The Final Fifteen Pounds

There it is, right in front of you, sweet and sultry, saying here I am.  What to do?  The STAAR test in Texas is our state mandated, big-deal test. And we just spent Tuesday and Wednesday doing it. Even Monday was affected. Teachers are spent. Kids are restless. And admin is tired and appreciative of the hard work that teachers have put in. And what is the best way to show your appreciation? Bring on the doughnuts! It really is a nice thing to do. But for the teacher who is trying to lose weight, especially this one, it's a trap. Because I feel like I deserve it.  Is that sweet hole what I really want? I know it's not what I need. Do I really want to dump sugar, processed white flour and fat into my stomach? I don't. But it tastes so good.  But when I'm trying to lose weight, here's what happens (and this is what happened with Coke and me recently): it resets your body's expectations. It's something that happens in the brain. Now, the br...

I got this idea from Brian Tracy...  1. What did I do well? Wrote daily. Exercised. 2. How can I improve? Really pay attention to what I'm eating. Turn up the vigilance. When I really blow chunks one day, go overboard the next day to pull it back together. Write down the food daily until I hit five in a row. One reason this is rough is that I'm trying to do a lot all at once. I really get that it is probably best to focus on one thing at a time. The exercise is easy to get right because even if you mess up the food part, it's pretty easy to get in 10 minutes of exercise. In fact, it gets easier and easier to make it happen. So this week, I'm going to pay close attention to my caffeine intake, particularly in the form of coffee. To help with this, I didn't buy any coffee for the house. We are out of it at home. My hypothesis is that coffee is making me feel hungry even when I'm not. Today, I started with black tea instead of coffee. That reduce...