Planning and Organizing

Food, food, food.  It is the thing that keeps me alive, but also my worst enemy.  I have such a hard time controlling myself around it.  Yes, it is supposed to be used solely for fuel purposes, but boy do I abuse it. 

I honestly don’t know when or how it started.  I didn’t have a weight problem growing up, but that was mostly because I was a dancer, and we danced for  more than a few hours every day.  So I could whatever the heck I wanted.  Maybe that’s how it started?  Maybe it’s that I got so used to eating whatever I wanted.  Sure, I noticed that I couldn’t do that anymore once I started gaining weight in college, but did I let that stop me?  Nope.  Because I love food.  I love the taste, the texture, and everything about it.

Not only that, but it makes me feel good.  When I’m lonely, I eat.  When I’m sad, I eat.  When I’m stressed, I eat.  When I’m bored, I eat. 

You get the picture.

I honestly don’t know how to stop it.  But one step I’m going to take is to stay away from it.  Keep the triggers out of my home, and keep myself from getting bored.  I usually get home around 5:00, if I don’t go to the gym (and who am I fooling…I don’t go that often, obviously).  That leaves a good 5-6 hour window of “eating opportunity”, or whatever you want to call it.  I’ve tried going to the gym, like I said, but more often than not I talk myself out of going, and end up driving straight past the gym. 

When I was in dance, I had to go.  I had no choice.  And that kept me from eating.  Any day I didn’t have dance, once I got home from school, I’d head straight to the kitchen for a snack (chips and cheese with some pop was always a favorite) to eat while doing homework.  It was a habit I formed, and obviously held on to….because I still head straight for the kitchen the second I get home.

So obviously there are going to be new behaviors that I’m going to have to learn.  Here’s what I have so far.

1.)  No eating /snacking until afternoon workout is complete.   I know it doesn’t stop the eating, but I know I certainly don’t feel like pigging out after working out and completely ruining what I just did.
2.)  When eating/snacking, food can be consumed ONLY at the kitchen table.  Any other place is off-limits.  No standing up by the fridge or the oven while I’m cooking, no eating on the couch.  If I want a snack, I’ll prepare it and eat it at the table.
3.)  Keep all trigger foods/drinks out of the apartment.  This one I already mentioned, and it’s pretty self-explanatory.  I seem to do a lot better when I don’t have junk food in the house.
4.)  Schedule my day.  I bought the Erin Condren Life Planner a few months back.  I’ve used it here and there, but I’ll be using it much more.  I’ll be using it as a food/exercise journal, and as a way to plan my day.  Certain blocks of time are when I’ll be allowed to watch TV or surf the internet/Instagram/Bloglovin/etc.  Every day may be different, depending on my workout plan for that day.  But a general rule I’ll follow is this:  5-7 is workout time/shower time, 7-7:15 is snack time, 7:15-7:45 is cooking time, 7:45-8 is dishwashing time, 8-8:30 is dinner time (at the table!!!), 8:30-10 is TV/internet/blog time, and 10-bedtime is reading time.  It may sound a little too structured, but I have absolutely no structure in my life.  I don’t have kids to take care of, and I’m basically free to do whatever I want when I want (such a terrible problem, I know).  So I need to create some sort of structure to follow.
5.)  Get more sleep.   Easier said than done.  But I need to get more sleep.  I need to get to bed earlier, no excuses!

I’ll be posting this list on my fridge to look at every day and to remember what my goals are.  I realize I need to be a little more organized and plan a little better if I want to lose weight.  So plan and organize I will!

No work for me tomorrow, so today is my Friday.   :D    If I don’t post tomorrow, I hope everyone has a Happy Easter!