Hi Erin, and everyone,
First of all - I wish you the very best to achieve your goal for this year.
Inspired by Steve's idea of having a major goal for the year, I decided to also focus on my health for 2009.
Mostly I want to lose weight and lose my belly. I also want to alter my diet to include lots of fresh fruit and veg, and get rid of cravings for sweet and carbohydrate foods. My baseline is very low - poor diet and very little self-discipline.
Progress so far:
Since my diet was so bad, in mid-Dec I started a 30 day trial to eat at least one piece of raw fruit, veg or greens every day. Yes just one piece! My diet really was shocking. I allowed myself to eat whatever else I wanted, so I didn;t feel deprived. I think that was key to success of the trial. By the end, I was having more than one piece of raw food, I developed a liking for the taste of raw food, making delicious salads with lots of greens, smoothies, even finding a piece of fruit more satisfying than a biscuit, or even half a pack. Not that I would say no to a cookie!
In Jan I started a second 30 day trial to not eat after 8pm. I can drink herb tea or water in the evening, and during the day I can eat whatever I like. Usually I snack a lot in the evenings, munching on biscuits, bread, chocolate till I go to bed. This is turning out to be very interesting for me. In my whole life I have rarely had the feeling of my stomach being empty, as I am constantly snacking. It has made me realise that a lot of the time I am hungry in my head and not in my stomach. In a strange way it is quite a nice physical feeling to have an empty stomach. Though I am finding this trial is fairly easy to do, it is a little more challenging than the previous, and the novelty is wearing off. For example, as I am writing this the thought keeps coming into my head to get something to eat (it is 11.30 pm), but I am not so tempted as to give in. I know the thinking is just a habit. Where I think of food when I don;t know what else to do, or what to write next.
I had to start this trial after 12 days, so though I am officially on day 12 it is 24 days since I first started. I was away at a work meeting, and some nights we went out to dinner at 10 pm! Apart from the lure of a delicious meal, I was also not brave enough to stick to my trial. To be honest I was disappointed in myself for that, but I will tackle lack of courage another time.
I have not lose any weight. A bit surprising, since I have cut out loads of biscuits by not eating at night. However, I am not worried about that just yet. For the moment I am trying to build up some good habits, so that when I attack the challenge of losing 1.5 stone (21 lb), I will have lots of good structures in place to help me. I am also trying to build up some self-discipline by sticking to 30 day trials.
So I will post on my progress occasionally. Perhaps my dismal state of affairs and attempts to improve will be of interest to someone. And I will be very interested to see what others have to say, and your experiences with your good health adventures in 2009.
Solas