Healthier Living Takes Patience

The Hardest Part—Patience

Weigh yourself every week around the same time of day. If you lose or maintain, obviously you haven’t overeaten. If you gain when you don’t intend to, keep track of what you eat. You’ll see at a glance where it wouldn’t be such a sacrifice to cut down. And no cheating by not putting down the three chips you snuck before dinner, the leftovers off the kids’ plates, the samples of what you’re cooking to make sure it’s just right.

The hardest part is to be patient. You won’t change ingrained habits in a week or two or even three. Think of healthier living as a lifetime goal that over time you will achieve and as a trial and error process, which is exactly what it sounds like.

Try, Assess, Regroup

Try something—a healthier alternative for a calorie-packed food, not eating for half an hour or so to make sure you’re really hungry, an exercise that will help boost your metabolism and eat up the calories, or meditation. If what you try is an error in judgment—you gained weight, binged on less healthy foods in rebound from trying too strictly to stay away from them—regroup and try something else until it sticks, meaning you’re comfortable with the change and physically and emotionally satisfied.

Things to Try

I like oatmeal with two tbsp. of unsweetened cocoa powder, 1 tsp of cinnamon, the fruit of the day, and the nut of the day—peanut butter is my favorite.  I found, however, that when I ate this in the morning, by midmorning or early afternoon, I became tired. I now eat vegetable soup or a salad for breakfast with a lean protein (baked chicken breast, fish, sometimes the leaner cuts of beef and pork) and lower fat cheese, often with half a cup of beans.

I have plenty of energy until lunch where I eat my main meal of a lean protein, sweet potato (nothing wrong with white potatoes in moderation) or a whole grain, whatever vegetables I feel like, and a fruit. I have my oatmeal for dinner and if I start to feel tired, I’m ready for bed anyway. I unfortunately let myself gain a lot of weight this winter. I’ve lost most of it eating this way and exercising.

Monday—some of us do better with rote meals where the particulars don’t change much from week to week. More about that and other things to try.