Categories
Food Hard boundaries

The tortilla chip challenge

Challenge accepted.

The kids like tortilla chips so there’s pretty much always a bag in the house. I can take them or leave them, but sometimes I’m bored and slightly hungry and so I eat them.

Except not recently.

I had yet another experience of looking at the tortilla chips, having the quick debate in my head with myself, and not eating tortilla chips.

I will probably write about this 500 times until I get bored with the same thing happening, but this is good muscle memory for me. Hard boundaries are set, remembered, and respected. If I can do this in the small things, I can do it in the big things.

More importantly, they are all big things. Or small. A push-up or a tortilla chip? They are the same because the internal hard boundary set and respected is the thing that matters.

Categories
Decide Food

Hard boundaries and tortilla chips

The hard boundary at work is “no chips”. I have extended it to home. Twice this afternoon I have approached the bag of tortilla chips beside the fridge and reversed course when my mind said “hard boundaries”.

I wrote this to remember two victories today.

Categories
Decide Food

Hard boundaries and frozen yogurt

Every day at lunch my brain tells me to walk to Yogurtland and get a treat. I deserve it, or just this once, or it’s ok there isn’t much sugar or calories. I tell myself a story and I believe it.

Every day my brain says “hard boundaries”.

It happened again today. I had reflexively started walking south and started with the familiar dialog. After 50 yards of walking and talking to myself, I turned around and headed back north, toward work. Got a black coffee instead.

Win.

Hard boundaries.

Categories
Food

An adequate burrito

On one of my long walks I passed a Mexican restaurant I have driven past 1,000 times before.

I stopped and bought a burrito. Combo burrito, asada. Bottle of Fanta orange.

Filling. Average.

Would do it again, just for the full feeling.

Categories
Food

Comfort eating

Massive lunch: burger, fries, shake. Wasn’t even that good-tasting.

I just wanted . . . something, but it wasn’t hunger that drove my desires.

And of course the self-critical voice begins.