Diet

So, you all know that I have been trying to lose weight. Even just to keep up with my dear husband, who is loosing weight about 4 times faster than I am. He is now a mere 4 pounds heavier than I am. He is also 2 inches taller. Now, don't get me wrong, he looks very svelte and very nicely proportioned. It is a little annoying that he thinks it is so easy to lose weight now though. For me, for whom it is not easy at ALL.
I have lost a total of 6 pounds this summer. It has been the result of many things I believe. One is doing the 8 minutes of weight bearing exercise in the morning. From Jorge Cruz's book 8 Minutes in the Morning. After reading all 300 or so Amazon reviews of the book and practicing the diet aspect of it for a while, I find it useful for the exercises only. I also have been on my stationary bicycle for 30 - 40 minutes almost every weekday morning. I have been walking 1/2 hour a day, since walking uses different muscles than bicycling. (Let it be known that I have no job, which gives me all this time to read lots of books, and exercise this much.)(If I had a job, this would all be out the window and I would have a lot more stress.) I also have been doing the QiGong DVD mentioned in an earlier post at least 3 times a week.
I have been watching my diet as well, but mostly after reading Mindless Eating. Which is the point of this particular blog entry.
I don't feel at all deprived, just more in tune with how I feel on the inside. I have come up with three goals for the next month. He mentions that when you do something 28 days, it becomes a habit, so I have a check list for the three things I will be working on to help myself "mindlessly" lose weight. Wansink's point in the book is that if we do most of our eating mindlessly according to habits we have built up over the years, seen our parents doing, etc... then we can mindlessly begin to lose weight by changing these habits a little at a time. He says that if you just cut down on 100 calories a day (36,500 a year, that would become) you will lose about 10 pounds in one year as it takes a 3,500 calorie reduction to lower your weight by a pound. I like this and don't really mind how long it takes if I become healthier in the whole process.
My three things to work on are as follows:
I will eat 5 servings of fruits and vegetables a day.
I will ask myself mid-meal if I am no longer hungry and finish/pack up/put back in the refrigerator as necessary.
I will say to myself, whenever I am in the mood for a snack, "I am going to eat this even though I am not hungry" to assess whether or not that is the case.
Of course if I am hungry, I will have a snack, because eating more frequently if there are fewer calories involved is not a problem.
I am excited about this check mark system because it makes me feel like I am in control of what I am eating and how I am feeling. I will feel a great sense of accomplishment if I can check all three of my goals every day and it will have nothing to do with denying myself particular foods or counting calories, etc...
I'll keep you updated as I meet my goals.