Spring is finally here and it's
finally showing up in warmer weather here in the NE, not just on
the calendar. Everything's coming alive again...the snow is all
gone at LAST...and my daffodils are all coming up, which makes
me very happy!
(I've attached a picture of some of my homegrown daffodils and hyacinths I ran around and cut out of the garden yesterday....the hyacinths smell wonderful!)
And the change in the air is palpable. It's a warm, wonderful change....and hard-won after a long, cold, snow-filled Winter!
This time of renewal and change is so refreshing, the air smells so heavenly, that I ran around opening up all the windows when I got home from the gym today.
And all 5 cats followed me, and eagerly ran from window to window...sniffing the air, watching the birds and the squirrels, and sunning themselves.
Meanwhile, over the weekends, hubby and I are cleaning and consolidating and streamlining our lives; and decluttering wherever possible.
It's amazing how much JUNK you can accumulate over the years! "I might need this"....and three years later you're like, "WHY am I keeping this?" LOL.....
He's cleaning out the garage, little by little...while I declutter and clean the house.
All this cleaning out and streamlining makes me think about how I streamlined my TSFL program and journey....and how that was KEY to my success in reaching goal.
You see, back over the 2012-13 holiday season I 'took a break' from the plan (which was a disaster, to say the least....I gained like, 20 lbs, and it took me THREE LONG agonizing MONTHS to get back OP, one day on, the next day bingeing, then on, then bingeing again....ad nauseum).
Until I finally figured out I needed to STREAMLINE the program for myself and PLAN to the nth degree.
I needed to get SUPER STRICT with myself.
So that's what I did! I made copies of the Quick Start Food log....dozens of blank copies...and put them in a 3-ring binder. Then I began PLANNING IN ADVANCE what I'd eat the next day (even several days ahead of time!)
I even took all my MF meals out of their boxes and put whatever 5 MF meals I had planned for that day in a shoe organizer 'slot' that I labelled for that day. I also planned my L&G for that day as well. I wrote it all down on my food log AS IF I'd already eaten it, and also on a 'Menu' sheet I posted on my refrigerator for the week so I knew what I was making every night.
Then the next day I simply 'checked it off' as I ate each meal.
And it WORKED. It worked because it eliminated the FOOD DECISIONS from my life. I'd already MADE the decision.
So all I was doing was following the bouncing ball!
I STILL plan and prepare. Even in maintenance. It keeps me happy, it keeps me satisfied, I have great meals to look forward to and yet I KNOW I'll stay on my food plan because I've already scheduled it out.
And it's SUPER important to me. I can't think about food too much or dwell on it. That's dangerous. I don't "suffer", I look forward to my meals and enjoy them thoroughly....and if there's something I want I'll PLAN for it (within reason, SLUDGE is off the table for me, permanently); but I don't leave anything to chance!
Off course there are times when 'life intervenes' and I can't always stick to my plan, so I have to be flexible; and that's where carrying extra bars in my purse, bites and pretzels in the car console, etc. come in handy. It also helps to double a good L&G recipe so I have leftovers for those days when I just don't have time (or don't FEEL like) cooking.
But I find these exceptions to the rule to be less frequent than you'd think. After all, most of us have a schedule or routine we follow from day to day, right?
So you just take your schedule into account when you draw up your meal plan.
Here's what a typical day would look like on the 5/1 for me:
Breakfast: 1 MF berry cereal with 1/2 cup Almondbreeze
9-10 am on way to gym: 1 MF peanut butter crunch bar
Lunch after gym: MF oatmeal 'cookies' with 1 laughing cow
3 pm: 1 MF berry smoothie
Dinner: MF spinach quiche
8:30 pm: 1 MF brownie
Easy-peasey, right? The 5/1 plan makes it so EASY to simplify and streamline your food....and not having to 'think' about food lessens the number of times I have to fight with Fat Brain. And that's a good thing!
And now, even in maintenance, I'm finding that planning is a LIFESAVER. I have more choices, I can eat more food, but I STILL have to plan. So I DO!
Whenever I start to feel 'deprived', I sit down with my food plan and PLAN OUT a day or two. That always makes me feel better. Because I've got something to look forward to! It's not like I'll 'never eat again', right? It's just that I need to stay within some pretty strict parameters in order to succeed. That means I'm still eating 3 (or more sometimes) MF meals a day, and it means I still DO NOT eat sludge. It's too troublesome, it's too dangerous. I'm 'set in my ways'....I don't even like trying new foods very often because what IF they became a trigger food for me? I know that sounds silly but it WORKS. And again, I'm NOT suffering. I have plenty of great meals to eat and to look forward to. But the 'no holes barred' thing is OUT for me. PERMANENTLY.
Because for me? The less I think about food, the better!
So the more I can plan and prepare in advance, and 'know' what I'm going to do, the better off I am.
Then I can concentrate on the REST of my life without it all revolving around FOOD. (which was definitely how my life was before this program....!)
And once the plan is made, I'm set! I know what I'm going to do, so I don't have to think about food or worry about it. And staying OP becomes easy because it's already SET in my mind. I don't have to wrestle with Fat Brain over what I will or will not eat, because I've already DECIDED!
This doesn't mean I can't change my plans....sometimes I do. Usually that happens more with the L&G than the MF meals, though. Even though all the MF meals are interchangeable so no worries there.
Staying OP? Is EASY this way. EASY PEASEY!
Hope everyone is having a great start to their week. Easter is coming up SOON....this coming weekend! What are YOUR plans? Do you know what you'll be eating (and NOT eating, which is more important? LOL...)
Which reminds me to call Mom. She's having Easter at her house...so I'll get an idea of what she plans to serve and work around it. Usually I wind up bringing my own lettuce (yep!) and MF approved salad dressing because salads are not generally included in the meal plan, unfortunately....and then if she's having kielbasi and pierogies (the usual in my family) I'll need to bring some mashed cauliflower, which I'll eat instead of the pierogies, and the kielbasi if it's good beef kielbasi OK, I'll go with it since I'm in maintenance...but I'll be very careful with my quantity. I'll also LOG everything AHEAD of time in my MF food log and calculate the calories to ensure I'm within my TEE calorie goal for the day. Hard-boiled eggs are fine...and we always have them on Easter...but the pierogies dripping in butter are NOT. I'll move away from the table as quickly as possible to avoid those! LOL!
Maybe I'll 'treat' myself to MF potato pancakes for an afternoon snack that day. (my new fav!) We'll see. Boy, won't my family's eyes pop open when I heat those babies up! LOL....potato pancakes are a family favorite...
Desserts? Easy...I'll bring my own MF brownie, PRE-'frosted' with a laughing cow strawberry. It looks pretty and tastes awesome and I'll have something to eat while everyone else is chowing down on cake or pie or whatever. I don't NEED it.
And I'm sure I'll hear the same thing I heard over Christmas...."but you're SKINNY now, you can EAT now."
...uh....NO, I don't THINK so! Not if I want to STAY 'skinny'!!!
Keep on!!!
(I've attached a picture of some of my homegrown daffodils and hyacinths I ran around and cut out of the garden yesterday....the hyacinths smell wonderful!)
And the change in the air is palpable. It's a warm, wonderful change....and hard-won after a long, cold, snow-filled Winter!
This time of renewal and change is so refreshing, the air smells so heavenly, that I ran around opening up all the windows when I got home from the gym today.
And all 5 cats followed me, and eagerly ran from window to window...sniffing the air, watching the birds and the squirrels, and sunning themselves.
Meanwhile, over the weekends, hubby and I are cleaning and consolidating and streamlining our lives; and decluttering wherever possible.
It's amazing how much JUNK you can accumulate over the years! "I might need this"....and three years later you're like, "WHY am I keeping this?" LOL.....
He's cleaning out the garage, little by little...while I declutter and clean the house.
All this cleaning out and streamlining makes me think about how I streamlined my TSFL program and journey....and how that was KEY to my success in reaching goal.
You see, back over the 2012-13 holiday season I 'took a break' from the plan (which was a disaster, to say the least....I gained like, 20 lbs, and it took me THREE LONG agonizing MONTHS to get back OP, one day on, the next day bingeing, then on, then bingeing again....ad nauseum).
Until I finally figured out I needed to STREAMLINE the program for myself and PLAN to the nth degree.
I needed to get SUPER STRICT with myself.
So that's what I did! I made copies of the Quick Start Food log....dozens of blank copies...and put them in a 3-ring binder. Then I began PLANNING IN ADVANCE what I'd eat the next day (even several days ahead of time!)
I even took all my MF meals out of their boxes and put whatever 5 MF meals I had planned for that day in a shoe organizer 'slot' that I labelled for that day. I also planned my L&G for that day as well. I wrote it all down on my food log AS IF I'd already eaten it, and also on a 'Menu' sheet I posted on my refrigerator for the week so I knew what I was making every night.
Then the next day I simply 'checked it off' as I ate each meal.
And it WORKED. It worked because it eliminated the FOOD DECISIONS from my life. I'd already MADE the decision.
So all I was doing was following the bouncing ball!
I STILL plan and prepare. Even in maintenance. It keeps me happy, it keeps me satisfied, I have great meals to look forward to and yet I KNOW I'll stay on my food plan because I've already scheduled it out.
And it's SUPER important to me. I can't think about food too much or dwell on it. That's dangerous. I don't "suffer", I look forward to my meals and enjoy them thoroughly....and if there's something I want I'll PLAN for it (within reason, SLUDGE is off the table for me, permanently); but I don't leave anything to chance!
Off course there are times when 'life intervenes' and I can't always stick to my plan, so I have to be flexible; and that's where carrying extra bars in my purse, bites and pretzels in the car console, etc. come in handy. It also helps to double a good L&G recipe so I have leftovers for those days when I just don't have time (or don't FEEL like) cooking.
But I find these exceptions to the rule to be less frequent than you'd think. After all, most of us have a schedule or routine we follow from day to day, right?
So you just take your schedule into account when you draw up your meal plan.
Here's what a typical day would look like on the 5/1 for me:
Breakfast: 1 MF berry cereal with 1/2 cup Almondbreeze
9-10 am on way to gym: 1 MF peanut butter crunch bar
Lunch after gym: MF oatmeal 'cookies' with 1 laughing cow
3 pm: 1 MF berry smoothie
Dinner: MF spinach quiche
8:30 pm: 1 MF brownie
Easy-peasey, right? The 5/1 plan makes it so EASY to simplify and streamline your food....and not having to 'think' about food lessens the number of times I have to fight with Fat Brain. And that's a good thing!
And now, even in maintenance, I'm finding that planning is a LIFESAVER. I have more choices, I can eat more food, but I STILL have to plan. So I DO!
Whenever I start to feel 'deprived', I sit down with my food plan and PLAN OUT a day or two. That always makes me feel better. Because I've got something to look forward to! It's not like I'll 'never eat again', right? It's just that I need to stay within some pretty strict parameters in order to succeed. That means I'm still eating 3 (or more sometimes) MF meals a day, and it means I still DO NOT eat sludge. It's too troublesome, it's too dangerous. I'm 'set in my ways'....I don't even like trying new foods very often because what IF they became a trigger food for me? I know that sounds silly but it WORKS. And again, I'm NOT suffering. I have plenty of great meals to eat and to look forward to. But the 'no holes barred' thing is OUT for me. PERMANENTLY.
Because for me? The less I think about food, the better!
So the more I can plan and prepare in advance, and 'know' what I'm going to do, the better off I am.
Then I can concentrate on the REST of my life without it all revolving around FOOD. (which was definitely how my life was before this program....!)
And once the plan is made, I'm set! I know what I'm going to do, so I don't have to think about food or worry about it. And staying OP becomes easy because it's already SET in my mind. I don't have to wrestle with Fat Brain over what I will or will not eat, because I've already DECIDED!
This doesn't mean I can't change my plans....sometimes I do. Usually that happens more with the L&G than the MF meals, though. Even though all the MF meals are interchangeable so no worries there.
Staying OP? Is EASY this way. EASY PEASEY!
Hope everyone is having a great start to their week. Easter is coming up SOON....this coming weekend! What are YOUR plans? Do you know what you'll be eating (and NOT eating, which is more important? LOL...)
Which reminds me to call Mom. She's having Easter at her house...so I'll get an idea of what she plans to serve and work around it. Usually I wind up bringing my own lettuce (yep!) and MF approved salad dressing because salads are not generally included in the meal plan, unfortunately....and then if she's having kielbasi and pierogies (the usual in my family) I'll need to bring some mashed cauliflower, which I'll eat instead of the pierogies, and the kielbasi if it's good beef kielbasi OK, I'll go with it since I'm in maintenance...but I'll be very careful with my quantity. I'll also LOG everything AHEAD of time in my MF food log and calculate the calories to ensure I'm within my TEE calorie goal for the day. Hard-boiled eggs are fine...and we always have them on Easter...but the pierogies dripping in butter are NOT. I'll move away from the table as quickly as possible to avoid those! LOL!
Maybe I'll 'treat' myself to MF potato pancakes for an afternoon snack that day. (my new fav!) We'll see. Boy, won't my family's eyes pop open when I heat those babies up! LOL....potato pancakes are a family favorite...
Desserts? Easy...I'll bring my own MF brownie, PRE-'frosted' with a laughing cow strawberry. It looks pretty and tastes awesome and I'll have something to eat while everyone else is chowing down on cake or pie or whatever. I don't NEED it.
And I'm sure I'll hear the same thing I heard over Christmas...."but you're SKINNY now, you can EAT now."
...uh....NO, I don't THINK so! Not if I want to STAY 'skinny'!!!
Keep on!!!
--
Linda
Linda Leiby
Take Shape For Life Certified Health Coach
"Keep on keepin' on!"
For Orders: www.Catlover77.tsfl.com
My blogs: www.lincoach.blogspot.com
Linda
Linda Leiby
Take Shape For Life Certified Health Coach
"Keep on keepin' on!"
For Orders: www.Catlover77.tsfl.com
My blogs: www.lincoach.blogspot.com
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