Hello hello! Sorry this post is late, but as long as it’s not my period we’re all good right?
This morning I woke up and realized there are only 60 days until Ben’s reunion and I needed to figure out reservations so we could potentially cancel the “just in case” reservations we already made.
This ended up taking over an hour so I decided to eat breakfast before doing some exercise. I made an egg sandwich with a veggie sausage on a sandwich thin. I am normally not a savory breakfast person, but this was good. I’m not in love with veggie sausage but buy them every now and then so I don’t feel like I’m “missing out” on sausage. 
I also made a big fruit salad 
I can’t wait until I can throw some watermelon in there! 
Then I crossed my fingers that it wasn’t going to start raining and set out on a walk. I wanted to hit up the store for some yogurt. I’m very happy that it didn’t rain on me as I forgot an umbrella and would have been SOL.
When I got back I made PB&J with carrots and brussel sprouts. Lunch of champions. 
So after my "Reality of the Situation” post I took a step back to assess what I was willing to do to reach my goals.
I looked into many different dietary modifications, I emailed fellow bloggers for insight and I talked out loud to myself on long walks (at least no one tries to mug the crazy person, right?).
The irony of the situation is I often get asked by readers and friends about meal plans and losing weight. My answer is never the same for each person as I really think you need to make changes that relate to your own reasons for being overweight.
For me it’s:
- Snacking
- Eating while cooking
- Overeating at meal times and/or eating Ben’s food
- Going overboard with sweets/way too much fake sugar
- Not eating enough protein
- Waiting too long between meals/snacks so my hunger can’t be satisfied
So I have decided to work on these things that are preventing me from getting to my goal weight. I have also decided to keep a food journal for the next 60 days. I’m putting a time limit on it because I don’t want to write down everything for the rest of my life, but I do need to acknowledge all the food I eat (sometimes mindlessly and therefore “forgotten”).
I am not in any way worried that this will trigger any of my issues since I have read and re-read Intuitive Eating enough to know how to observe my habits without beating myself up over it. For those of you familiar with the lingo, I stay in my “neutral adult” voice and not “critical parent” or “rebellious teen”. Still with me?
I am going to make a separate tab for updates on this so you don’t have to read about it if you don’t want to. I know many of my readers have a history of ED on some level and I in no way want to trigger that.
Please realize I am an adult who is very aware of her goals, mental state and capabilities. I have decided to go about weight loss in a way that is best for me. Only God can judge me now (meaning I don’t really need you to).
Question: Ben’s school is weird and does reunions every year (not every 10 like most). Does your school do that?
We had our 10 year reunion on 2008, but I didn’t go because it was less than a month before my wedding. Plus, I just didn’t really care to go. My husband’s reunion is this October so we’re planning on going out to California and making a vacation of it. Can’t wait!
Yoooo…did ben go to princeton?!!
if so…go tigers.
Every year?! I’ve never heard of that!
I just talked about my mindless snacking in my post today. Its definitely something I need to work on! Cant wait to follow your progress
Good luck!
I have the same “problems.” The worst one is snacking while cooking. When Michael and I cook I graze on everything (especially cheese) and of course, drink a glass of wine or two while cooking….It’s a hard habit to break.
My problem is when I finally get home at night after not having eaten for a good 7 hours I’m starved beyond belief, and end up stuffing myself at dinner. I need to work on that.
Once a year reunions?? With the invention of facebook we don’t even need to do them every 5 years, which is what my high school does. The 10 year is coming up in November..yikes.
I have been working on the same things, but I struggle to find my adult neutral voice. I wish you luck
every year? is this high school? college? i feel like not much changes over the course of a year…
and i think you have a very smart plan. you know what the problem is and now are taking realistic steps to fix it. youre taking charge
I think your plan of being mindful of those areas sounds perfect. Just being aware that we are honoring our actual hunger signals is important. I can easily get sucked into eating too much when I am cooking and then not being hungry for the meal. I also struggle with waiting too long to eat. Everything I have learned about intuitive eating goes out the window then!
Wonderful plan/post! I have found that addressing the problems and creating a plan of attack, including recording what I eat in an online food journal (SparkPeople) has been wonderful! It’s helped SO much. Now, at the end of the day, I can recognize if I’ve had enough too eat, too many carbs, etc. This rigidity has in turn helped me begin listening to my body. Good luck! I believe in you
I really appreciated reading this today. I’m struggling with losing the last 5 lbs I have standing between me and my “happy weight” and know that it’s the little habits keeping those 5 lbs on. It’s so refreshing to read your blog posts about your struggles with bad habits because it makes me feel normal!! Good luck on your new goals
I have yet to have a reunion… lol…
I think your plan is a REALLY good idea. It’s a balanced approach that makes sense, with no extremes.
Your meals sound yummy today! Simple is sometimes the best
Awesome plan- writing things down is totally key for me. Even if it’s just for me to see I don’t want to binge and see the bad numbers.
I agree with you soo much about the watermelon- I’m as crazy about it as you and have been wanting it to come into costco again! (cherries too!!)
I’ve never heard of a reunion every year either- kinda weird but cool if you like who you went to school with!
nope, we had a ‘pi’ reunion but not every year. my five year is this year though .. eep!
We had a 5-year reunion last year but I was living in Korea and couldn’t go. Usually it’s every 5 years and the only people I’ve heard of having reunions EVERY year are the elderly — a lot of people in their 80s+ have reunions every year because of obvious reasons.
I think the plan sounds awesome and your goals are very similar to mine. I know we can do it!
how weird! We went to my husband’s 10 year reunion a couple of years ago and we’ll be going to mine next year!
You make numerous logical factors within your post and would believe the majority of.
I always save the best for last : ) and pick the M&M’s out of trail mix first.
Sounds like a great plan! Eating while cooking used to be something I really struggled with too. I found, that if I get a small pack of raisins, and snack on them while cooking; it really helps! If I am not hungry enough to want the raisins, then I know that I’m just feeling really “snacky,” and that it really has nothing to do with hunger at all.
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