Day 1: Baby Steps

I ended the day last night with something I've always had a love/hate relationship with: Fast Food.  I don't know what it is about fast food that makes it so appealing other than the fact that it is a bachelor's best friend.  I don't like to cook unless I'm outside on the grill and I don't like keeping food in the house that will go bad in less than a week.  I'm usually on the go between work, play and other activities so my days are more often than not very full.  Furthermore, I'm not a rich guy, I have a modest income and live comfortably but to me, if I'm spending more than $10 a day on my meals, I feel as though I'm getting ripped off, unless of course I'm dining out with friends or something.  This leaves me with just a few options and fast food easily ranks at the top of that list.

Now that doesn't mean I have it everyday by any means, however, I would say I do have it for about 3 or 4 meals a week, which is more than I should.  I don't supersize my orders, and more often than not I don't finish the last bite of a sandwich or the last couple of fries.  I want to put this in perspective because so many people talk about eating more than they need to, always finishing their meals, or eating even when full.  I am not a victim of any of that stuff.  I fall short with things like snacking, grabbing a bag of chips to munch on because I'm bored or antsy, keeping a soda with me at all times, and if I want the taste of something, I usually go ahead and get that something, such as ice-cream or popcorn.  Otherwise, my meals are no larger than the average persons plate... BUT they are probably a bit worse in nutrition.

So last night I had fast food.  Arby's as a matter of fact.  It was a roast beef sandwich with cheddar cheese and bacon, curly fries and a root beer.  I figured my official start date is TODAY and I might as well make one nice trip to savor the last bit of enjoyment I was going to have of the old me.  Well there was nothing to write home about, I enjoyed the meal with a buddy of mine and ended the night changing guitar strings before heading off to bed.  I watched some TV and did some thinking about my new life which starts when I wake up.

Today has come like any other, there is nothing spectacular to report, no wisdom or insight to give, no light-bulb flickering in my head... no it's just an average day with average work, but for day one I did make one little adjustment.

There's a key statement I made a couple paragraphs up that I want to highlight and that is: keeping a soda with me at all times.  Step one today is NO SODA.  Let's savor that for a moment, shall we?

NO SODA

That's right, no soda.  Some of you may read this and think it's no big deal, but if you have any type of physical or emotional addiction, replace that addiction with soda (Pepsi, Mountain Dew, Dr. Pepper) and that is what we are dealing with here.  Imagine the cigarette smoker who quits cold turkey, replace the smokes with a can of Pepsi and that's what we're dealing with.  I bet it's safe to say on average, I have 4 to 5 cans of soda a day, sometimes they are larger fountain drinks, sometimes they are the 20 oz. bottles, regardless of what type of soda it is or how it's obtained, from the moment I finish my coffee in the morning to the moment I go to bed at night, I have a soda within arms reach at all times. 

I've been thinking about the soda problem for awhile now.  What is it about it that makes me have to have it so much?  I equate it to a constant need to be doing something.  If I'm sitting at work, in the zone, getting a ton of stuff done, anytime, if even for a second I'm not doing something, I need to fill that empty space with something - that act of taking care of the empty spot for me is grabbing a sip of soda.  Thats why it is always in arms reach.  When I'm driving and get stuck at a stop light, I grab the soda sitting in the cup holder and take a sip.  If I'm sitting at my computer at home and am waiting for an IM from someone, I grab a sip of soda.  I litterally fill every void with a sip of soda.  I don't know why that is and to be honest, I don't know when it started.  All I know is it's not right and it's not healthy.  Last night I decided to replace the soda with water. 

So far today I haven't had a sip of soda.  I do have my water in arms reach though.  I'm still going for it just as often as well - but I imagine I've already saved myself at least a few hundred calories today and it's just a few minutes before 2 PM here.  Water - love it!

I've decided that Saturdays will be the official 'Progress Report'.  Each Saturday morning I will weigh myself and take a picture.  We will correspond that weight with the picture and I'll report on how I'm feeling and what I'm noticing that's different, etc.  For the sake of not wanting to feel inhibited in any way, I will follow my anonymous rule.  The approach should be a no holds barred, in your face account of my experiment.

Step one today is no soda.  It's a small step I think, but an important one.  It seemed like the logical thing to do, since to me, it's an addiction like any other.  So far I have no complaints and this water thing isn't so bad.  Something tells me I'm making a few more trips to the bathroom than I was before though.

Be sure to read the informative and motivational artical for the day.

Comments

[Sin]

Though I'm not overweight I did decide to go cold turkey on my almost 12-pack per day Mt. Dew habit. This was done because I'm starting to understand that diabetes runs in my family so it might be a good idea to give up sugar. Wasn't so hard ... SPLENDA is great!

Anyway, by giving up the sodas and drinking mostly water and iced tea (and V8, juice, stuff like that)I wound up dropping 30 lbs in 3 months! Simply by just giving up sodas ... imagine that. The downside of all of this is that, as I said, I wasn't overweight in the first place ... and now I'm pretty darned thin. My girlfriend says "too thin". Oh, well ....

Great blog, by the way.

[steve]

addiction is just as much the mind as anything.addiction is the wonderful things like caffines etc. stimulate the brain. So to me it seems natural that cherry pepsi done wonders for you in the way of pleasure senses.
bit like my darned cigs.. I say I am not going to smoke another for 2-3 hours and find myself putting one out while thinking about my time table! grrrr.. or can't stop thinking where I am going to buy another pack while smoking one and not out! just low ! Good luck with your battle of the calories and pounds !! same boat here.. stay pretty steady but sure don't shrink any !

steve