Mitigation Tactics

I need to take a look at my calendar as I'm not sure what day I'm on.  I guess I could do that right now...okay its Day 18.  I told you yesterday I wasn't going to weigh myself until Friday.  I woke up this morning, went to the bathroom, showered, dried my hair and weighed myself like normal, even though I said I wouldn't.  I am only up 1 lb from last week so that makes me happy.  Today I'm thinking alot about challenges and things we can't control in our day to day lives.  So below you'll find my gripes and mitigation tactics for getting through the unexpected, or expected but can't do anything about that I've encountered the past few days.

Car nearly breaks down (think STRESS!)
Didn't see it coming, can't really plan for it.  The impact of this was a lot of added stress while Matt and I tried to figure out how to get it towed, how I was going to get to/from the gym and then waiting to find out how much it was going to cost.  I made it to the gym but didn't have a very good workout.  Stress got the best of me.

My towing situation could have been worse

Mitigation Tactic:  The fat kid in me wanted to eat away the stress.  Trust me, I opened a bottle of chocolate milk but didn't drink it.  I contemplated doubling my dinner portion  from what I would normally eat.  I looked at the wine rack, pretty seriously.  However I decided to take a nice hot bath and read my new book.  IF and this is a big if, I was still stressed and craving something outside of the zone diet after my bath then I would let myself.  So I made a cup of hot chocolate (made with water and the 25 calorie packets) and settled in for what ended up being an hour.  I wasn't stressed anymore and in fact was so tired I couldnt' wait to get comfy sweats on, watch the rest of biggest loser (a show that randomly makes me want to eat while watching it) and go to bed.  I've found that if I can distract my mind for a bit I end up not being hungry and not wanting what I originally wanted. Diet crisis avoided.

Corporate Purchased/Provided Lunch
I don't know why, but it is nearly impossible for my work to provide healthy lunch options when providing lunch.  I've been in all day training for the past days and lunch has been provided.  Yesterday it was pizza and salad already drenched in dressing followed by brownies.  Today it was sandwiches, already covered in mayo and other dressings with chips, sweets and thankfully, some fruit.  As I sit here, watching everyone eat their brownies I am tempted to have one myself.  Then as it it makes it better I think to myself, what if I don't eat the brownie but go dig in to the candy bowl and only have a few pieces of candy.  However, I was aware I would be in training and assumed lunch would be provided.

Not the actual pizza but this made me not want to ever eat pizza

Mitigation Tactic: I knew about this training and since it's in my office there is no excuse to not bring my own lunch, and snacks.  So as everyone broke for lunch I stepped out to put together my own lunch.  I did get some grief from people but overall I found that they were jealous of my healthy lunch.  See, while they are sitting eating their pizza they are thinking to themselves, man how am I going to make up for this.  Meanwhile, I'm eating my turkey sandwich and half apple feeling great about my choices!  Planning ahead helps me feel in control and is the one thing that if I'm not able to do freaks me out!  Anyways, diet crisis avoided!

Happy Hour/Concerts/Not At Home
First off, I am not complaining about going to happy hour, concerts, hanging out with friends or anything related to fun.  However, those things can make it difficult to stay on track and can add in a rapid amount of calorie consumption that was originally not intended.  Tonight I am likely going to happy hour and then a benefit concert.  Tomorrow I am going over to my soon to be sis-in-laws house to try on dresses and likely eat/drink.  Friday I will be heading down to Salem so we can leave the following morning for Sunriver and then...I'm in sunriver!  So all awesome things, all things that take me out of my comfort zone of planned eating, work out times etc

Mitigation Tactics:  Make time for the gym, even if it means getting up super early.  If I'm likely to stray from my diet I need to make sure I also don't stray from the gym.  Eat an early dinner and pack a purse snack!  I will be going to the gym AND eating my own dinner before leaving for happy hour.  I might have 1 drink, but that is all...just 1.  I'm going to pack some almonds in my purse so that if I get hungry I can snack on something healthy rather than bar food.  For Sunriver I am going to make up a big batch of zone chili, to share of course, that I can eat as my meals since I know exactly what is in it and how many blocks a serving is.  I'm also going to just empty out my fridge and bring my own food.  I may need to eat my meals before/after since I likely won't eat the shared meals but the same thing applies as above.  Eat my own dinner and bring snacks along to avoid mindlessly eating/drinking whatever is around me.


General Tips
On a minute by minute basis (at least it feels like that sometimes) I am tempted to stray from my diet and I've found a few things that help me make it through those moments.

• Gum - Peppermint gum works for me.  I buy Orbitz because I like the flavor and it lasts forever.  I used to eat sweet gum thinking it would help but I found it only increased my craving.  Peppermint gum is sweet but the minty flavor makes whatever you eat after chewing it not taste so good.  It helps me get through small cravings and since the flavor lasts so long I usually forgot about whatever else I wanted as the gum distraction works long enough to get me through it.
• Water - When I start to feel a little hungry I drink a bunch of water.  I prefer room temperature, I don't know why.  I drink it fast so it fills up my stomach and usually can get me to the next planned meal/snack time without issue.
• Lip gloss - Haha this one is random but its a distraction and once I get my lips all pretty and shiny I like to keep them that way, at least for a few minutes.  So when I start to crave some candy or something sweet, I put on my sweet lip gloss
• An extra, pre-measured snack - I always intend on only eating one snack before working out but I always bring two because some days I find I am more hungry than others.  This way if I end up getting hungry I already have a healthy, measured snack ready to go, which is always better than the candy bowl!
• Coffee - Coffee helps fills me up.  I'm not a big tea person, don't know why, but tea would probably work as well.  Having a nice hot cup of coffee to sip on helps pass the time and curbs hunger.  I just need to be careful that I don't drink too much caffeine!
• Blogging - It helps pass time and also holds me accountable.  I can't start being honest and blogging and then all of a sudden stop, people will call me on it!
• Reading - (or playing Wii!)  I've found that if I sit and watch too much TV then I start to want to snack.  So instead I've been reading a lot more and playing my Wii!  If I get up and move or occupy my brain in a more active way I don't have any craving to snack!