01-Week Afterwards

01  Weeks Afterwards (121 lbs  55 Kg)

A week and few days after the diet and I'm at 122 lbs. Some days the scale says 123 lbs, and others 121 lbs, but most often it says 122 lbs. In this time I've managed to maintain some of the habits built during the diet. Things like a small breakfast, no afternoon coffee, easy to prepare and clean-up meals, meal planning, and no eating past 10pm.

I no longer struggle to make breakfast every morning. Coffee and a piece of toast sometimes with a little olive oil and salt is working perfectly well for me. I am not a morning person so waking up early enough to make something to eat, even a smoothie caused me early morning stress. I didn't even realize that was happening until I stopped forcing myself to eat breakfast every morning. Now I do not feel pressure or disappointment first thing in the morning and my days feel less stressful.

2pm water is now hot water with lime and a tiny bit of honey. I found that this helped me to relax mid day. So in a way you can say that 2pm water and I changed each other for the better and continue to have a good friendship.

I really liked knowing what I was going to eat in advance and that made me look forward to those meals. Their simplicity, easy clean-up, and no thought preparation also took a lot of stress away. I didn't realize that when I felt hungry at lunch or dinner I would constantly worry about what to eat, was it readily available, did I have to go purchase it, would it be too expensive, was it healthy, etc. these thoughts were running in the back of my mind while doing other things and by the time I actually ate something I felt exhausted. So now I prepare things in advance. My trick is to buy things in bulk, spend a few hours seasoning, separating, and freezing then the night before I thaw. Very easy way to remove all that stress that I didn't even realize I was carrying.

Preparing good food is now so easy that there is no reason for me to eat past 10pm. I made a personal goal to close the kitchen at 10pm. That means clean everything up, do the dishes, put everything away, and no making more meals. I usually make a cup of tea while I'm cleaning to give myself an incentive to finish quickly. Once that cup is washed, I challenge myself to no more trips to the kitchen.

I believe this change in behavior has contributed a great deal to me keeping the weight off.