Intuitive eating

I did an experiment today. I practiced intuitive eating and deliberately shut off all my quantifying and arranging mechanisms until nighttime. I refused to tally up calories in my head until I was done eating for the day. I refused to plan my food more than was necessary for practical purposes (i.e. lunch and snacks to bring to work tomorrow). I dismissed thoughts of what I could eat later in the day with "that's nice, but I'll see if it's what I want when I actually get hungry." I wrote down what I had eaten so far in the day if I was at my computer, but didn't spend much time looking at the pattern, and didn't let myself interrupt other activities to do so. Let me tell you, this food and weight-loss thing has become a great procrastination technique for me. Just plan what to eat for breakfast tomorrow, or all week, read about the USDA's new dietary recommendations and what counts as an ounce of grains and make up a day's menu that has just so many servings of each thing, think of hypothetical ways to arrange calories in the week and lose at X rate... and avoid working on that presentation I don't really want to give. Because I know "listen to your body" isn't quite THAT simple, I asked myself "am I thirsty, bored, stiff, or want a distraction?" before deciding to eat. I drank a LOT of water today because it was hot, and I also went for a run, a short 2.3-mile jaunt. Oh, and I made sure to have a treat. That's right, not just allowed, but actively attended to having a treat. I will have a treat every day until the idea gets old and I don't feel like one. Today it was a piece of lemon poppyseed cake, and some other time it could be chocolate, ice cream, a cocktail, a cookie, whatever I want that day.

The results:

Sunday 6/5

Grits with a fried egg, 1/2 orange and 1/2 banana (330)

Apple (100)

1/2 Tofurky sausage rolled in a slice of bread (210)

Lemon poppyseed cake with coffee (maybe 400)

Celery sticks and cream cheese herb dip (100)

Salt and peppered boiled potato (100)
Raspberry-redwine sorbet (50)

Ginger candy (10)

Rice and beans with tomatoes, onions, and a dollop of cream cheese (330)

Iced tea (35)

Est. 1665

I'm pretty pleased with that.