Eat Slow, Step 3: Small Bites

I'm getting closer to my goal of 100% compliance with steps 1 and 2 (eating with empty hands and chewing thoroughly), so it's time to slow it down even more -- small bites. I think this will be a real challenge for me, since part of what I love about eating is having a full mouth. On the other hand, feeling full sooner will probably be the one biggest step toward being a bit lighter. Given that I have a new-found love for really high heels, my knees and feet will definitely be thanking me when I'm putting less stress on them. But really, who could resist these?

Alexander McQueen Buckled Oxford Bootie

Anyway, I'm feeling super validated today because my baby steps have been working. I'm down 2.5 pounds this week, without changing much of anything about my eating or exercise other than slowing down. Being even a tiny bit more mindful has helped me feel more proactive, which seems to have bled over into everything else, because I had an amazingly productive week, despite all the stress.

Onward and upwards (or downwards!)

Progress report:
Combo 1, step 1: eating with empty hands -- 65% 
Combo 1, step 2: chewing completely -- 75%

Eat Slow, Step 2: Empty Mouth

I've been cheating and working on doing this one before I've completely mastered eating with empty hands. But they just seem to go hand in hand: don't put more food in your hands while you're still chewing (step 1) and chew until all the food is gone (step 2).

I was skeptical that I was going to make progress on either of these things, given how ingrained my eating habits are, but it's actually getting easier to practice mindful eating. So, yeah, maybe behavior modification experts know what they're talking about.

In fact, I've had a really stressful week so far, and I have still managed to stay focused on my baby steps, so I'm feeling really optimistic that even if nothing else changes, just eating slowly is going to have an impact on how much I eat, which is less about weight loss than about not feeling sleepy and exhausted all the time from being in a carb coma.

Ok, time for coffee and a little pre-work work. Maybe I'll even get some dancing in today.

Progress report:
Combo 1, step 1: eating with empty hands -- 95%
Combo 1, step 2: chewing completely -- 85%

The Importance of Forks

The key to eating with nothing in your hands between bites is... not eating with your hands. You would not believe how fast I shoved some monkey bread down this morning, mostly because I was holding it in my hands while I ate.

But to be fair, look at that... Nom...

From now on, all food will go on a plate and I will use a utensil to eat it (except for popcorn -- I mean, come on). I need to do something to break the eating habits I have that are so ingrained I don't even think about them until it's too late. We went out to eat last night -- no bueno on the slow eating. I did make good choices, and I stopped eating when I was full, but I didn't even think about putting the fork down between bites. I'm thinking about tying my fingers together before I eat, just to remind me to slow down.

Progress report:
Combo 1, step 1: eating with empty hands -- 30%

Combo 1: Eat Slow

I'm a dancer, so when I try to break down a huge project into manageable parts, I think in terms of combinations, which are made up of specific steps. The first "combo" I'm going to work on memorizing, which in dance terms means literally getting it "into your body" -- a particularly apt metaphor when I'm working on body image -- is eating more slowly and giving myself time to feel full.

The first step in this combo is: don't have food in your hand (or on your fork) until the food in your mouth is gone. Sounds simple, right? I started working on this yesterday, with about 50 percent success. Eating cherry tomatoes, my habit is to bring one up to my mouth and then get my hand back in the bowl as fast as possible to get ready to shove another one in. Same with pita chips, good Gruyere cheese or popcorn (which is pretty much what I ate yesterday). It takes a real effort to have absolutely nothing in my hand while I'm chewing. But it does result in paying more attention to the activity of eating rather than the activity of getting food in my mouth.  I had way less success with the pieces of artisan bread we brought home yesterday. Those I pretty much shoved right in -- it was so heavenly good. So still lots more work to do here. My goal is to get two whole days of 100% empty hands while chewing.

We discovered a new thing yesterday, by the way, that made a really good snack as a dip for pita chips and cherry tomatoes: edamame hummus. High protein, low calorie, very filling. And yeah, it tastes like hummus.

The point of starting this blog, at least in part, is to hold myself accountable to someone other than myself, because I'm pretty easy on myself when it comes to meeting goals. So I'll end each post with a progress report of my success with my current goal, like this:

Progress report:
Combo 1, step 1: eating with empty hands -- 50%