Eating Challenges

My job can be very challenging in terms of eating. I sit in an office all day and work behind a computer. This can lead to boredom and as a result boredom eating. I have experienced the result of this around my waist first hand. Knowing what I do I am now more careful about what I eat. Here is a painful admission:

Eating before I went on my new health outlook in March of this year:
Breakfast: Pastry, toast with butter, egg sandwich (usually with butter and bacon)
Snack: candy bar, soda or both
Lunch: Fast Food (MacDonald's, Chik Fil-a, Burger King, Pizza, etc.)
Afternoon: soda and chips
Dinner: Heavy and fatty - Hot dogs, burgers, foot long hoagies and so on. You get the point if it was bad for me then I ate it.

I didn't drink much water but did drink a lot of soft drinks.

The truth of this is that I just did not think about what I was eating. I just ate what I wanted. I didn't think about my exercise level or my caloric intake. The results were telling.


Eating Now:
(3 to 4 half liter bottles of water per day)

Breakfast: Yogurt and a banana
Snack: Carrots
Lunch: Sandwich (homemade) or Soup (homemade).. or something else about 400 calories (pork slices baked in cream of mushroom soup with rice, chicken and pasta or some other such meal made at home and reheated at work)
Afternoon Snack: Apple or Orange or other fruit
Dinner: Something reasonable -usually in the 600 to 700 calorie range

I may add an extra apple, celery with peanut butter, a cookie here or there and other small binges from time to time. But this is the usual.

In March of this year, I made some life changing decisions. First I started to run but I didn't mess with the diet until later. It was a little at a time. First, I cut out the fast food gradually. Initially, down to once a day and then over time once a week and now not at all. There is something addictive about the fat in fast food. I really believe that. Now if I don't have any I am fine. But if I have it once I want more and more of it. I don't like it any longer and that is for the best.

Now my problem is soft drinks. I do crave them. However, the same has been true with the soft drinks as was true with the fast food. If I have one I want more and more. Over the last month or so, I have been able to limit my consumption gradually. First, down to 2 to 3 per week and now down to one every 2 to 3 weeks. I find that I don't really need the caffeine. I will admit that I had caffeine withdrawals at first. I had headaches the first 3 weeks I was off that junk.

So now, I can look the other way with most things. Not always, but mostly. It is ok to cheat on a diet every now and then. But I used to make cheating my diet. Burgers, hoagies, cookies, soft drinks, pizza this was all normal fare for me. I can say that this is no longer the case. It is nice to know that once you start eating right that bad food no longer tastes good. This is a general statement, soft drinks still lure me. But I can still say no most times. I now think before I grab for something; this is probably the main reason I have dropped weight as the injuries this year have prevented running from being as big an impact as it would have otherwise been. I am sure my commitment to exercise will pay more dividends next year but this year I think my diet reformation was more important. Perhaps 2/3 to 1/3 is the correct ratio of impact.

Well that is my eating confession.