cocobutt's Journal, 19 July 2010

You probably need to increase your daily intake a little. If your body is too hungry all the time, it will be too easy to give in to a binge. Eat slowly and listen to your body. That way you'll stop eating when you're satisfied - not when you're stuffed. 

You're right, I do need to be more mindful while I'm eating. I am usually distracted by something else, like talking, reading or watching tv, and not paying attention to how much I'm eating or whether I'm full or not. I'm on auto-pilot. I split a grilled shrimp salad with my hubby at lunch today. It came with a sweet orange yeast roll that I usually find impossible to resist. But I thought about practicing saying "no" and I gave it up to my hubby. He's dieting too, but he needs more calories than I do. It only hurt for a couple of seconds. ;) 

While I agree with Runesinger, I have another thought. I also have a history of giving in to temptation especially when I've had a long streak of good behavior. I tell myself that it's ok since I've been working so hard. And then I crumble afterwards, stuffing my face on auto-pilot. And, I don't know about you, but sometimes I would eat even when I was full because it tasted so good. This year, I took another approach. By chance I came across some female body-builders on-line and they've inspired me to work toward a goal that's not focused on "losing weight" but using my current body as a foundation and building/sculpting a healthy body. With this particular goal in mind, everything I do is a purposeful act towards it. My goal is to get to 130 lbs by Christmas, and then take the next six months to get my body-fat percentage down to 10-12%. I think that should bring me around 120-125 lbs. This is why I've been busting my butt on that treadmill!!! LOL. If you have a concrete goal to work towards, not just wanting to be thinner, but actually have a number or percentage or something tangible, you might find yourself not being on auto-pilot. Just a thought. :) 

Sunny, you just described me to a T with that comment about giving in to temptation after good behavior. Maybe my age has something to do with it, but I would think sculpting my body to look like your role model (I saw the body builder's pic in your journal) would be pretty futile. Reducing my body fat would be an achievable goal though. I'm sure there's info online about how to calculate it and what to shoot for. I've never delved into fitness that deep -- have just looked at the pounds on the scale. I'm learning a lot from you guys!