It’s a long, slow process
If you’ve been paying attention, you’ve probably noticed that I’m not writing much about my diet. Well, that’s because not much is happening with it. I haven’t gained any weight back, which is good, but on the other hand, I haven’t lost any weight either. Which isn’t good.
There’s a reason for this: I’ve stopped avoiding snacks in the evening. Cheese (and wine) are my downfall. It reminds me of a story Tommy LaSorda once told a friend of mine. The story goes like this:
Tommy’s doctor told him he needed to quit smoking, quit drinking, and lose weight. That evening, as Tommy reached for a cigarette, his doctor’s words came back to him. He looked at the cigarette in his hand, and asked “OK, tobacco, who’s stronger, you or me?”
“I am,” said Tommy, and put the cigarette down, never to smoke again.
The next evening, as he poured himself a martini, he remembered he was supposed to quit drinking too. “All right,” he says to his drink, “Who’s stronger, you or me?”
“I am,” said Tommy, and poured his martini down the drain.
The next night, as he sat down to a heaping plate of linguine with red clam sauce, he thought again about his doctor’s words. He needed to lose weight–to go on a diet. He looked down on the plate of liguine and clams and asked “Who’s stronger, you or me?”
A little clam poked its head up out of the sauce and said, “I am.”
Well, the truth of the matter is, cheese is stronger than me, at least for right now. I need to get re-motivated enough to stop reaching for the cheese (and wine) after dinner.
It’s interesting. I’m very motivated in the mornings. I exercise, do yoga, walk, eat a healthy breakfast and lunch. I don’t snack during the day. But about 7:30 in the evening, well, it’s like someone just pulled the plug on my motivational tub, and it all runs out the drain.
So somehow, I just have to keep that motivation going for another couple of hours. Then I’ll be stronger than the cheese.
Tags: diet, habit, motivation, Tommy LaSorda
February 14th, 2008 at 7:23 am
What if you had cheese earlier in the day? I’ve always found that if I eat anything (even fruit) at night, it shows on the scale the next day. What if one day, you tried some cheese in the afternoon? That might help with the natural connection between evenings and cheese (sounds like a title of a cool book).
Love,
d
February 17th, 2008 at 5:24 pm
Hi, Dawn — You know, this afternoon I had cheese with lunch. So now what do I do after dinner?
The challenge here is to just stop eating in the evening, because, as you pointed out, what ever I eat in the evening shows up on the scale in the morning. Besides, it’s extra calories. But I look forward to my wine and cheese all day. It’s how I motivate myself to do just one more thing–if I get this done, I can have cheese. I’ll have to find another motivator, I guess. But herbal tea or mineral water just isn’t the same!
Love, Lynn