Week Nineteen - Back to 100% Food

Thursday, September 10th was the last day for an Optifast shake.  It was really kind of anticlimactic.  It was really more about losing my 'bedtime snack' - which that fourth shake has really substituted for all of these weeks.  Now THAT has been a much more monumental issue!

Being back to food has required me to think about my meals, and be much more involved in planning my food day than I ever was before.  It's not a bad thing, but it has taken extra time every day.  Sue has been a big help to accommodate the grocery requests, and to keep a supply of pre-chopped veggies in the fridge - like carrots, cauliflower, broccoli.  I've been eating very simple meals throughout Transition, in order to keep a better handle on the daily tracking.  I have been full most of the time, and I've had very few significant cravings.

Leaving behind the 'bedtime snack', however has not been all that fun.

It's not that I'm hungry between 9:00 and 10:00pm - but eating around that time gives me joy and comfort.  I did go into this program with a promise to myself to keep an open mind and to 'stick with the program.'  I'm guessing that there are important reasons why the dietician wants us to not snack during this high-risk time period (high-risk for me based on my past history).  So I'm trying to problem-solve this issue.  For now, I'm eating a small, healthy snack about 5 pm, then eating my evening meal about 8pm.  Then a half hour later I'm having a piece of fruit and a cup of hot chocolate, then I'm 'done' for the day.  We'll see this week if this is a good plan.

The weekly group sessions have been talking about recipes and strategies for each of the meals - breakfast, lunch, supper.  The topic last week was about increasing exercise - this hasn't been a huge problem for me [I thought it would be at the beginning], but I know there will be challenges coming up.  Winter will require new strategies.  I will need to be diligent to maintain the exercise over the long haul - traditionally, my exercise commitment tends to peter out after a couple of years.