Self Control

I've been thinking about self-control over the last few days for a few reasons. One is the relationship overhaul that I previously mentioned, and that I'm now putting my faith in other people's self-control, rather than trying to control them myself. My struggles with this continue, and I try to "tamp down" my instincts by reminding myself that if expect different results, I need to make different choices. I'm trying to let people surprise me.

The other thing I've been thinking about is my own self-control. I've been trying a "Wellness Program" for the last week. I started on Monday, February 6, so I'm on day 7 today. I'm trying not to call it a "diet" for a couple of reasons: one, because the word has so many negative implications and conveys to everyone that I need to diet [which of course, I do... but still...] and two, because it involves exercise, as well. The program's called the P.I.N.K. Method and for the first two weeks, it involves a clearly regimented meal plan and no exercise.

It suggests that during that first two weeks most people will lose 5-10 pounds. As an overweight person who has tried a number of methods to lose the weight, my initial reaction to this was , of course, "Yeah, right". Here I am though, on day 7, weighing 7 lbs less than what I started with. I'm steadily losing a pound a day.

I went to a "girls night" with my sister on Friday evening and didn't have her famous, delicious brownies. In fact, I grabbed two of them to take home to my kids, and they survived the drive home beside me, with every crumb intact. Last night, my husband and I went to a "dinner dance" and I removed the croutons from my dressing-less salad, carefully peeled away the coating on the half-piece of my fish that I ate, ignored the bread and potatoes, declined desert, and took my coffee black.

I feel like the queen of self-control right now :)

While it would have been easier just to fall back into old habits, it actually wasn't that hard - but it was a conscious decision I had to make. Once I made the choice, it was just a matter of following through with it. I don't feel like I'm depriving myself - not yet, anyway. I'm not going hungry.

I know that progress at this rate is not something that will be maintained. I know that it's probably "water weight" or "inflammation" or some such thing. But I can be proud of it, just the same. I can know that I'm making different choices, and seeing different results because of it. It's so much easier to keep on the program when you can see from the get-go that it works. That it's doing what it says it will. It's a lot easier to say no to a brownie when you know that if you do, you'll lose a pound.

So here I am, at the one-week mark, having accomplished 12% of my weight-loss goal. Let the self-control continue!