DAY 27: To-do List

My progress on Day 27:

I read my Advantages Response Card, NO CHOICE card, and It's Not Okay and Get Back on Track Response Cards at least twice.

I read other Response Cards as needed.

I ate slowly, sitting down and noticing every bite: Most Times

I gave myself credit when I engaged in helpful dieting behaviors: Every Time

I did spontaneous exercise: Every Time

I did planned exercise.

I monitored everything I ate in writing.

I wrote out a food plan for tomorrow.

I worked toward accepting what I have to do to lose weight (Oh, well).

TBD I used the Seven Question Technique to make Response Cards.


CREDIT ACCOUNT: $24.00

No joy with the Seven Question Technique; I just couldn't convince myself that this make-work exercise was a priority over lots of other things, so I just didn't do this step. I still want to try it, if only so I can check everything off my to-do list, so I'll work on creating those Response Cards tomorrow.

Otherwise I had a good day. I remembered to apply my temporary tattoo (Marvin the Martian planting a flag for Mars on my forearm) and I did much better at remembering to give myself credit. I still struggled with eating slowly and mindfully and eating everything on my food plan (I skipped lunch and a snack), but I read my ARC and other Response Cards twice today, I exercised with no complaint at all, and I worked in a lot of spontaneous exercise.

Even better, I ran a highly successful experiment. The other day, walking through my neighborhood I noticed a new Ethiopian restaurant. Since Ethiopian is one of my favorite cuisines and I love being able to walk to dinner, I was very excited. But I love Ethiopian so much that I always overindulge, leaving the restaurant achingly full. So I hatched a plan: I would invite friends to test out this new Ethiopian restaurant while practicing my Beck Diet Solution skills!

We chose tonight as our dinner out, so last night I planned my meal. Not having tried this particular restaurant, I didn't know their menu, but I assumed it would be similar to every other Ethiopian restaurant I've been to.

So I planned to have Doro Kulwa, a dish of cubed chicken sauteed in butter, garlic, and onions. The entree is accompanied by injera, a crepe-like bread that you use to scoop up food (instead of using utensils), as well as a green salad with tomatoes and a lemony dressing and usually some potatoes and carrots in a spicy sauce. All that bread tends to fill you up (which is why eating Ethiopian always leaves me so incredibly full) and I tend to overeat because the chicken is so incredibly tasty (my mouth is watering just thinking about it now!), so my plan was to eat half of my chicken, only 1 round of injera, and my portion of salad and vegetables.

Ethiopian food is traditionally served "family style", with all the servings on one platter, each entree separated by the vegetables, with the shared salad in the middle. I was concerned that I wouldn't be able to monitor my portion on a shared platter, so I also planned to ask for an individual plate. And then I was ready to test my new skills on an old indulgence!

At the restaurant tonight, when I opened the menu, I found very few items, and Doro Kulwa was not one of them. This was mighty strange (as well as a blow to my food plan), because an Ethiopian restaurant without Kulwa dishes is like a McDonald's without hamburgers! Even stranger, the waitress had no idea what Kulwa was when I asked if it were available anyway. That does not bode well for this restaurant...

But more to the point, it meant I had to revise my food plan on the fly. From the limited choices, I chose Ye Beg Tibs (cubed lamb sauteed in butter, onions, green pepper, and spices) and felt good about that. Then I found out the restaurant would not serve dishes individually; I had no choice but to share my plate with others. This was especially problematic because someone else ordered the Ye Beg Tibs, so the two orders would be served together and I'd have to work out some way to make sure I ate only a quarter of it!

It wasn't easy, but I managed. I pulled a quarter of the lamb to the edge of the platter and ate from that. I also enjoyed the salad and, instead of the usual vegetables, the lentil stew side dish. (The lentils were quite good and probably better for me than the vegetables.) Most importantly, I ate less than 1 round of the injera! This was unbelievable because I usually eat 2 injera rounds as well as some of the injera that lines the serving platter and catches all the delicious drippings from the meal!

The end result: I had about a third of what I usually eat at an Ethiopian restaurant, but I felt completely satisfied and only comfortably full. And I did it despite the obstacles the restaurant threw up in my path. I'd say the experiment was an unqualified success! (The restaurant however, with its limited menu and unfriendly staff, was no success at all, so I guess I'll have to keep driving to my favorite Ethiopian place to continue practicing this new-found restraint!)

Mmm, and the best part, better even than being such an ace at my diet, is that now I have leftovers to enjoy for dinner tomorrow! Yum!