January Update: Goals 2009

At the beginning of the month, I set some goals for the year. Now that the month is over, I thought I'd provide an update.

1. Get back down to 130

*sigh*

I started January at 136.6 and ended it at 137.8, so you can see how well I'm progressing on this goal.

January has probably been one of the worst months for me in many years. Some of you know that my "real job" did some layoffs this month. I'm still employed, but there was a large part of the month when I didn't know if I would be. It was really stressful, and I think I owe an apology to most of my friends, family and coworkers, because I probably wasn't the most fun to be around.

During January, I discovered that I was turning to food for comfort. I know we just had a meeting topic on this, and I probably should have listened to the words coming out of my mouth. (Now you see the dark side of being a Weight Watchers Leader - do as I say, not as I do!)

I decided to do something crazy - I pulled out my weekly materials and turned to this book:



I took the Habit Profile Quiz and lo and behold, the one I scored highest on (meaning I need serious help with it) was "Manage Your Feelings." According to the book, reducing emotional eating has a key connection to weight loss success.

One of the tips offered is to track hunger signals. So for February, I vow to actually use that section of the Tracker and pay attention to my hunger signals (I've filled every section of the Tracker but that one, so far).

Another tip was to use the Tool for Living Reframing to find non-food ways to get the benefits aimed for when eating for emotional reasons. Since I often turn to food when I am at home alone, I have vowed to spend some time in meditation or deep breathing, possibly even in a few yoga poses I've been working on. This will provide the benefit of focus and relaxation without the calories.

2. Lay off the diet soda

I showed some of you my monthly calendar and stickers. It turns out that's a great visual to see how things are going. I am pleased to report that during the month of January, I only had diet soda four times. And those four times were during meals eaten at a restaurant. There were several Subway sandwich runs that would ordinarily include a Diet Coke, but I did without. I didn't hit up the vending machine at work any afternoons.

I am pleased with my performance, and so I'm going to modify my approach for the month of February. If I have diet soda, it will only be when dining out at a restaurant. If I am eating at home (or on the run) I will continue to just drink water.

So February's calendar will be marked up as follows: a sticker is given on days when I am tracking my hunger signals. We'll see how much that helps at the end of February...!