Adapting to my new eating style

Well, it's going. It's going okay. I started my new structure for eating right, moderately based on Barbara Berkeley's book and blog, Refuse to Regain. Here are my rambles about how it's going, five days in. Definitely an adaptation process. 

Last night I made the wrong decision to let my fatigue prevent my from prepping my food. I had a run planned for the morning, and usually, when I run in the morning, I don't have time for anything except getting ready for work. I was tired last night, so I lied to myself that I'd get up early and do the food planning. 

But you know what's funny about me? A few days ago, probably Monday, I saw these whole wheat powdered donut holes at Trader Joe's. I really wanted to try them, but I was just "turning over my new leaf". So I was like, "This can be my acceptable treat this week!". A serving is four donut holes for 210 cals, so I made it 3 for 157.5 cals to be closer to Dr. B's 150 cal limit for treats. And they meet all of the other requirements- lower in sugar, no transfats due to the ingredients. These factors meant that they also didn't have the addictive quality that a regular donut hole has. So it worked.

I carefully separated the donut holes into several baggies of three donut holes each, then stored them in the bin in the fridge so I wouldn't see them every time I opened the fridge. This has worked well all week. I know I have my acceptable treat and I don't buy other stuff during the day, and it is working to keep the temptation for others sweets at bay. 

But what's funny is... I mean it's comical... I patiently, carefully planned and prepared my treat... but somehow, I can't do that for my healthy foods! In the past I try to put the lack of planning on, oh, I'm tired/busy/it takes too much time. But as my donut hole episode shows, clearly, I have the time and energy to plan food, but I just don't apply it to healthy food. I simply don't look forward to eating my healthy food, and THAT is what the procrastination is really about. I sure did want to have my acceptable treat ready to go though! To my credit, I also wanted to make sure I separated the box of donut holes so that I didn't sit there and just pop them one by one with no limit. 

On the other hand, with the rest of my food, I am always scrambling last minute to pull my meals together. I definitely need to work on the psychological part of eating right. 

This is why having a structure is so important for me: I AM eating well, though I have to poker prod myself to do it. But I would be "slipping" a lot more without the structure- and blaming my slips on the wrong things like time or fatigue. Because of having a structure to follow, I went home for lunch and made the salad that I was "too tired" to plan and prep last night.  I ended up having my acceptable treat with coffee this morning as breakfast, because I "didn't have time" to make my breakfast smoothie. But it's ok, the treat food is budgeted; the consequence is that now I don't have it to look forward to this evening. 

And what's amazing is how great I feel right now after my simple lunch salad- Organic Girl mixed greens with cucumber slices, peanuts, and an ounce of sliced cheddar. I am not even hungry- I learned once before that eating nutrient rich food means that I can eat a lower volume of food but be satisfied. The healthy fats help- the peanuts, the cheese. 

Structure allows me to fake the desire til I make it.