Hi Michelle
You are very brave to be doing this long-distance.
Even though I had a clinic within fifteen minutes of home, I only went for the information session, and the induction interview - but I got so much information from both sessions, and a few emails after that, that I only went there once to get more vitamins.
However, the induction interview was invaluable. It went for more than an hour and I was really well prepared to start the program the next day.
I was not ever hungry - which is not to say I was not fidgety particularly during the first week, but that was from habit of putting things into my mouth every time I walked through the kitchen!
Once I got the coffee situation sorted out I was right from there on for the next twenty weeks.
We all have petty foibles - eating your child's leftovers is a big problem. From the time I first had children it was my policy to never do that. I saw too many women become plate scavengers and I always thought it a disgusting habit - sorry, but I do. I had a child care centre for five years and couldn't believe it when I sometimes saw relieving carers eat the leftovers from complete strangers' plates! Eeer yuck!
I have always discouraged the 'having a bite' of someone else's sandwich or eating someone else's leftovers. Many diseases are transmitted from the seemingly harmless habit of sharing food or drink. Meningitis is just one deadly disease, hepatitis another, so stop it now and do not allow anyone in the family to 'have a bite' of another person's apple or icecream or a drink from their bottle or can.
You are not a scavenger. You deserve your own food. What is leftover can go out to feed the birds!
Now, you must weigh your food exactly. As FatCat has reminded us, your food is your medicine. Our food is always our medicine and we wouldn't swallow someone else's prescription (I hope) as it could be deadly for us.
While you are on the program you will develop good food habits, which will last beyond the program. I now have my serving and do not go back for seconds. If there are leftovers in the dish they go out for the birds or are put in a clean dish and cling film and put in the fridge for one day only. If not eaten by the second day, well, you guessed it, the birds get fed! We have a lot of hopeful birds in our garden as there is always something there for them to eat!
Old habits die hard. Habits from a previous generation - waste not, want not - die even harder as we are often not even conscious of what we are doing.
You deserve your own food. Remember that. You deserve your own food and you are not a waste bucket for every left over bit chewed and spat out by someone else.
By next week you will feel more comfortable, settle into the swing of the program and develop your own techniques.
My consultant recommended reading the program at least once each week. Keep it by your bed and leaf through it as your bedtime story. Become familiar with it, it will be your companion for the months ahead.
Even now, I sometimes get out the program and look at it, and the refeed notes. Eating well and eating without
hunger are very important techniques and even today I have no
hunger.
We went out last night and I looked forward to having a few glasses of wine. I knew how to prepare myself before I went and enjoyed the evening, the wine and the nibbles. However, I watched other people stuffing food by the handful into their mouths, whereas I knew what to eat, enjoyed myself, and know that (apart from feeling a bit tired today) I have not harmed myself while enjoying the event.
You, too, will become an expert, and at the end of the program will be slim, full of vitality, prettier than ever, and stay that way without too much trouble.
Good luck, enjoy the journey, and READ THE PROGRAM!
Lotsa love
Kristine
Linear Mode
