the 7 pm rule

i've heard all kinds of people swear by the no-eating-after-7pm rule--several of whom are the super skinny 40+ year olds that i go to pilates with...

i don't think there's anything magic about the number 7. but i do think there is something magic about having a cut-off time when you stop eating. i think i'm going to try it this week...however, 7 doesn't feel realistic for me, since i often don't get done teaching until 9 pm.

this week, i'll try the no-eating-after-10pm rule. because seriously, i've been eating up until bedtime--which is usually around 1 am. that can't be good. wish me luck!

(and oh yea, did i mention i'm still not drinking diet coke?)

water is the new diet coke

i know, i keep blogging about how i'm not drinking diet coke anymore. but seriously, this is huge. no, make that so HUGE! i started drinking it in my early teens, and never stopped. it slowly escalated into a complete addiction/obsession, magnified anytime i had a stressful day or week. i would venture to say that i haven't gone more than 48 hours without one since i was about 16. no, i'm no kidding. (my parents are total addicts too) i've "quit" before--but it was always with the 'i can drink it when i'm out of the house and/or eating out' clause.

i haven't had any for almost 2 weeks now. if you would have asked me even a month ago if i could have gone even 24 hours without one, i would have said "no way."

funny thing is, people who don't know that i've switched to h20 have even commented that i seem like i have more energy and seem happier. and guess what, i feel better--fewer headaches, fewer muscle aches, i just feel...better.

i have never ever believed in all the crazy stuff you read on the internet about how nutrasweet will kill you and makes you feel yucky...until i stopped drinking it. and now i kind of believe all the anti-nutrasweet hype out there...they just might be on to something...

more importantly though, i feel like i have control. i am no longer a slave to the coca-cola company. and controlling that is helping me control my eating.

so, that is why water is the new diet coke.

that explains a lot...

yesterday was the first day in i don't even know how long that i really kept track of everything i was eating--journaled every single thing that went into my mouth.

i ate 35 points. (!!) and i felt like i was being "good"!!...hmm. suddenly, the too-tight clothing isn't such a mystery.

i hadn't been counting fruit, which can add up really fast...and i've generally stopped keeping track after about 3 pm, which is when i really start eating most days.

so, step 1 will be continuing to journal.

step 2 will be to stop the eating when i'm out of points. (why is this concept so difficult?) i need to eat more zero-points veggies.

good news is that i'm still off diet coke. and i'm eating less refined/packaged crap. 7 of yesterdays points were from fruit. baby steps.

news from the front

well, the battle continues here at casa de meg...i haven't made much progress in the weight loss department over the past few weeks--still fluctuating between 179 and the scary numbers. sigh. i weighed in this morning and was completely horrified, though i'm not going to put too much stock in that weigh-in...it was kind of a bad week/weekend.

i officially quit diet coke, though. that is BIG news. i've had about a 4-6 16oz. bottle a day habit now for i don't know how long, and i very suddenly decided that i didn't want to be chained to diet coke for the rest of my life. so i switched to a 4-6 bottles of water a day habit. it's been a week, and so far so good! i'm hoping it will help to get rid of my sugar cravings. so far it has helped some i think. mostly though, i'm just wanting to clear all of the artificial sweeteners out of my system.

i do feel motivated again, which is good. i want to be skinny and fit so bad i can taste it!...and too bad it doesn't taste like the freshly baked choc. chip cookies that my brother just pulled out of the oven...(arrgh)

yay!

minus another lb. this week. yippee!

i've been exercising every day. i seem to be getting better in the will power department and am passing on sweet stuff more often than not.

still need to work on eating fewer carbs and more vegs/fruit...and being more consistent about counting/food journaling.

that is all.