: Hi everyone. I am a newbie. Since
: beginning this program 2 weeks
: ago, I am feeling better than I've
: felt in a long time. I am recently
: retired. The first 6 months of
: retirement were very scary for me
: because I did not have any
: structure to my day. After 35 yrs.
: of teaching, I'd decided to take 1
: yr. just to relax. The problem is
: that I now had the luxury of
: caving to my feelings of
: exhaustion and lack of energy.
: This caused me to waste many days
: sleeping until noon and feeling
: absolutely depressed when I should
: have felt so happy for the
: opportunity to relax and enjoy my
: days.

: Anyway, after a 4 day hospitalization
: for Asthma, I decided that
: something had to change I took out
: Kathleen's books which I'd
: purchased a few months back but
: hadn't opened. Okay, sure enough,
: I am definitely the target
: audience! For the first time in my
: life I'm understanding that the
: alcoholism in my family, the
: alcohol I have avoided my whole
: life long, is still manifested in
: my relationship with sugar. Wish
: I'd realized this more fully at a
: much younger age. But, at 58, I'm
: confident that there is still time
: to turn things around and enjoy my
: life.

: Anyway, I have been eating breakfast
: every single day ~ something I'd
: never done before. I make myself a
: little veggie omelet some
: mornings, have pb and a muffin
: sometimes, whatever ... I get my
: protein in. I'm also doing well
: with sticking to 3 meals a day.
: And Kathleen is right: if I do
: that I am quite content. But, I
: totally see how this could be
: easily sabotaged if I returned to
: my past habit of sometimes not
: eating a thing until 2pm and then
: eating non-stop and
: non-discriminately until bedtime,
: when I would crawl into bed and
: barely get any sleep until morning
: when I'd be totally exhausted and
: then sleep until noon. Ugh!
: Anyway, that's turned around
: beautifully.

: I keep my food journal. Never liked
: doing that before. It's growing on
: me. A couple of times I've even
: written my feelings between meals.
: Like how I worry that the
: long-term might get me. But, slow
: and steady is working for me right
: now.

: So here's my concern. Although I'm
: feeling successful about
: developing some new habits, I
: think I may be eating too much.
: When do I start paying more
: attention to that? Right now, I'm
: just trying to get my routine in
: place. But, can I put too much
: olive oil and vinegar on my salad?
: Are 6 Triscuits okay? Can I have 2
: rolled slices of turkey and
: cheese? Last night I ate out for
: the first time at Chipotle.
: Burrito Bowl of black beans, brown
: rice, veggies, pork, cheese, salsa
: ... I think that's okay. But,
: there was a lot, and I ate it all.

: Lastly, is it okay to have a Danon
: Light Fruit Yogurt (80 calories)
: at the end of a meal?

: I know this is very long, but I so
: appreciate any feedback or
: suggestions. Yesterday I had a
: doctor appt., and all of my
: "numbers" were markedly
: improved. PLUS I had lost 6 lbs. I
: have been trying to be successful
: for many years and never was. Now,
: I'm thinking more clearly and
: feeling soooo good. I just don't
: want the ceiling to come crashing
: down!

: Thanks for listening!

Well, you may be trying to do a little too much too fast

We generally encourage people to do one step at a time, and savor it.

So maybe just work on step one and master that.

Do you think you might be able to just do that.

Kathleen