Update and audit from Key #4!!

So today is day five of my latest weight loss adventure. I am really dedicated this time and even though there have definantly been ups and downs along the way I am doing okay for the most part. Highlights from the past week include several days in which I went over weight watchers points by just one or two points, I consider those really good days. Yesterday I stayed completely within points but I felt like I ate to much. I had two points left after dinner and it felt to me like the same situation as being in a store and having two dollars left to spend. I had to get rid of those points. I had 3/4 cup of frosted flakes cereal with out milk which equals two points, but the problem is I was not even hungry to start with. I have decided to use that as a learning experience so that I can better control my impulse to eat next time. I just did an audit of my weight loss points journal and found that I went over at least a little everyday except yesterday and on second review I had one extra point left over yesterday.

Moving right along last time I wrote I was only on Dr. Phill’s first key, I have now read ahead to key four. I will recap what I learned in the other keys quickly. Key two covered emotional eating. I thought that I would have scored off the charts on emotional eating but I only scored in the moderate range. According to Dr. Phill’s evaluation I still have room for improvement, don’t we all! Dr. Phill challenges dieters to take ownership of their reactions and slow down their thinking so that they can make rational decisions that are not emotionally based. A big issue for me is thinking that I am going to be hungry. I have never gone hungry a day in my life, I would not be writing a dieting blog if starvation was a problem for me. But, at every meal my quick thoughts are of what I can have after I get done eating what I have in front of me. At lunch my comforting thought is that I can have an apple after I get done eating. I do not even like apples. It is comforting to know that I can have an apple because it means to me that I can have at least some type of nourishment that will keep me from starving. I have always known that I could always just go and get something else to eat, even when dieting, so I do not know why I have an ingrained fear of starving. Mabey I’m going to need Dr. Phill in the flesh to help me figure that one out..haha..but at least now I understand that my thought patterns are irrational and that I need to work to change them. Also as a part of key 2, Dr. Phill says that you need to work toward emotional closure because harboring resentment can adversly affect your weight loss efforts. I think we all could forgive a little more than we do. In the book you can read about more ways of coping with food.

Key #3: A no-fail environment. In the audit in the book about food in your environment you were supposed to have scored a 2 or below, I scored a seven which is not good at all. I did not know that my environment was so bad. In a nut-shell this key is about cleaning the bad foods out of your kitchen..house, car, desk, etc. Also Dr. Phill ends the section by telling you to get rid of the clothes that are two big for you. I have the opposite problem most of my closet is filled with clothes that are to small for me and I am trying to work my way down in to them.

Finally Key #4: Mastery over Food and Impulse eating. I know that anyone who is taking the time to read this blog would like to do a little better with food and impulse eating. I know I would. Dr. Phill says and rightly so that people do what works. The first exercise in this chapter asks you to write down what is keeping your weight up and why those behaviors work for you. I am going to do mine on here, you should do this too and write your answers down. When you write something down it makes it more concrete.

1) Eating dessert or leftovers even if you are full: I do this for the plain and simple joy of eating food. I like the way food tastes. Someone said they did not get fat because they hate food. That is me, I love food thats why I tend to engage in this behavior even when I should not.

2) Sneak food: I have been guilty of this. In my house I have to explain every morsel that goes in my mouth to the people that are constantly watching my diet. Sometimes when I just want to eat, I wait till they are not around and have a snack. I know thats a major no-no.

3) Feeling the urge to eat several times a day: Eating is pleasurable whereas nothing else in my life right now is. I am un employed. I have begun a project of spring cleaning but how fun is that. I am single. I am bored. Food is better than all that.

4) Giving into cravings: Cravings are the worst, I give in to them because I have no will power. Because I have no-willpower, Dr. Phill’s book is a big help.

5) Watching TV and eating: I do this because its what my family tends to do, its a social thing I guess. It also provides me an escape from reality.

6) Habitual eating: I do eat out of habit and I do that because food is comfortable for me. I have to change that.

7) Overeating: Again I do this because I like food, more than to feel some emotional gap.

I have not made it all the way through Key #4 but a quick flip through shows me that Dr. Phill is going to help us combat our impulse eating..stay tuned and I will let you know who the rest of the forth key goes.

Well thats its for now!

“People do what works for them”

-Dr. Phill