These daily posts are for the purpose of documenting my food intake. I also talk about other problems I encounter on my project, to gain control of my body’s weight. Today was a reward day. Recently I got below 270 pounds, and I promised myself that if I did, I would reward myself with a special meal. There are people who think it is strange or at least counterproductive to reward myself with food, while dieting. But since a key part of my diet is to transform the way I think about food and eating, it actually helps me to have rewards. The reward is something I really like and don’t usually have. Sometimes I make it, and sometimes I go out.
My food intake and calorie count
Breakfast – 2 x pizza slices (100); apple fruit bar (110)
- 310 calories
Lunch – Chuy’s steak burrito (1010); rice and beans (160)
- 1170 calories
Dinner – leftover burrito
- (see above)
Snacking – tea with half and half (80); pretzels (120)
- 200 calories
Total for the day: 1680 calories (limit 1800 + 500 bonus from swimming, total 2300)
Rewards keep you going
Food rewards are a great idea, if you are willing to change yourself and how you think about eating. For most people, dieting is temporary and they go back to their old habits after a while, sometimes after a successful weight loss. However, it is easy to gain the weight back since you are living the same way you did before.
My goal for eating is to really enjoy my food. To do that, I have to be hungry, ravenously hungry. Food you are really looking forward to eating tastes the best when you are hungry for it. So you can’t overeat when you are thinking this way. If you eat too much, you won’t be hungry for your next meal. Also, I have found that after the first helping of even my favorite foods, I am no longer enjoying it as much. Then I have a choice: keep eating until I am completely full, or stop eating to preserve my hunger for the next meal.
My body is willing to eat less food if it is food I really want to eat – if I have something to look forward to. Part of looking head is food rewards! When I am looking ahead to a weight milestone, I plan a reward for when I reach it. Most recently, I was going to reward myself with an enormous Texas steak burrito from Chuy’s restaurant. (They are a national chain based in Austin.) It’s not clear from the picture, but that burrito was almost 11 inches long and full of steak. That was more steak than I have eaten in a long time, and it was really, really good, because I made sure I was really, really hungry. I am willing to go back there again for another reward in the future.
In keeping with my desire to not get too full, I ate half the burrito for lunch. Then I ate the other half for dinner. That’s right, I got to reward myself AGAIN with the same food. And it was good again, though not as good as it was at lunch time.
Rewards pull me forward. They also make me happy, it is fulfilling a promise to myself. I get to be happy, eat steak burritos, and lose weight. This is great! It could be great for you, too.
-The Doctor