Challenge: Week 1

On this program, I don't have to count calories, which I love.  I have a list of foods to enjoy, neutral foods and foods to limit.  I like that I'm not told that things are good and bad.  I need to eat a certain amount of foods from the foods to enjoy category each day.  I earn points for eating these foods.  I can eat foods from the foods to limit list if I want, but they are minus points. I can eat foods from the neutral foods list, they don't earn me points or loose me points.  I also have to drink enough water.  I have free calories each day.  I can use those to indulge in treats without loosing points.  I can save them up or use them each day.

I also gets points for the physical activity I do.  The longer I exercise, the more points I get.

That's pretty much what you would expect out of a weight loss program.  Diet and Exercise.

Then, there is the Live category.  For this, I have to get enough sleep each night, Spend some time in meditation or prayer each day, read inspiring words, do an act of kindness, and keep a gratitude journal.  Then, there are focus activities each week that help us learn about ourselves and our eating habits, to be more mindful and thankful as we eat and to encourage us to find ways to live life by being active.

I really like this aspect of the program.  It takes some of the focus off of food and eating the right or wrong things.  Sometimes I think that my biggest problem is that I obsess too much about food.  Then, if I eat something I have termed as bad for me, I just feel bad about myself.  When I'm not just obsessing about food, but focusing on others and positives in my life, it helps me stay positive and carry on with more hope of success.

Last time I did this program, I remember feeling really good.  I felt like I had more energy and was more productive.  This made me happy. And, bonus, I lost weight!

I have finished my first week of this challenge.  Right now, it doesn't feel too challenging.  Earlier this week, I felt differently.  I really didn't feel like doing this.  It felt too hard to ignore all the treats still in the kitchen from Christmas, and it was just seeming like something that would take more energy than I could muster.  But, points can be motivating to me.  So, I took to eating just foods to enjoy.  It's not so bad.  I try really hard to listen to my body and give it things that sound really good.  I've started to realize that when I eat things that don't satisfy me, I keep eating to try to find something satisfying.  Usually those items would fall into the foods to limit category.  But, I have gotten into bad habits of eating when I'm not hungry.  I will eat out of habit, boredom or to avoid doing housework.  But, at any of those times, I'm not reaching for healthy foods. That's my biggest problem.  The first couple of days it was hard not to eat, when habit told me I should be eating something.  And there were a couple of times early on, when I thought maybe I would just give up, because I didn't know if I was strong enough to keep this up for 6 weeks.  But, sometimes I listened to my body and didn't eat because I knew I wasn't hungry.   Sometimes I comprised and gave in and ate something, but made sure that it was from the food to enjoy category.  So, at least I was trying to make healthier choices.  But, on Friday, I realized that I didn't do any snacking.  And, I didn't even think about it. I felt good when I realized that I didn't have to fight all day to try not to snack on junk food.

I really want to loose a little (or a lot) of weight through this challenge.  Last time I did this challenge, it took me a while before I realized that I could eat foods from the neutral category.  So, I only ate foods from the foods to enjoy category.  This time, I was scared to eat foods from the neutral category.  I felt that if I slid into that category to find things that would satisfy my cravings, that I would keep eating things from that category.  Then, I would have a little stock of treats that aren't really treats that I could turn to when I just want to eat.  I felt like if I took that step now, I would continue to eat the way I have in the past and I wouldn't loose weight.   I also worried about the weekend.  We usually make some treats to enjoy on Sunday evening.  So, I have saved my free calories all week, so that I could indulge with my family.  But, I worried that if I ate all those calories and dipped into the neutral category on the weekend, that I would undo all that I worked on during the week.  I was starting to worry that when I got on the scale on Monday morning, I wouldn't see results.  I'm feeling a little more confident now, and I've pinpointed some of the things that cause me to obsess about food, and what bad habits I've had, and some of the things I need to watch out for, if I want to really adopt more healthy habits.

My struggle will be to remember that I want to make lifestyle changes.  I still find myself saying, "in 6 weeks I'll be able to...".  But, I want to end this cycle, so I don't want to start over in 6 weeks.  I'm trying to change my thinking so that I will continue doing this even after this challenge is over.  And, learn how to deal with special occasions or treats without it breaking all of the good habits I've created.