Days 4, 5 & 6

I've noticed that over the years that I've put on the pounds, my portion sizes have gotten way too big. It became really obvious to me a few months ago when I put more on my plate than my 6' tall teenage son. Ugh!

So I'm now being much more careful about how much I put on my plate. Instead of taking 2-3 spoonsfull of something, I'll take 1 instead.

Day 4: visited some friends who were having a cookout/BBQ potluck. Instead of bringing some kind of dip or other fatty food, I brought a couple large fruit trays I picked up at Meijer. When I got there, instead of having a burger or hot dog, I had the fruit, some of the other lighter side dishes, fresh veggies without the dip, and kept the desserts to 3-4 bites. The rest of the day, I had an English muffin in the morning, and a bowl of cereal for dinner.

Day 5: one English muffin in the morning, with coffee. For dinner, I made a fruit smoothie out of just fruit (No milk/juice/yogurt, etc) from the second fruit tray (leftover) from Meijer. It contained strawberries, grapes, watermelon, cantaloupe, raspberries, pineapple and honeydew melon. And the whole day, I drank only water.

Day 6: a large plum for breakfast, along with coffee. Dinner was a salad of lettuce, spinach, tomatoes, carrots and broccoli, with raspberry vinaigrette; a small slice of polish sausage, and a small serving of orzo with a sprinkling of parmesan. Sunday night, I had some Dorito's and a beer. (:/

The focus is to take less of everything. I'd gotten so used to eating until I was stuffed, and then feeling uncomfortable. Why?!? I would take a perfectly pleasant dinner or lunch and turn it into a physically uncomfortable situation by overeating.

Somewhere along the line, I've read and heard that we should eat more slowly, chew our food more thoroughly. The idea being that its easier for our bodies to digest food that's been chewed completely, and by eating slowly, we give our brain enough time to register the amount of food in the stomach.

I can already tell that just slowing down in the eating process...not really even focusing on the "chewing" part, just pausing longer between bites, has caused me to feel fuller while eating less.

That's a good start, wouldn't you say?

Still drinking lots of water.