Selecting a Meal Plan for Life

I’ve been reading the NY Times best-selling book Made to Crave by Lysa Terkeurst. The tag line is “Satisfying your deepest desire with God, not food.” It was recommended by one of blog readers way back in January, and I finally decided to stop being stubborn and check it out. To my surprise, this is the first weight loss book that I have ever read, and felt like the author completely understood with my issues with food. She even talked about the crazy routines I do, like strip naked, lightly step on the scale in the morning, while hoping that my molecular structure magically changed overnight. The morning weigh-in routine is  often followed by a promise that today is the day I’ll eat right, which is then followed by eating delicious smelling cinnamon rolls and a promise to start on Monday. I’ll do an in-depth book review later…

Ultimately, her book provides strategies to overcome emotional overeating by growing closer to God. I’m not finished reading yet, but so far it’s not an Eat This, Not That book. However, after meeting with a nutritionist, Lysa decided that she would eliminate all sugar from her diet, including bread, rice pasta etc. She did it, it works, and she loves it. This is not the plan for me, but it made me think more about what lifelong meal plan will work best for me. As much as I love Weight Watchers points plan, (or do I love it?)… realistically, I don’t want to count points or track everything I eat for life. I’ve even jokingly said that writing down every bite, feels like keeping a journal about when I go pee, it’s just annoying.  Shouldn’t eating be more natural and less rigid? The The South Beach Diet is great in that you eat until satisfied with not tracking, but restricts so many carbs.  So, I had a grand epiphany that I would do the WW Simply Filling plan. Except that my “epiphany” was not so grand when I read an old blog post and discovered that I came that this conclusion about 8 months ago, LOL!! But the difference now, is that I’m closer than ever to really getting a handle on things, truly understanding and accepting the permanency of being an over eater at heart. In a nutshell, the simply filling plan allows you eat, whole grains, including light bread, whole wheat pasta, brown rice, fruits, veggies, fat-free dairy and lean meat. Some sauces and seasonings are included too. The only time you have to count points is when you eat foods not on the list. This gives you the opportunity not to feel like you’re stuck on a diet, but also not tracking every bite. I gave it an honest try to see if I could really do it for a lifetime, and I think I can. For the first time in weeks, or is it months, I LOST WEIGHT at my WW weigh-in. I lost 1.4 pounds, and I’ll tell you, I went over the weekly bonus points for non-plan foods. At first I thought, geez only 1.4 pounds, then I thought if I lose 1.4 pounds a week for a year, that’s nearly 75 pounds. I’m trying to find the good in everything…. I’m choosing a meal plan for healthy living, I’m losing weight, and I’m growing and accepting my truth. What more do I need?