Wednesday, July 11, 2012

July Mini Goal

As I stated, while I am figuring out what I need to do, I am starting some mini-goals.  And while this is a little late for this month....I thought I would still address it.

This month's mini goal:  No 10pm dessert.

This bad habit started at least 8 or 9 years ago.  OK, technically it started 10 years ago, although the 10pm part wasn't there yet.

When I was pregnant with the kids, I wanted ice cream.  Like CRAVED it.  So every night, Hubby and I would have ice cream.  Yum yum.  This became our nightly ritual.  He would go downstairs and feed the cats, and get dessert for us. After the kids were born, Hubby started working 2 jobs.  He worked his typical 8am-5pm, then 6pm-10pm.  This was every day.   So at 10pm, we would continue our ritual....feed the cats, eat dessert.

Today, he still works 2 jobs (although the hours are a little different).  Three nights a week he isn't home at all.  Three nights a week he is home for the evening, and 1 night a week....he gets home at 10pm.  On the nights he is home, we would still eat our 10pm dessert.  And many nights when he isn't home....I would get dessert for myself, at 10pm, when I fed the cats.

There has rarely been a night in the past 10 years that we haven't had a cake, ice cream, pie, or some dessert item in our house.

This ritual was more than dessert.  It was a way of Hubby and I bonding.  We looked forward to our nightly dessert.  Sometimes we would get a "larger" dessert at the store, and share.  We would talk about dessert earlier in the evening.  Hubby works part time at the grocery store, so he would pick up dessert if we were out.  He would text me to ask what I wanted.

On July 1, after looking at myself in the mirror, I just couldn't eat it.  I was FAT.  And eating ice cream wasn't going to help it.  I texted Hubby and told him I didn't want dessert when he got home.

At that moment, I should add that we had 1 piece of Key Lime Pie, and 1/3 of a container of ice cream in the house.  And those items lasted over another week in the house before they were touched (more on that in a minute) I should have just thrown them out, but I felt like that was a waste.

Hubby is sad that I am trying to change our ritual.  I said maybe we could compromise and say that Saturday night is our ritual.....and that way we still have our tradition, but it is modified.  And of course, no one says it has to be some full fat, sugary dessert.  I am trying to not feel guilty.  But with him saying how sad he is, it isn't helping.

We compromised that Saturday night will be our special treat night.  It will give us something to look forward to.  As long as it is small (which will probably be half the size of what it usually was), I think it will be ok.

I will have a progress bar that tracks how I am doing.  Since I have "agreed" to having dessert on Saturdays, that leaves 27 days this month to NOT have dessert.  I did slip one night last week and had some Ambrosia Salad.  But so far, of the 9 nights I could have had dessert....I have only slipped that once.

I just keep telling myself I am NOT hungry (which I am not)....this is just a habit.  Changing habits is an on-going progress.  Wish me luck and willpower!


9 comments:

  1. good for you! you can do it! have you thought about making yourself something different if he wants to eat dessert? Lots of times when DD & DH want dessert, I will get a nice cup of coffee or if it is too late for coffee, I will make myself a nice smoothie?

    ReplyDelete
  2. I haven't stopped him from eating dessert. I told him go ahead. But then he feels bad eating it infront of me. Additionally, he feels like he could lose a few pounds, so then he realizes that eating dessert isn't helping his cause either!

    Smoothies....I am considering those as my go-to breakfast food. Any good recipes to share?

    ReplyDelete
  3. 10:00 pm was my snack time too. I lost 20 pounds since March. I started logging my food on Calorie Count and it was extremely helpful. I stopped logging for a few weeks but I know I need to get back to it.

    Best of luck to you!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I need to log my food as well. I will have to check out Calorie Count.

      Delete
  4. I don't do the ice cream (stomach issues) but I have had some fresh fruit about 10:00 ish recently. Not great. BUT, I am bound and determined to change this.

    ReplyDelete
  5. We will put a small banana - strawberries, blueberries, light vanilla yogurt & oj (equal parts yogurt & OJ - until you find what mix you like!) and I will use frozen strawberries/blueberries so that I don't have to add ice

    there is also another good one out there when you use your fruit of your choice, ice & pineapple juice

    LOVE Smoothies!

    ReplyDelete
  6. Hubby and I have same ritual...but, it's with wine...which we'd usually pair with a snack. Like you, we both looked forward to the ritual and would talk/text about it during the day....it often served as a sanity-saver during a hard day to know that in 5-8 hours I'd be home with him having wine. We're both trying to lose some LBS, and it's been hard to give that up. We both know we need to replace that habit with something else. We've tried to replace this time with taking a walk around the neighborhood and honestly, it worked! We had a great time! The only issue now is the HEAT (even in the evenings) and the timing...we did this around 7 pm in hopes of being in bed by 10 p.m. Anyhoo....find something to replace this time...and if it can help your weight loss goals, even better.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Hubby works 2 jobs...one of which is second shift. So we don't have evening together much. It is hard when it has become such a part of your life.

      Delete