For the last 3-4 weeks I have been having a lot of trouble with my food intake discipline. I’ve been overeating. For the first few weeks I tried and tried to force myself back onto the straight and narrow path, but I have given up on that. It’s not working and force doesn’t seem to work very well.
Instead, I decided to focus on bedtime. I was getting into a pattern of staying up late, eating too much and not being able to get up the next day. Then I felt bad about it. That kept happening. So, for the last two nights I have made myself quit computing at 9 or 9:30 and go to bed a bit early. It’s helped, in the sense that I haven’t done late night eating the last two nights.
My food intake and calorie count
Breakfast – Premio sausage (230); wrap (90); sauce (20);
- 340 calories
Lunch – Pizza (570);
- 570 calories
Dinner – sausage (300); pretzels and cheese (300);
- 640 calories
Snacking – tea with half and half (160);
- 160 calories
Total for the day: 1670 calories (limit 1700)
Forwards
My plan is to keep going this way: early disengagement and bed. I am also taking steps to reduce some of the stress in my life (taking care of business instead of worrying about it). I am hopeful that the combination will let me get control of my food intake again.
Today (the third day of the early bedtime strategy) I ate breakfast early (7AM) and was quite hungry by lunchtime and really ravenous by 4PM. I didn’t have a small lunch (nearly 600 calories) but still was hungry enough to eat 300 calories before dinner.
Last night I felt the need to eat something around 8PM (I managed to divert myself to low calorie carrots and pickles) and I was worried that today would be the same. So far, so good, though. I did spend part of the afternoon wandering around trying not to think about eating, but it turned out I was legitimately hungry for some reason. It’s unusual. But the last few weeks have really thrown me off my game and this will take a little getting used to.
Bedtime!
-The Doctor
Funny how the demon creeps in so easily, and it’s always a challenge to beat the s.o.b., but you’re up to the challenge. How about this as a conversation piece…Some psychologists tell smokers (who want to quit) that they MUST smoke only at certain times. Smoking then gets to be a chore rather than a comforting pleasure. What if you ate something that you really dislike every night so that associating night eating with distaste might drive away the desire to consume night time calories??? Is that a dumb idea?