Changes In Attitude

First order of business, I would like to acknowledge the great Jimmy Buffett as inspiration for the title of this post.

I don't know about you, but the two phrases that had the biggest impact on my physique (or lack thereof) was "clean your plate" (you know, because the starving children from less fortunate parts of the world...who were never around when you needed them) and "let's treat ourselves today". Yes my mom had a savage sweet tooth (but she never gained weight) and I was a good boy growing up so I got lot's of treats. Throw in my sister, who was a picky eater and I being the one who helped her "clean her plate" so we could be done with dinner already and go out and play, well, you get the idea.

So,  I credit a lot of my recent success for losing weight with changing my attitude about food. First, I still clean my plate. But, by measuring my food before hand and knowing how many calories I'll be eating, I can feel good about cleaning my plate. And by having leftovers, the next couple of meals are already cooked. If I get tired of what I'm eating, I just freeze the leftovers for a future date. If using smaller plates works for you, then by all means. Sometimes, I still feel  hungry directly after eating but I've found  about 15 minutes later is when I start feeling full. However, my wife (who doesn't have weight issues) seems to get filled up right as she is eating.

As far as eating something that has the potential to make me heavier, I no longer think of that as a treat. It's more like, I'm working hard and meeting my goals, I'm going to be bad today and eat a slice of cheesecake.  In future posts,  I'll touch more on this topic of attitudes and how "being bad" once in awhile is a good thing.