Okay so I weighed. Had to go to Wal-Mart (bathroom hardware section) to do it; I don't have a scale and my fitness center is on annual shutdown. The number that rolled round was, I do believe, the highest number I've ever read there. That's confounding because I am not the largest I've ever been. So either I didn't weight at my fattest, or the bike riding and such is building muscle, which all dieters seem to understand is heavier than fat. I dunno. At any rate it's a hideous number and I've shared it with the group. Not in the mood to put in up here just now. The good news: it's not pushing me into a binge.
Today was a potluck at church. The timing of that was fortunate; I put it together with John's mantra that "the food plan will be the law" and decided to build grace into my plan. Maybe SOMEWHERE on the planet people have potlucks with an abundance of foods that are good choices...but in my little corner, church potlucks don't. I really wanted to go, as the cause for celebration was the installation of our new pastor. I really didn't want to be the annoying person sitting there not eating, making everyone else feel like water buffalo. My solution shows up in the food plan, which is copy/pasted below from what I sent to the other COWS:
FOOD PLAN
I am not choosing someone else's pre-fab plan. Customized myself one that I feel I can stick to and not run off into a train wreck. If I find it is unhelpful, I'll tighten it down. But what I'd like is a plan that is something I can just live for life (not only for the duration of this experiment.)
Important element of my plan: I have one "flex" day in it. On that day, the only rule is moderation. Reasonable portions, no seconds, and stopping as soon as I'm full are the only specifics for that day. This leaves me the flexibility for days like today, when I was going to a potluck and knew eating was going to be impossible without grace. I can only have one flex day per week. It re-sets every Sunday and the unused days cannot be carried forward. The flex day is not something I "have" to have weekly, and I should not look for excuses to use it. It's just a small grace.
Also important to note: fasting days or portions of days is permitted (for spiritual reasons, NOT for dieting reasons). When fasting a portion of a day, I may not make up for lost time on the meal(s) I don't fast.
Here's the deal for the other days:
*Veggies: minimum of 6 servings per day. Fresh or frozen, whenever possible. Avoid sauces. Starchy vegetables limited to 1 serving per day. Within these parameters, veggies are basically a free food.
*Fruits: minimum of 3 servings per day. Fresh or frozen, whenever possible. Avoid sweeteners. The only limit on fruits that meet this standard: less fruit daily than veggies. Juice permitted (100% only) but never more than 1 serving per day except for on "juice only" fasting days.
*Meats/Proteins: this one is more complicated:
*minimum of 3 servings per day of: chicken/turkey/fish neither fried nor sauced
eggs
all natural, no-sugar-added peanut butter
nuts (preferably walnuts or almonds)
dried beans
(for this category, never more than 1 serving of any one at a sitting)
*red meat limited to twice weekly, must be lean, and absolutely no eating more than 1 serving (4 oz) at a sitting.
*fried meats never more than once weekly, with absolutely no eating more than 1 serving (4 oz) at a sitting.
*Milk/yogurt/cheese: minimum of 1 serving per day; maximum 3. Milk will be skim only. Yogurt to be unsweetened or sugar substitute.
*Oils and fats: stick to olive oil where possible. Real butter acceptable but not in a "drowning" or "dripping" measure.
*Sweets: no more than 3x weekly. Portion to be strictly controlled (such as one 3.6 oz container of ice cream, or one of those 150 calorie individual microwave brownies, or 2 tsp jelly to go on toast, or HALF a serving of a standard dessert/donut/etc...no monkeying with definitions of "standard."
*Bread/Cereal/Rice/Pasta: no minimum here, simply because there is no danger I'll "under consume" this, which is perhaps my favorite category. Maximum of 5 servings per day. Breads, cereals, and pasta to be whole grain (or pasta can be soy). Strict adherence to serving size.
The logic behind my "minimums" -
*having to eat more vegetables than fruits will help me get full before I go too far on the fruits
*minimums for lean meat/protein are because a bit of protein with each meal keeps me from getting excessively hungry to the temptation point
*minimums for milk is about my bones; I'm not worrying about setting it higher because I'm never tempted not to drink milk
*Caffeinated beverages: absolute limit for any day is 12 oz.
*Water: minimum 30 oz. per day
Okay, that's it!
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