*Transcendental *Logic

So, the dots on my hand will probably be permanent tattoos by the time I’m 40 at this rate.

But the relevant question is, are they worth it?

Let me back up a little first, since I haven’t given an update on the “intuition diet” in while, and say that keeping up with putting dots on my hand every single time I eat something hasn’t been easy. For one thing, it conflicts with my prior tendency to “graze”, grabbing a bite here, a mouthful there … now I have to either not graze, or set aside a portion to eat gradually and give myself the dots for that portion. I do both of those things about equally, now; but they weren’t easy to get used to. Also, sometimes I can’t put the dots on right away, and it’s tempting to give up if I lose track; but I’ve made myself stick to it. (What it took in the end was penalizing myself for forgetting: If I’m not sure how many dots there ought to be, I guess high. That makes it more worthwhile to remember, and to get the dots on there asap.)

But, but, you breathlessly query, is it working at all? Up until yesterday I’d have said “probably”: I know I’m eating better, just from being more conscious of what I eat and how much. Some of my clothes feel a little looser, but that could be my imagination. (To reiterate, I don’t own a scale and I don’t measure; I know myself too well and that kind of thing would quickly turn obsessive and unhealthy.) It wouldn’t surprise me to learn that I’d lost an undramatic amount of weight. (I’m short and compact, so changes in weight are usually spread-out and not easily noticeable on me anyway — something which can be a good thing at times! — so I was trying not to stress about it.)

But then, yesterday, out of the blue, one of the black-belts from the kun tells me, “Hey, have you lost weight?” I admit that I might have, and she (she. You gotta love female black-sashes!) says that it definitely shows. (In sweats, no less.) So I did what any self-respecting adult intellectual would do: I raced home, stripped to nothing and demanded that my husband assess any potential weight-loss. ;)

He says yup, it’s not a lot but it is noticeable. *gasp!*

And this is phase one, remember: I still haven’t done anything at all to actually lessen or restrict the amount or type of things I eat. I haven’t done anything but force myself to get used to keeping track. I still have fourteen dots a day (though I haven’t gone over in forever), and I still eat several things a day that I know I shouldn’t — real, honest-to-gods junk food. Phases two and three will involve actually making sure that better things get eaten, and that I learn to eat a bit less (assuming that turns out to be wise, on a healthier diet). Gradual changes towards those goals are in place — I’ve replaced my Vitamin-Water-crap, as you probably noticed, and instituted a Gremlins-style ban on late-night eating. Eeeeeeasy does it, heh.

Anyway. w00t!

This entry was posted 4 months, 4 weeks ago on Tuesday, July 8th, 2008 at 11:59 am and is filed under ditch medicine for suburbia. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.