Do you eat the same things over and over when you are dieting? I do. Whenever I find a diet-appropriate and tasty food combination I tend to eat it again and again and again. I’ve been eating the same food during work hours since I returned from my mat leave in May:
At home: glass of skim milk
On the train to work: peppermint tea
Breakfast: toasted whole wheat English muffin with peanut butter and a dollop of President’s Choice Twice the Fruit Jam.
Morning snacks: apple plus a handful of animal crackers and some chocolate chips
Lunch: roasted turkey and havarti cheese sandwich, coleslaw conservatively dressed with honey Dijon salad dressing, and a bag of veggies
Afternoon snack: another piece of fruit
On the train from work: if hungry and available, a piece of fruit
I know this is enough food to satisfy me, to give me enough energy to walk to and from the Go Train, work all day, perhaps go for a walk at lunchtime and arrive at home to eat dinner with hubby and my kids without becoming completely ravenous.
But yesterday, sabotaging thoughts started to creep back into my head.
For the first time since May, I opened my lunch bag and said to myself, “is this it? I want something different. Go to the food court now!”
I retrieved my therapy notes from my bag and read the following: feeling monotonous in meals can be a sign that the process is not going well.
Uh oh. I’ve been here before. I’m dangerously close to buying and eating junk food and in the worst case scenario, this feeling can turn into a binge.
But it didn’t. I stayed at my desk and ate the apple that I brought from home and thought about how cool, sweet and crispy it tasted. Eventually the craving for something else went away.
Knowing that the monotony of my food choices can lead to overeating helped me to defeat the temptation to buy junk food. And I keep in mind the words of encouragement from my friend Mandy: “Good things usually take a lot of work to achieve. I had no idea of the struggle you have... But having gone through struggle, educating oneself is the key to change.”
I’m learning how to think thin by handling one sabotaging thought at a time.
In addition, I need to change up weekday meals too. Any suggestions?
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Eating the same thing day after day is one of the things that derails my progress, I've learned. I let myself get something out for lunch twice a week, so that usually keeps me under control. I just scour the internet for nutrition info at the places I go. But, I am the same way!
ReplyDeleteI get in routines, maybe not for every meal, but often the same for the majority of what I eat. Then one day, bam, I want something different. I don't have suggestions for you though since I eat very differently than you.
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