of a failed attempt. I just have to remember…One day at a time…put one foot in front of the other…baby steps.

It really thrills me that so many people are reading this blog and finding personal strength to jump on board and make a difference in their lives. The reason I started this blog in the first place was to keep myself on track and 100% accountable to family, my friends, and me every single day. It’s doing that very well, but it’s also inspiring others to do the same, and that is awesome. I feel so guilty that I didn’t get busy and do this while my oldest daughter was still at home. I could’ve helped her lose her excess weight everyday at home. But she’s reading this blog everyday from her new home at SWOSU, and she’s committed herself to working out and eating less. She’s already lost a good amount of weight and will continue doing great! I’m very proud of you Amber! Keep it up, and if you ever need reinforcement strength you just call me! So I can still help her even if she’s away at school. That’s very nice. If you’re doing this too, I invite you to talk about your personal progress when you comment this blog entry. Let us know how it’s going!

Day 12 has been a fairly good day. I still have nearly 250 calories left and I think I’ll enjoy a soft serve ice cream cone from McDonalds as a guiltless treat. It’s only 150 calories and that works great! If that sounds good to you too, just remember this: Not all soft serve cones are created equal. A small vanilla soft serve cone from Braums weighs in at 230 calories, and one of those small single dip frozen custard cones (made with 10% milk fat) can run anywhere from 300 to 400 calories, depending on scoop size! A double or triple dip custard: 600 to 1000 calories! My goodness…that’s crazy. A junior custard cone is at least 275! That’s still a bunch of calories.
I’m getting ready to head out to the walking trail and log another mile. I’ve made it a full mile three nights in a row. Soon I plan on making daily trips to the YMCA part of my schedule. Right now, walking is about all I feel comfortable with. I’m afraid if I get into that racquetball court right now I might over do it and hurt myself. It will not be long before I’m in the proper condition to get into that court and get my game on! Plus I plan on doing weight machine conditioning. They (YMCA) explained to me back in 2004 that low weight plus high reps will help burn fat and condition. Stephanie, please correct me if I’m wrong here! Then as I get closer to my goal I can start really lifting to gain muscle mass and form. Imagine that, me thinking about “form”. Very cool my friends.

Good Choices,
Sean