No longer a skeptic

Pin It I admit it.  I was a skeptic when it came to the Simply Filling Technique.  I looked at the foods I ate all week and in the back of my mind, I kept thinking "This won't really work..."  I followed it 100% - it was probably the most on program week I've had in about a year.  I didn't deprive myself from food at all - I just made Simply Filling choices over non-Simply Filling ones more than I normally would...why not?  They were "free", afterall.  When I discovered that the 95% Fat Free Cool Whip was one of those Simply Filling foods...you should have seen my face!  Love that stuff.  And potatoes...white ones! Yep, SF food... not that I eat a lot of them, but still... Light English muffins...yep, they're on the list!  Surely I can't be eating all of this food AND lose weight.  Surely there's something I'm missing or some trick in the system that I don't know about.  Oh, and I didn't work out as much as I would have liked, so surely I wouldn't lose this week.  Please God, let me just stay the same... only I didn't stay the same... I LOST... THREE whole pounds!!!  You'll note from my tracker above that this means I'm back into the 100s for pounds lost (yay me!)

A couple of thoughts and notes about my week that I want to share (besides the ramblings above):

before

1. Planning is key, no matter what program you choose - counting points or calories, Simply Filling Technique, Whole30 or Paleo.  No matter what you do, you must plan.  I'm not saying to sit down and plan out your meals for the whole week (unless that's your "thing").  What I did this week was to buy all of my produce, wash, cut and store it appropriately.  I also made a large salad of sorts (black beans, corn, onion, tomatoes, etc. - see last week's post for details) that lasted me all week.  It was so much easier when I got home from work to grab a handful of pre-washed, pre-cut veggies to toss in the grill pan than to contemplate cutting and washing them... I also had my fruit cut up - some done up into a fruit salad (nothing added, just fruit), so this made it easy to just toss some fat free cottage cheese or yogurt into a container and add fruit and run out the door.  Also, when I did cook my veggies on the grill pan, I cooked enough for 3 servings so I would have some leftovers to bring to work for lunch.



after

2. Eat until you are satisfied.  No, really.  Leave food on your plate.  It's OK - honest.  Nobody is going to come and tell you about starving children in Ethiopia (or whatever your generation says).  You know what - it's OK not to clean your plate.  I did this a couple of times and both times I just put the remainder of the food away for another time when I really was hungry.  It was nice not to stuff myself, but to just stay satisfied.  I think that in the past I've eaten everything on my plate because...well, because it was there AND I had already tracked and pointed it and how would I figure out how to re-calculate the points if I didn't finish it all.  It was, afterall, my entitlement to eat what was in front of me.  Following Simply Filling helped me to let go of that sense of entitlement and realize that on this plan, it's not necessary.  Not sure if this makes sense to anyone else, but for me it was an "aha moment" to quote Oprah.

I realized that Counting Points vs Simply Filling is like outlet shopping on a budget vs having the freedom to shop at quality stores without caring as much about the bottom line.  Sure I'm going to look for the best bang for my buck, but I don't have to count every single buck as I go along.  I might splurge and get something fancy (aka a treat coming out of my 49 weekly points) from time to time, but overall, I just coast along and enjoy the ride.

Well, I'm off to Dave's Fruit & Veggie stand to stock up on produce and to Costco to get some essential items with Mom (best place to get FF Greek yogurt and frozen mangoes!).  I think I might have to get some little containers for my lunches too (I've already ordered some more Tupperware Fridgemate containers from my friend Shirley so I can prepare even MORE produce at a time). 

Wish me luck as I follow the same plan (different foods, of course!) this week.