Day 10: End of Quest #1

What I learned from the past 10 days:

1) Getting 30 minutes of activity every day is easier when I don't call it exercise. Walking Mocha, walking with friends, walking to garage sales, walking on the golf course, walking at the zoo... all are enjoyable! And 30 minutes is an easy amount of time that I can fit in to my daily schedule.

2) I have a lot of food habits that need to be deconstructed. I need to accept that I have almost no willpower to stop eating when food is in front of me. Methods of getting out of the clean plate club include pouring water on my restaurant food when I'm full, moving food out of sight (especially snackies) when I'm not hungry, and ordering ice cream treats and immediately throwing away the half I'm not going to eat.

3) I need to limit "celebrations": Bloated sheep splurges (eat all you want even when you aren't hungry because the food only comes once per year) are limited to Thanksgiving, Christmas, Anniversary, Birthday, Easter and one bonus day. Mini splurges (Caribou coffee, blizzards, Cafe Latte chocolate cake) are limited to once per week.

4) Paying attention to food's effect on my body has been very powerful. When I overeat and indulge, I feel lethargic, slow and grumpy. I feel bad about myself. When I am active and treat myself now and then, I am generally more energetic and happy. See Day 5: Bloated Sheep for a prime example.

In conclusion, Quest #1 has set the foundation for a life habit of 30 minutes of activity per day (I have been doing this since day 4), and for prevention of bloated sheep days. I will check in every so often to let you know if the life habit stuck. I don't expect to lose oodles of weight quickly since I'm not focusing on reducing calorie intake or intense workouts. I am curious to see if these life habits will result in some movement on the scale, and will alert you when I reach the 175 marker.