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Sunday, May 5, 2013

The Challenge of Not Doing That Next Thing

a bright red, octagonal stop sign with large white letters
I've got a problem, an insidious one that has plagued me for years, but which I am only now becoming aware.
I call it the Pile It On problem: When a project is going well (as is my recent food life), I will come up with one, two, or three more changes to add, changes that will get me "better" (i.e., cuter, slimmer) faster.
Perhaps there's a part of me that thinks, "Well, if this is good--a few more changes will be great!
The most recent example: In the last month I have:
  • stopped eating all grains and legumes
  • started writing my food down (the what, mostly)
  • stopped eating sausage (as of yesterday)
  • started eating a lot more vegetables
Now, those are some pretty major changes, and I'm quite fortunate that the vast majority of them were painless to make (indeed, just arose within me). I'm happy about each of them. In fact, the only item I formally committed to was eliminating grains for 90 days; the rest are delicious bits of gravy.
Yet there's been a nagging voice I've been swatting away, one telling me to do more, because I've done so much already. That is, I need to pile more on.
What would more look like?
  • Tracking my carbs
  • Getting my carbs down to 40 grams daily, or lower (I have been only vaguely conscious of them, although more so of late)
  • Tracking the exact amount of what I eat, and when
  • Eliminating chocolate and all dried fruit (medjool dates--the final frontier)
Why is this a problem? Mostly because changing food patterns is challenging, and it is easy for me to be overwhelmed. Second, because adding more on now doesn't give me the opportunity to absorb my success with the current changes; the new, the different, and the more become more important, and blot out my the value and importance of what I've currently accomplished. 
So, for now, I'm going to let myself luxuriate in the changes I have made, let them, and myself, be.

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