insanity's Restart

One of the ways I got the cravings under control, it sounds weird, but I wrote the food down. (actually, kept a list in my phone) I had a list of what I wanted to have on a planned "cheat day", like a holiday or party, or any day that I felt like I needed a day off. I felt like it got the craving over for me, I have no idea why, maybe it was the thought I would be having it? Most of the time, I didn't care about the food on the list by the time my cheat day came around (I would end up just eating whatever) but it seemed to trick my mind enough at the time of the craving.

That sounds like a great idea! I am willing to try it and see if it will work for me! So when I get an intense craving, I will just put it down on a list that I will intend to have on a planned cheat day.

Thanks so much for the suggestion, I'll give that a try!

I remember when I was a child my mother would go on diets or take us to pediatricians and have them put us on diets. At first I would get really mad about things like the fact that my step sisters could still drink pop and eat whatever but me and my sisters were still on a diet. But on the same hand if my Mom tried to say my step sisters couldn't eat those things they would throw fits about how it isn't fair for them to be punished for us being fat. So looking back I feel bad for my Mom because she couldn't really win. What I think she did really well was she always made the diets about our health and wanting to prevent diabetes and things like that. She always told us how beautiful we were and never pushed too hard. On the other hand after a few of them I also knew that if I was persistent the diet wouldn't last. I still feel have those feelings as an adult. Whenever I start a diet I'm so into it and so excited about it and then.... the weight doesn't come off as afast as I'd like or something will just make me feel disappointed and my resolve starts to fall and then I start thinking it's only a matter of time till I screw up.

rugbygirl87, it seems that we are all affected by our childhood.


I ended up starting 5 Bite with my dinner last night. It turned out our Biggest Loser weigh-in was at noon yesterday, so I went ahead and ate lunch before the weigh-in.

D - 2 bites chicken sausage, 3 bites angel hair + tomato sauce + fresh red pepper


It was mentally hard to stop at 5 bites last night, especially since I hadn't started my 5-bite plan first thing yesterday as I'd intended. But I'm happy that I was able to stick to just the 5 bites.

Today is going ok. I've been hungry, but work has been busy so sticking to plan has been easy. I'll post today's meals later tonight or tomorrow. I'm happy to be back on plan! I ate whatever I wanted all weekendand frankly got tired of eating. It feels good to be a bit hungry and know that I'm starting to lose again.

Sounds good! I'm glad you are back on track. You should rock out an awesome number for your first Biggest Loser weigh in!

Good luck with the contest you could win I don't know of a diet that works faster. I'll bet you shock everyone at your work do they weigh every week?

Snow White - Thanks for the vote of confidence!

Dmac - Thanks for stopping by, I hope everything is going well for you. Yes, I think everyone will be shocked, if I stick to it. I'm thinking positive, that I WILL stick to the 5 bite plan.

We are only weighing at the beginning and end of the contest, no weekly weigh-ins. It would be awesome if I have a very large loss, like 50 lbs or so, LOL! I feel a bit guilty, knowing that I have a sure-fire weight loss plan.


B - water, Coke Zero
L - 3 bites Greek yogurt, 1 bite bread, 1 bite grapes
D - same as last night: 2 bites chicken sausage, 3 bites pasta + tomato sauce + fresh red pepper + parmesan (forgot to mention the parmesan in my last entry!)


Yesterday was a very active day.


15 to 20 min walk, twice
Yard work ~ 1 1/4 hour
Martial Arts practice ~ 1 hour (stretching + tai chi + karate)
Gilad Total Body Sculpt - 20 min (light weights + body weight work)

I was exhausted after all that activity! I was falling asleep. I feel pretty good today, though. This is my 2nd full day. I've been a bit hungry, but hanging in there.

Great job sticking with the five bites! You are doing great!

Thanks again!

I've started reading The Beck Diet Solution by Judith Beck. It's supposed to train you to think and act like a thin person. It has 6 weeks of daily activities, so 42 activities in all. I started reading the book a long time ago, but I didn't want to do the activities. I'm going to give it another shot and actually DO the activities this time. The author says that it's perfectly fine if you take longer than 6 weeks to complete the program, in fact longer may be better to acquire the habits. The book is supposed to be used with any healthy diet. I don't know if the author would consider 5 Bite a "healthy" diet, but I feel it's healthy to lose this darn fat and get my weight into the normal range.

Work has been soooo busy. It's good in a way, it leaves me less time to think about being hungry. Today will be my 3rd perfect day in a row, assuming dinner goes well.

That book is exactly what kept me on track at the start of this diet too!! I read it daily and did all the activities that applied to this diet, it's really wonderful and helps keep things in focus for ya

I know I have that book somewhere...I'll try to find it and read it along with you!

Spryng - Thanks for the review, I'm glad to know the book is helpful!

Snow White - That would be awesome!


Wednesday:

B - water, Coke Zero
L - 3 bites Greek yogurt, 2 bites ww bread
D - 2 bites chicken sausage with spicy brown mustard (was sooo yummy!), 3 bites of my usual pasta mixture

Karate class - 1.5 hrs


Thursday:
B - water, Coke Zero
L - 3 bites Greek yogurt, 2 bites banana
D - 5 (very large) bites mixture of chicken breast, pasta, fresh red pepper, cooked mixed veggies, and margarine

2 approx. 20 min walks
yard work - 30 min
Zen Sculpt with Ellen Barrett - 43 min (light-weight sculpting movement)

I was so tired and hungry after my workout, I had huge bites for dinner. It's probably not a big deal, but I really stuffed as much as I could each bite. LOL! I will try not to make a habit of that.


I haven't weighed myself since the first day I started. I think I'll try to stick with weekly weigh-ins. I try to not make a big deal of daily fluctuations, but I've noticed that if I don't lose from one day to the next, that is the day I usually go off-plan. I can see that my stomach is looking flatter. I'm sure that just not stuffing so much food in makes a big difference, as well as burning fat.

I re-read day 13 "overcome cravings", this is awesome stuff! I am just going to re-read the sections of the book each day that I need to help me refocus, then I'll let you know what I got from it and if you could do the same that would be great!

From "overcome cravings" the part where it said that cravings increase when you are indecisive about whether or not you are going to eat, yet cravings reduce when you make up your mind that you absolutely are not going to give in to your craving. I used it on Wed. & Thurs. night and I stayed on plan those nights.

Snow White - I like your idea, I'll write out points from the book that I find helpful. I didn't get very far into the book yet. I haven't even written out my index card for Day 1 yet, but I have the index cards and a small notebook ready to go. Thanks for the tip on overcoming cravings, that sounds very helpful. I haven't been hit with any strong cravings this week, maybe because I am so determined, but I know some will come eventually. Glad to hear that the technique really works!


Friday:

B - water, Coke Zero
L - 3 bites yogurt, 1 large or 2 smallish bites ww bread, 1 bite banana
D - 2 bites chicken sausage with spicy mustard, 3 bites angel hair with tomato sauce, red bell pepper, and parmesan

After I ate 2 bites of the bread, I realized I should've had some banana, so I went ahead and had a bite of banana.

Walk ~ 30 min
Karate class - 1.5 hrs

Karate class was a bit challenging, partly because I was feeling tired before I went. But I trained hard and it went well. I really want to keep up my activity level.

Today is going ok so far. Hubby said something about getting pizza (one of my favorite foods and hard for me to limit), but when I said I don't want it, he agreed to have buffalo wings, which he absolutely loves but I can easily skip. Whew, trigger food avoided!

Great job avoiding your trigger food!

I'll follow along with you two in the Beck book as well! I think that is a great idea! or maybe we can even start a beck diet solution thread so we can post daily tidbits from it and comment on them and it will also help those who do not have the book what do you think?

Thanks - trigger foods are the worst!

Yesterday was a bit tough, particularly with my hubby indulging more than usual. It seems unfair sometimes, but he is bigger than me and maintaining a healthy weight with alot of running and watching diet somewhat. He spent 2 years losing down from the mid-100's to
around 180, so he already did the hard work and suffered through losing.

Anyway, enough rambling.

Saturday:

B - water + coke zero

Karate class - 1.5 hrs
after karate: 1/2 serving Endurox R4 (135 cals) for recovery

L - 3 bites Greek yogurt, 2 bites banana
D - 2 bites beef, 3 bites brown rice + mixed veggies and red bell pepper

It was hard to stop after my 5 bites of dinner, it tasted so good and I felt like I could eat more. Then I felt satisfied for awhile, then later hungry again for awhile. I keep reminding myself that I want to lose the extra weight, meet my fitness goals, win my Biggest Loser contest, and this is not forever. Surely maintaining should be easier in some ways than losing.

One point at the beginning of The Beck Diet Solution has helped my outlook on watching my diet. The author pointed out that many thin people DO have to watch what they eat. Even the ones who say they don't, may be very careful with their diet out of habit, so they don't feel they are working at watching their diet. And also that most people who lose weight tend to be careful with their diets to maintain the loss. So the illusion that thin people can eat whatever they want is often false.

When I think about thin people I know, I can see that many DO indeed watch their diets, or they are very picky eaters.

I remember an incident at work with a coworker of mine from India. This fellow is pretty thin. Our boss at the time would often bring in cookies or other treats for us. One day she brought 3 kinds of cookies, and I tried each one. He sat next to me, so he looked over at the cookies I was eating and asked if they were good. I said, 'Yes, they are all very fresh, and this kind is the best out of the 3.' He thought for a second, then said, 'Oh, I'm not hungry. I'm not going to have any.' I thought to myself, I don't have to be hungry to have cookies! But he is obviously careful with his diet.

Great point from Beck about thin people really watching what they eat...I need to become a "picky eater" instead of having such low standards when I go off plan!

I'm not picky at all, I wish I was. Apparently it really helps keep the weight down.

I'm sorry I haven't been posting in my log, work has been incredibly busy plus I'm spending as much time as possible taking walks and working out at home. I actually typed out a post Monday, but I guess I forgot to "Send" it, and it got lost.

I slipped up on Sunday. I was slow-cooking angus top round london broil in the crock pot, and it got done around 9pm. I intended not to eat any, but I left I just HAD to have some broth, then some of the onions I cooked with it, since onions are so low-calorie, then 1 bite of the beef to try it. Then later, my stomach seemed upset from all the broth, so I had some more food.

I got right back on track Monday, 3/26/12. My weight Monday was 171, hurray! And my waist size was 36.25, down from the last time I measured. (on 3/4, my weight was 175, waist was 37.5) I like these weekly weigh-ins! It's great to see a significant result.

Sunday
Ran - 3.5 miles (slow jog really, but I'll call it a run)
Core workout with Petra Colber - 45 min (core/cardio stuff)

Monday
Walked ~ 1 hr 30 min on breaks at work
Yoga - 1 hr
Tai Chi + Chi Gung practice on my own ~ 1 hr

This was the first Monday in awhile where I felt I had some energy by the end of the day for yoga class. I've been completing all the poses in class, but it has felt very challenging lately. This class seemed to go easier for me.

Tuesday

B - water, coke zero
L - 2 bites Greek yogurt, 3 bites bosc pear
D - 2 bites baked - tilapia, 2 bites baked potato, 1 bite green peas (margarine on the veggies) Hubby made dinner, it was soooooooo good! I was determined not to go over my 5 bites, and I'm happy I stuck to it.

Walked ~ 1 hr 20 min on breaks at work
Gilad Total Body Sculpt - 45 min (light weights/body weight strength + some cardio)
Tom Deters Kickboxing program - 45 min

I was exhausted after all the exercise Tuesday. It was really tough to get through the strength program as this particular one had a LOT of lunges. Then, I managed to finish the kickboxing, but barely. My form near the end was not that great, I'm sure. But I must have burned a ton of calories!

Wednesday:

B - water, coke zero
L - 2 bites Greek yogurt, 1 bite ww bread, 2 bites pink lady apple
D - 1.5 bites tilapia, 2.5 bites baked potato, 1 bite mixed veggies (margarine on potato and veggies)

Exercise:

Walked total of 68 min
60 pushups - on knees
Karate class - 1.5 hr

I've been meaning to work on pushups. I really want to be able to do real pushups. I think it's just a beautiful exercise when done properly. I'm not strong enough to do real ones on my toes, but I'm sure I can work up to it. And losing weight will help of course! Pullups are another dream of mine, but I don't have my power rack set up yet. I hope that I will have enough overhead space in the basement to do pullups after we get my power rack put together.

I have been seriously working on my flexibility for quite awhile now. I usually get to the dojo at least 1/2 hour before class starts and stretch. We have stretching barrs to use, and they have really helped with my hip flexibility. Last night I was finally able to do a nice stretch I've seen called "roadkill". Basically, I sit on the floor with my legs in a V, as far apart as I can, then lean forward. I could actually relax down to the floor last night! Here is a pic:

http://www.dance.net/topic/1113205/1/Stretching/Stretching-Essentials.html

I can't get my legs that far apart yet, but that's the general idea. My sensei was very happy and complimented me.

Thursday:

B - water, coke zero
L - 2 bites Greek yogurt, 1 bite almonds 2 bites bosc pear
D - 2 bites chicken sausage with spicy mustard, 3 bites penne pasta + red bell pepper, marinara sauce, and parmesan

I have been surrounded by food lately!!!

Wednesday the vendor we work with had cake for an employee who is leaving. I had made up my mind in advance that I wasn't eating cake, so it wasn't terribly hard to resist. Luckily cake it's really a trigger for me.

A lady at work organized a little birthday bash Thursday for the other supervisor in my unit. I decided in advance that I would not be eating any of the goodies. I went to the store last night and picked out some sugar wafer cookies to bring. It was HARD to walk through the cookie aisle and pick out something! I deliberately picked something that I like (don't want to get something crappy for the others) but that I didn't HAVE to have. The organizer made a lovely cake, plus brought extra cookies, and others brought drinks and chips and dip. I was in meetings most of the day, and having made up my mind I wasn't eating it, it wasn't too hard to resist. I brought my husband some of the cake and cookies.

Thursday after work, I went to an Italian restauraunt/pizzaria and picked up food for my boss's family. His wife is going through chemo, so we took up a collection at work to provide food for them on the chemo days. Another fellow and I have been taking turns, and yesterday was my turn. The pizza in the restauraunt looked awfully good, so I tried not to think about it. On the way home, I was smelling the food in my car. I chewed my favorite sugar-free gum the whole time I was in the restauraunt and on the way home, so that helped a little. When my thoughts turn to food, distracting my thoughts really does seem to help. I saved a good article about that, I'll try to find it and post it.

Exercise:
30 pushups on knees
Walking - 1.5 hr total
Gilad workout - 20 min (light weight + bw, including more pushups)
Nonstop Step workout - 45 min (aerobic step workout)

Again, completing the last workout was tough. I know I didn't do it perfectly, but I must have burned plenty of calories.


We have yet ANOTHER little party at work on Monday, and I'm probably going to be picking up the food from the store. My boss is getting a bunch of food to welcome an employee back after surgery. I had thought at first that I wouldn't have anything, but instead I think I will have one item for lunch. 5 bites of a banana nut muffin would make a great lunch.

I'm really getting tired of work parties! But I suppose it's good practice on resisting eating trigger foods.

Your doing great seams that book has helped alot. Keep up the great work

Dmac, thanks! The book has helped, but I think the Biggest Loser contest has helped me achieve a hyper-focus on weight loss.

I'm loving the results. I am wearing a pair of my smaller jeans today, hurray!!! I'm wearing Levis junior size 13's. I was comfortably wearing Levis 16's not that long ago. So exciting. This is the first time I've been super-strict with 5 bite, long-term. Amazing results.

Friday:

B - water, coke zero
L - 2 bites Greek yogurt, 2 bites ww bread, 1 bite apple
D - 2 bites chicken sausage + spicy mustard, 3 bites ww penne pasta with marinara, red bell pepper, and parmesan

Exercise:
Walking - 20 min (had errands to run on lunch, so didn't have time for any more walking than that)
Karate Class - 1.5 hr

I was sooooo tired and hungry when I got home. Dinner tasted so good! It was hard to stop at 5 bites, and they were BIG bites. I mentally reminded myself about the contest, and about the goals I want to achieve, and that dieting does not last forever.

Saturday: I cheated and weighed myself this morning: 168, down 3 lbs from Monday

Measurements Today: (compared to Monday's measurements)
Waist - 35.75" (was 36.25)
Hips - 40.75" (was 41.25)
Chest (widest) - 41 (was 41.5)
Chest (bra line) - 37 (was 37.25

I love seeing the pounds drop, but the drop in measurements is really motivating. 35" is the smallest my waist has been in probably 8 years or more. I can't wait to get below 30". I believe a waist above 30" for women is a marker for potential health problems.