#impulse eating

How freaking boring! I have tried preparing meals in advance, and I hated it. There is nothing like opening the refrigerator door and seeing all that pre-made food, but you want something else. Sometimes, I can’t even do leftovers. For instance, yesterday, I cooked a rack of spare ribs. Of course, there are going to be leftovers. I live alone. I opened up the frig for lunch, knowing what was in…

Impulsive eating is a bitch, yo! I had a plan of making burgers tonight but when I got done with everything I was just so tired and basically asked my bf if he even wanted burgers and he said well... I really want pizza and I was like SURE. I jumped at the chance to not eat on plan. But I didn’t stop there, I had 4 pieces of pizza, which is 3 more than usual even on a planned day and cookies and soda. 

I let the stress of the day pile up and I chose the easy way out but I definitely regret it now because the food is not sitting well, shout out to GERD for that. At least this is a learning experience. I learned that: 

1) Meal prepping is a key, this weekend I’ll be making ALL my meals for the whole week, not just three or four days. 

2) I will be more focused on my plan. It’s okay to have pizza, but I could have easily waited until tomorrow when it was on my plan and not an impulsive decision. 

Grazing Day. Eat like a cow.

Grazing Day starring a spotted cow with long eyelashes.

It’s Monday and if my cupboards were full, I’d have emptied them by now.

A day when I know why cows “graze”.  Ever had one of those days?  No explanation. No extra stress. No weirdness afoot. Feeling Fine. Just wanting to graze the land.  Leave me be.

So, in-between thinking about food choices that I don’t have in the house, I did some…

Just ran 2.5 miles in the pouring rain. I feel like I've been reborn. 

Yesterday: I had a slow eating day. I was really productive and didn't realize the time so by the time I was hungry the dining hall was closed and a salad or veggies weren't going to cut it. I went to trax which is the campus grill that is open after dining hall hours and got a sub, and my suite mate and i split some ice cream. Not the greatest choices and I did feel instant resentment. I texted my boyfriend whose away for baseball and told him about how I didn't even want to eat bad I just did it impulsivly and he said to me but did it make you feel better....and I realized he was right. I didn't feel better at all. I felt worse. If i had ate the veggies and a salad I might have still be a little hungry for a less calorie packed snack to hold me over until breakfast. 

So that will be my next goal...Make better, more informed choices. I will need to work on this so it will most likely be a work in progress.

If there is one flaw I have when it comes to maintaining the best physical fitness I can, it's weight control. Don't get me wrong, I've never been fat. Never been overweight. However, especially when dealing with injuries, I have been known to overeat. Especially since I'm going to school and live in the dorm, food is everywhere. That Talent Show later has free pizza. A roommate made cookies. I'm in my friend's room and there's a bag of Doritos staring at me, enticing me to eat it whether I'm hungry or not, plus unspoken (sometimes spoken!) peer pressure.

Nonathletes are no help either. "Cher, you're not fat. Cher, you can eat whatever you want. Cher, moderation is key (even though I'm horrible at it- it's easier for me to totally avoid something like fried food then to have "just a little bit" because once I start I can't put on the brakes.

I need to try some of these, especially to control things like eating when bored- I do that a lot- or eating when feeling shy- I do that at parties and events. I also eat when stressed. I have a lot of trouble focusing on my assignments, and so my anxiety and stress leads to me polishing off an entire bag of grapes from Target- or worse, a giant bag of chips and Skittles.

Plus, sugar makes me hyper... so then I focus less on my work. Snowball effect. Good times. Add in the guilt over eating that junk, and it's a very vicious cycle.

Anyway. I already hydrate and try to sleep enough (though being up til 5am doing a paper isn't good.) Thinking before snacking though... I definitely don't do that. Lots of mindless eating here. Ditto for thinking about emotions... or about something else. I'm hell-bent on getting comfort food, and the next thing i know, it's gone- in my stomach- before I can stop myself.

This list is useful though. I just have to put it to practice.

Example... you only need to eat every 3-4 hours.

I just had a flatbread melt with Swiss cheese, tofu, peppers and carrots. Note to self: self, no touching the pizza when you go to the talent show GLASA (QC's Gay, Lesbian and Straight Alliance) is having after class, you won't be hungry yet girl!! You're not hungry, so stop eating that pizza just because it's there and you're freaking out because your best friends aren't there and you don't know anyone else that well!

I've been doing a great job with my weight loss, but I've noticed myself falling into my worst old habit: impulse eating.  In the past, whenever I felt bored, blank, or just needed something to do, I would eat.  A handful of chips, half a sandwich, a hot dog, some cereal, a small bowl of ice cream.  Not huge things, but they all add up.

I'm trying to suppress that like hungry monster inside my head, but some days are harder than others.  Today, I did DDR for over a half an hour, burning 300 calories, but leaving me a spot for another snack.