Write down the next baby step you want to master. Write down three ways you can conquer it. Pick something that's been holding you back.

Example: I need to cook at home more.

Solutions:

1) I will write down three meals I like. They will be easy:

Oven roasted salmon and asparagus with a tossed salad

Grilled flank steak with grilled zucchini, grilled sweet onions, grilled corn on the cob, tossed salad

Chicken burgers from book one, tossed salad, microwave green beans with lemon juice, olive oil and a little parmesan cheese


2) I will make the grocery list right now based on what I already have in stock.

3) I will grocery shop for the items in the next 12 hours.

I will collect a reward each night I cook:

1) The new O at Home magazine

2) A 1/2 hour "off" with a book I've been meaning to read

3) Sushi supper (or anything HEALTHY) out

Here are mine:

1. Take more 'real food' for lunch instead of frozen entrees
a. Immediately pack lunch portion before serving dinner.
b. Keep more ready to eat veggies in the refrigerator for snacks.
c. Buy single serving items: tuna, low fat lunch meat (turkey, roast beef).


2. Eat half an entree when eating out:
a. Ask for a 'to go box' with the entree.
b. Split an entree
c. Order salad and an appetizer portion.


3. Develop non-food rewards for achieving behavior and exercise goals
a. Spa-- manicure/pedicure, or facial,
b. massage
c. new DVD or CD
d. Drive out in the country
e. New shirt or skirt.

I plan to work on these over the weekend!

For this week

Pack for work snacks for the whole week so I don't have to remember them every day

Make sure I cook early in the week while cooking supper so I have lunches for the week. Pack them and take them to work, so I don't have to remember to take them every morning

get to the Y every night and at least 2 times in the morning for weight training...this is my albatross...so hard to get up in the morning (cheese with that w(h)ine!!!

jackie

I still have to keep working on the same old babysteps, because they are hard ones for me:

1) Planning meals at home more often
2) Packing adequate snacks so that I don't hit the vending machine at 3 pm
3) Journaling
4) Making good food choices

Last night I ate too close to bedtime and had an upset stomach that woke me up in the middle of the night. That derailed my workout for this morning as I was barely able to get up in time for work, much less working out beforehand.

P7eggyc,

I do find that I have a hard time finding "new" babysteps. Like you, I have things pretty well in hand. I have to keep going back and redoubling, retripling, etc. efforts and trying to find new ways to motivate myself rather than trying to get myself to try new baby steps.

Laura

I get hungry near bedtime, and in the middle of the afternoon. My snacks have to be planned because of my diabetes, so, that is my main problem or next babystep. To plan for those two crisis times during the day.

1. I will write them down.
2. I will have the snacks ready in the AM so all I have to do is reach for them at the appropriate time.
3. I will make one a fruit thing, and the other a milk thing.
4. I will make sure I do this for a week, and as I accomplish this, I will reward myself with a quiet hour of just reading or watching the world go by.

My next big baby step has got to be walking. I'm not going to be able to go to the gym for quite a while, water aerobics included and I have to get moving.

1. I will get my sneakers from my gym locker on Wednesday

2. I will set aside time after work tuesday (I have some sneaks that are ok for now) to go for a walk on the bike trail

3. i will plan dinner for tuesday ahead of time so I'm not running around the house late trying to throw something together.

I'm not sure why this is such a difficult step for me, but I've been struggling with it for 2 months.

LAurie

I have not been eating my afternoon snacks and I think I should to keep the evening meal from being so 'risky'. I've been doing well but sometimes when I skip my snack (because I obviously wasn't hungry enough to want it), I'm starving when dinnertime arrives and I feel inclined to either order in something because I perceive that to be faster and easier or I have to fight the urge to overeat.

Solutions:
1. I will eat lunch earlier rather than later.
2. I will plan some snacks that are more appetizing to me.
3. I will put a reminder in my Outlook at work to remind me to try and eat something.

Interesting...I had to kind of search for a babystep to choose. Feeling like things are pretty well in hand. A question for some of our more experienced folks...Do you keep adding baby steps all along your journey or do you feel like you're pretty well set?

Peg

I'm not sure if this assignment is good or bad...KD you stole my idea for Wednesday!!! Who showed you my calendar?!?

I need to figure out how to balance out my daily calories, ie keeping the same amount of calories each day. I've had days where I am right onto my target total calories, then I've had days where I am two to four hundred calories under.

As soon as I can figure out what's holding me back, I can come up with some solutions. I have a day or two where I am really, really hungry all day and eat all whole grains, protein, and veggies, then some days I am just not that hungry. I just don't get it. The upside, though is that I seem to have broken through my plateau big time. I've lost 4 # in the last 5 weeks.

Laura