R1P3D13-Our first 4 Day Win!

LIW 159.4
Daily Gain .4
Above LIW 1.1
Current Weight 160.5
Food Tracker
Exercise: 1 hr slow walking (pushing a jogging stroller with my 44lb son); 1600m Swim (55 min)

Still trying to figure out this gain when I eat ok and gain when I don't phenomenom.  I need to look back on my food choices to figure out what really causes me to lose, and then eat more of that I suppose.  At this point, I eat very little sugar, drink very little alcohol, haven't had many grains or breads (maybe one piece every week), and the majority of my carbs come from vegetables.  In R1P4, I'm not overally concerned with this, as Im going to start P2 in two weeks.  But after R2, I definitely want to get to a place where I can eat what I like in moderation and not worry about big scale jumps.  I do not want to have to keep cycling on HCG, as long as I stick with a healthy, freshly prepared, fresh, local, and organic ingredients diet.  And in addition to that, according to Martha Beck, I need to get to a place where thinking about food does not control my every waking moment.  Obsession with food and greatly limiting my food choices only leads my little wild child to want to rebel and overeat, and once I'm done with this diet, I want to break free of this pattern of obsession.

And so to start this process, we are going to do our first day win (thanks, Mommygonemilf, for joining me! any other takers?). 

For any four day win, you are to come up with a 1) ridiculously easy goal (broken down in 1/2 or even 1/4 of what you think the goal should be, so that you roll your eyes, its so easy), 2) your daily reward(s) for accomplishing the goal-based on physical objects (not food) and pleasureable activities-and then 3) a four day reward, again not based on food.  You need to make sure the reward and the action are linked.  And you need to make sure you give yourself the reward if you succeed AND of course, not give yourself the reward if you dont (the first one is the one I always forget to do).  The once you complete the form I have here:

You need to post it in at least 3 places: ie your bathroom mirror, refrigerator door, and your car dashboard.
Easy Peasy, right?

I am going to do the ones recommended by Martha, and then start to come up with my own.  So feel free to do the one I am doing, or come up with one for yourself following the rules above.  For her first few 4 day wins, you have to have the book, so I'm just going to post the ones that do not require any extra reading.  And while the goal will be the same for us following along, my rewards will be for me...you can put in anything you like.

Without further ado, here it is!  My first 4 day Win:

Ridiculously Easy Goal:  Each day for the next 4 days, I'll notice what Im feeling physically and emotionally.  Ill rate my hunger level from 0 to 10 at least 3 times a day.

Right now, my hunger is:
0   1    2    3    4    5    6    7    8    9    10
not hungry                                    ravenous

Repeat this 4 day win until you can name your hunger score and differentiate it from an emotion based eating urge, under any circumstance.  Then feel free to move on...

Small Daily Reward:  (gosh, these non food rewards are hard to figure out for me):
Tuesday: Watching Chuck on Tivo
Wednesday: Book Club with the girls (very motivating to make this a reward)
Thursday: 15 minutes to spend on internet shopping-for a bike or bench for dining room
Friday: 30 minutes to spend catching up on my blogroll

Slightly Larger 4 Day reward:  Movie Night with Hubby on Saturday

Now, you might be saying, how am I supposed to figure out if my hunger is emotional or physical?  At least, I know I said that, and Im a health and nutrition coach!  You might think it would be easy for me, but for so long, the two of those have been so ingrained in my psyche, that it is hard for me to figure it out.  And Im so in my head most of the time, that its hard to notice my physical body unless I am in pain.  So here are some exercises directly from the book to figure it out:

Learn to speak creature (your body is the creature, your mind is the computer): 

1)Let yourself relax for 10 minutes.  Do this after you have eaten, since you need to go without food for 15 minutes.
2) Describe, or write down, in very precise words, the feelings in your hands and feet (temp, texture, shape, discomfort words)...
3) Allow your attention to travel from your hands and feet to your torso and head.  Describe in word the physical feelings your observe in your body as a whole.  Allow both good and bad feelings to be described without resistance.
4) Remaining relaxed, describe what you are feeling emotionally.  If you cannot tell, return your attn to the least comfortable part of your body.  Breathe into the discomfort.  Allow it to get bigger.  Continue this until you sense the emotion connected to the discomfort.  Describe that emotion in words (this was a tough one for me and my computer mind).
5) Breathe deeply, relax, and notice on a purely physical level you are not hungry.

At this point, the exercise is just to notice the sensation.   If you feel the urge to eat as a result of feeling these emotions, she indicates its ok, as long as you wait until the 10 minutes it takes to complete the exercise (the questions above, and the documentation of your physical hunger level).

For me, 1st hunger assessment, 9:47am:

Right now, I am not physically hungry, maybe a 3. However, I am thinking about food, and psychologically hungry. I want something in my mouth...so Im off to get a piece of gum after I drink my 8oz of water.

Anyway, off to do some work.  Will post on this some more tomorrow...feel free to share your reactions, goals, rewards, etc in comments...