Epiphany Nuggets

So far this life style change has been full of what I like to call "epiphany nuggets". These little moments where something finally clicks. Or a moment where you fully understand and are aware of a habit, situation or thought process.  Oprah calls them "Ah-Ha" moments. But that's so 1990's.

For years....YEARS... my day has been consumed with thinking about where my next meal was going come from and when it was going to come.  I've done some deep soul diving in the past to try to figure out why that is. Its not like I was ever hungry as a child.  Sure we didn't have a lot in our family, but I don't remember ever going without food. The MomUnit may have, but us kids never did. Unless if we did, I've blocked that out of my mind.

My life has been about food.  The constant badgering about when I'll be eating again.  As you can imagine, that has played a significant role in how I've kept my girlish figure all these years. (insert heavy sarcasm.)

When I started this new way of eating, I was naive enough to think that I'd no longer have to think about food every waking minute.  That Jenny has it all planned out for me, and that was that. Wash my hands of the subject.

Turns out...I actually think about food WAY more now. 

Its not so much about when am I going to eat again but rather, what I'll be eating.  The planning that has to go into eating healthy is ridiculous. And I do know that one day it won't feel like such an effort, that it'll just be the new reality, but in the meantime, I think about food all .... the.... time....!

I know many people who struggle with the planning part of eating and preparing to eat healthy.  Being a project manager, planning comes easy to me. It's the best part of a project. And I am, afterall, one big project. (Let's hope I can come in on time, under budget, and within scope.) It dawned on me though that not everyone is a planner.  So I figured why not run through what I do.  Maybe it'll help someone. Maybe it'll just be pointless words on a blog. 

It all starts for me on the weekend.  The grocery shopping day.  I have been weighing in and getting my Jenny food on Saturday. I will not, cannot, go grocery shopping after that.  By the time I weigh in I haven't had breakfast and by the time I'm done I'll be hungry. Grocery shopping and hunger are never a good thing.

Once I get home, I sit down with my new menu and start planning.  Now for those of you who aren't on Jenny this would be a good time to sit down and actually plan your meals for the week.  And while this planning is going on, you make a grocery list. What fruits are you going to buy, and how many. What veggies do I want this week? And how many?  Do I need any yogurt this week? And how many?

You get the picture.

Voila.  Half the planning is done.  You have a menu and a grocery list. Now go shopping.

That's the easy part.  The hard part is each day thinking about what your plan is.  Again, I'm find myself thinking about food.  But in a good way.

I know I'll be eating at 8am, 10am, 11am, 1pm, 3pm, 5pm and 8pm today.  The main meals, breakfast, lunch and dinner are taken care of. The in-between meals need thought. 

Then as each day comes to a close, I review everything I've eaten all day and make sure it's been posted to myfitnesspal.com to count my calories and exercise.  Then its thinking about what tomorrow looks like.  I start gathering my meals and snacks for work so that it's all packed and ready to go. Its important for me to do it the night before because I can guarantee you in the morning before coffee, something will be forgotten.

Throughout the day I don't watch the clock. I have reminders set up throughout the day to remind me to eat.  Incidentally, I also use those reminders to get up and walk around or go pee.  It's a great way to break up your day. 

After one meal is done, I think about what my next snack should be. Thankfully, I've surrounded myself with a moat of healthy options. Jenny does provide some of those options, so that makes it a bit easier.

Anyhow, my point is, at the end of the day, I've thought about food ALL day.  My plan to not think about food is nothing but a faded memory.

And here's the thing, I wonder, am I like everyone else who eats healthy?  Is this the "norm" for healthy eating?

The other new thing that I do that just baffles me that I do it, is I now consider, heavily consider, what the calories are for something I'm about to eat.

Let's say, for example, I've had all my food for today and yet I'm still hungry.   I may reach for a 100 calorie snack bar.  In the past I'd just eat it, or two or three. Now, I think about what that means.  And I think, "Is it worth it?" (and more importantly I question whether I'm hungry or bored).  Nine times out of ten I put the bar down.  Its weird. And so not like me.  I even find myself wanting to find out what the calories are for foods in restaurants.  Which, BTW, is sad and scary in and of itself. 

thinking about food, constantly will help drive progress. And progress, after all, is what really drives me.