100 Days Challenge - Day 15 - First Two Bites

The two bite exercise required more preparation than any other exercise/assignment to date.  Decisions had to be made such as which foods I would use in the exercise and what would be the best times.   I've been fortunate to be able to share this journey with other bloggers/friends,  particularly Miriam and we both spent quite a lot of time discussing the aspects of this exercise prior to the actual event.   Others who have gone through this challenge also gave their input and/or shared their perspective.  It is clear that the topics covered in the 100 Days Challenge do not relate to everyone which is why each of us responds to each topic in our own unique way.  Another reason is we are all at different stages in our journey and some of us have already overcome some of the "roadblocks" we've encountered while other have not.  Not surprisingly, with 100 different weight loss topics  - one for each day of the Challenge - all topics do not relate to everyone in the same way.

I actually began the exercise on Friday at a Chinese restaurant my husband and I had planned to have dinner at with friends.   Often, when there's a group of people, appetizers are ordered and I do sometimes go overboard if they're enticing enough.   I happen to like foods that are creamy and sweet  (think ice cream, yogurt, cheesecake, etc).  Miriam had suggested I order Fried Crab Ragoons which are made with cream cheese.  I followed her suggestion.  Remember that no matter how many pieces came in the appetizer, I was going to try to limit myself to just TWO bites!   It came with six ragoons.  I had one  and enjoyed it but realized that since I've untrained myself to eat fried foods, it wasn't a huge challenge to leave it at one.

On Saturday, I continued the two bite exercise with a Dove chocolate bar - dark chocolate so it wasn't completely unhealthy!  : )    I was able to limit myself to two small pieces and leave the rest - though I did take time to savor each piece.  As I do sometimes have dark chocolate in the house which I'm able to limit to one or two pieces per day... that, too, did not prove to me a huge challenge.

I began to wonder if the exercise was going to be a challenge or if it was going to be a futile exercise for me.  However, I had eaten two foods which were not "trigger foods" even though I enjoy dark chocolate immensely!  My third "two bite" exercise was going to be today (Sunday) and I had decided to do it with frozen yogurt - upon which I would drizzle chocolate syrup.   I had decided that I would have it after lunch in the mid-afternoon for a snack.  I placed three scoops of frozen yogurt in a bowl and drizzled it with chocolate syrup, just as I had planned.  I had the first spoonful - savored the sweet creaminess, already looking forward to the second spoonful!   Then I had the second spoonful, which I also savored.  However, I did not stop there - I took two more spoonfuls before I finally stopped myself and threw the rest away - which I did reluctantly.  Ice cream or frozen yogurt for me are HUGE trigger foods - thus here was the real challenge!   The exercise was not futile after all - but not surprisingly it's only a challenge for me when I have trigger foods in front of me.   I am not a binge eater, but at times, I will eat larger portions than I need if it's something on my "trigger list".  

I've decided this is an exercise that needs to be repeated.  Eventually, I would like to be able to stop at two bites, no matter what is placed in front of me.   This will take practice.   I'm not worried about over-eating as I am committed to my journey.  However, I would like to reduce the number of bites I take before it registers in my mind that I've had a "taste" and that's all I truly need.   I guess I could say that I was semi-successful in that I ended up eating about a third of the frozen yogurt I served myself- i.e. about once scoop (probably a cup or less).   Truthfully, a cup of frozen yogurt is a treat which fits into my "boundaries" - as long as I only have it from time to time so it isn't anything I need to cut out of my food plan entirely.  I just need to not go overboard!

Now on to "the question", which must be answered for both Saturday and Sunday:

What did I do to demonstrate my TOTAL COMMITMENT?
Saturday, Feb. 11
I walked 3 miles in 52 minutes.   I did have to motivate myself to do so with the "Do It Anyway!"  mantra - one that I often use but I'm happy to say that it works!  : )   Saturday was DAY FIVE of exercise for this week.   I finally met my weekly goal!!

My food plan consisted of:   Breakfast - 2 buckwheat blueberry pancakes and 2 links of turkey sausage with a bowl of fresh fruit ;  Lunch - leftover stir-fried chicken and vegetables (from the Chinese restaurant - with the relatively small serving I had at the restaurant on Friday evening, I was able to bring home 2 more meals);   Dinner - beef and barley soup with lots of vegetables.  Snacks included Greek yogurt and berries,  a banana, and a slice of high fiber bread with peanut butter and 2 pieces of dark chocolate. I went over my points today by 4 points but got in quite a few activity points.  It's the second day this week that I went over my daily points by less than 5 points.

Sunday, Feb. 12
No exercise today.

My food plan consisted of:  Breakfast - Fiber One cereal with no sugar 40 calorie Almond Breeze and banana;   Lunch - the last serving of stir-fried chicken and vegetables;  Dinner - a large salad with veggies, feta cheese, olives and tuna with a tsp of lite mayo and ff dressing.  Snacks have been mixed fruit and a few almonds - along with the four spoonfuls of frozen yogurt.   I stayed under my points today.