a small...maybe tiny success

sroseber

This may not seem like a success, but I'm trying to take a bad day and find the positive and progress in it.

Ok...so yesterday was yet another bad eating day. I did good for breakfast, morning snack, and lunch (except for the cookies...oops!) and dinner was good too. but then I had an ice cream bar for dessert and my afternoon snack was several cheese cubes and pepperoni slices (not the turkey kind either). I think if I'd taken away the 3 cookies after lunch, my afternoon snack, and dessert I would have been fine. I probably could have even had something for a snack and dessert, just something healthier than I had.

Anyway, I still feel like I made some progress. I did record it all, instead of taking the "If I don't record it, can I pretend like I didn't eat it?" approach I usually take when I know I've done really bad, and completed my diary for the day with it telling me how much more I will weigh in 5 weeks if every day is like that. :sad:

I think it's just going to take some time to get used to recording EVERYTHING everyday again, even if I don't make good choices. Once I see it in black and white and see the status when I click the button to complete my diary for the day saying that I will weigh more in 5 weeks eating like that(!!) then I think it will start clicking again. Right now I feel somewhat conscious of what I'm eating, I mean, I knew when I was eating the cookies they were bad for me...but I still ate them. I think the next step is taking that conscious thought and putting that cookie in my food diary first and seeing how many calories it is then making the decision whether or not to eat it. Maybe I still would have eaten it yesterday but I probably wouldn't have eaten 3!!

Just thought I'd share something that felt like a small success to me. Sometimes we only focus on sizes and scales to count as successes but I bet we all have small successes like this every day/week and I feel like it's a good motivator for me to recognize mine. I feel like I made some progress, in spite of some bad choices. I wanted to share this with you all to celebrate and recognize that success instead of dwelling on how much over I went on calories and everything else. I could focus on that as a negative but that would only depress me and make me want to give up. Instead I'm looking at it as I made progress with recording it all and meeting my goals is an area I need to work on.

I hope this post helps others who feel like they aren't making progress because the scale isn't changing, especially those starting out. I've done this all several times before and it is very hard to get started on it (again) so just don't beat yourself up over not being perfect from the start. Really take a look at what you are doing and recognize the little successes because they will lead to the big successes.

borgi77

Exactly write, my new motto is you don't get fat by one day, one week even, you get fat bad consistently eating bad food day in day out. If you log it when you have bad days, your more accountable & can see any pattern, like bad day at work etc, I know if I had a bad day at work I would eat junk food moment I got home, but now I turn to exercise.

So well done and good luck every small step is one step closer to getting to your goal.

ChubbieTubbie

I understand where you're coming from. Monday I worked out twice as long and as hard as I usually do and when I came in from my last burst of exercise I went to grab a handful of cookies, then I stopped and looked at the package and saw that 3 cookies were 170 calories. I put all but one back and added it to my diary, knowing I had the calories to cover it. I ONLY allow myself sweets like that in the evening, once I know I have the calories allotted for it. I slipped up the other day and had a sweet treat for breakfast and it threw my entire day off and at the end of the day I only had 5 calories left and I was still hungry after my small (small since I was running out of calories!) dinner.

Good for you! Log it, stick to it, and it's ok to treat yourself as long as you're on track and it won't screw up the entire day. When you look at a cookie, think about how much you have to exercise for that one treat and decide if it's worth it.

Kminor67

Logging my food makes me feel so much more accountable. I was on vacation last weekend, and I even called a friend to log my food for me when I couldn't. If I don't log everything, I start to feel guilty. I'd much rather log everything and be over than not log something! If I'm honest with myself I can fix it!

sarahsmiles_04

I see success in the fact that you were honest with yourself (logging the food) and took the time to blog about it.
I always get into serious trouble when I eat unconsciously. I think you've at least moved beyond that.

sgp329

A lot of us have paid the price for overindulging on calories. It is a lesson learned the hard way when you go to bed feeling unsatisfied and are lulled to sleep by the sound of your stomach growling. But when it was my turn, I took my punishment for making bad choices with a smile because in that instant I knew that I had made a life change. I will do my very best to stay within my calorie allotment and if I slip up I will get myself back on track.


Gone are the days for me when I would get on a "diet" and do great for a week or two then fall off the wagon one day and give up. For me, this is not a "diet" as I am committed to changing my life. I know precisely what my old ways got me: fat, flabby, lazy, etc. With this new way of living I feel alive and while I am far from thin, I am indeed thinner and will continue to become healthier every single day. I am fired up and ready to take on the world!

Having the diary to be accountable to is so freeing in a sense for me. I don't have to think about it. I just do it and then I can see it right there in black and white. I don't feel challenged by it or intimidated in the least. I look forward to logging in my meals and snacks and exercise each day.

I am proud of all of us who are putting in the work to rewrite our life stories. Keep up the good work!