Welcome to more coronavirus diet news! What makes it a coronavirus diet? Absolutely nothing! Except, that I am really talking about the quarantine and the fact that gyms have been shut down for a lot of people (including The Doctor – moi). That means a lot of us are sitting at home with not much left of our regular routine left, including going to the gym (for those of us who do that). Personally, I prefer to swim, and the pools are closed at least through next week and maybe longer. Sitting at home, with all the temptations of food and none of the routine and exercise that helps keep all that in check.
A new routine is required, if you want to keep it together. I am planning to start each day with an early walk (30 minutes), count calories carefully, and take an afternoon or evening walk as well. Stairs will be climbed. Children will be chased. And why would anyone do all this? For two reasons: 1. I have decided that controlling my weight is more important to me than almost everything else. 2. I have succeeded, over the last year, in finding ways to make all the calorie counting and meal planning worth doing.
My food intake and calorie count
Breakfast – 8oz baked beans (360); 2oz Ukrainian bread (200);
- 560 calories
Lunch – 1/4 pound corned beef (140); bread (130); TI dressing (130); Swiss cheese (150);
- 550 calories
Dinner – ham (100); bread (130); cheese (50); ice cream sandwich (140);
- 420 calories
Snacking – tea with half and half (80); pretzels (200); french toast pieces (70);
- 350 calories
Total for the day: 1880 calories (limit 1800)
Clickety Clack
Last week I said I needed a new keyboard. It has arrived! I bought an Ultra Classic from Unicomp, which uses the same principles (and mechanism) as the old IBM keyboards from 20-30 years ago. It was expensive – $120 all told. But so far it is very much worth it. The keyboards are made in Kentucky and the action is much better than the cheap keyboard I was using recently. Since I type so much, I thought this might be worth the money. So far, I am happy with it. It does sound a bit louder than most recent keyboards. Maybe it will make me sound productive.
When you are viewing you life as an exercise in controlling your body’s weight, and shape, it can become a kind of obsession. I think that is correct and likely the only way you can do it. In my life so far, dieting by exerting willpower has never been successful. By willpower I mean that you make yourself change how much you are eating and consequently feel resentful and deprived. You keep that at bay with force of will. That is all that is keeping you from going back to your old habits. Based on my experience so far, I only have a limited amount of that kind of will, and then I fail and feel bad about myself. So I don’t set myself up for that kind of failure any more.
I can make each day a success by reframing the exercise: did I successfully prepare for each meal by getting physically hungry just at the right time? Did I satisfy myself my making sure the controlled portion of food I was eating, was a high quality item that I would really appreciate? Put another way, I work hard to make sure that eating less food is a positive. I don’t feel deprived and don’t have to exert that kind of willpower, because I am looking forward to a deeper kind of fulfillment. Emotional reasons for eating are not seen as satisfying and being truly stuffed full feels strange and distasteful to me now.
Make sure you are able to achieve success every day and every meal, and you will look forward to that. If you don’t, you might seek fulfillment in being full.
-The Doctor