Day 32 of Phase 5: Squalls, leaky roof, comfort foods, evaluations, and the inevitable metaphors related to a "tight dieting ceiling"...so what's YOUR ceiling height?

Tanita-san: 219.2

Well, shoot. Up a pound. Hubby is in Canada. I am still not totally myself, so I've been just making what's convenient. I had a bit under 1200 calories yesterday, but they were carbier than I'm used to and NOT  on my RD created plan. I had a whole grain roll with my eggs. I had rice and beans (leftovers) for supper. The rice was my hubby's leftover. The beans mine. Restaurant chicken veggie soup (leftover).

This is why folks don't like to weigh every day. But this reminds me to curb salt and carbs. I had hoped to get some fresh stuff today, but we got us some ugly skies and one heckuva squall. It was scary. My roof leaked a bit in the back room. Ticked me off, as that roof is new (put on last year). So, will let hubby know when he returns from business trip. Dang.

Speaking of squalls and ceilings --and off we go to the metaphors...

Your eating life, my eating life, will encounter those sudden, awful, scary, unexpected, assaulting sorts of downpours. They can be fast and mean: a sudden tempting assault at a relative's house, or a restaurant date and the menu is vicious, or hubby brings a box of candies home. Your roof, my roof, better be good and tight when that happens or the rug will be ruined and the ceiling stained and mildew set in and things will go from bad to worse.

Or the storm will pass and you'll be fine, no leaks, no damp carpet, no mildew or mold. Tight roof. Tight roof.

Being sick was a small bit of a squall. It disturbed my routine and made me want comfort foods. I was all in the head about mashed potatoes and mac n cheese and pizza. I even looked over at the corner of the kitchen where delivery menus are kept. There's only ONE pizzeria I allow us to order from, and I generally get one of the salads (they're always nice and crisp) and, when pizza is on plan, one slice. The thin crust is less than 250 cals per one slice. I really wanted to grab that menu and get me some carby, gooey comfort.

Instead, I told hubby to go get me the aguacate soup from the Mexican place and got chicken fajitas...had the soup (as I mentioned in a previous post) and some of the chicken in one of the small tortillas. I ditched the rest of the tortillas. No rice.  No cheese. No sour cream. Some salsa.

I still have part of that meal in the fridge, days later. I'm making  habit of having one take-out meal last by portioning. Saves moolah. Saves calories.

But the rice was still in the fridge. The beans were still in the fridge.

Had I kept my roof tight, I'd have ditched them, too, but I figured hubby could have the chicken I didn't heat with the rice, yesterday. Instead, he bought a sub on the way home.

A tight roof for me is to throw out what I ought not have. For me, rice and beans are comfort foods. I'm Cuban. Rice and beans are lifeblood. Rice and beans are mother's milk. I should have tossed them. Not cause the calories were so bad (I had half of the already small side servings). But because it wasn't on my plan and it was too much carb for my insulin resistant system.

Oh, well. The roof leaked, metaphorically as well as literally. But both only leaked A LITTLE. Not the huge leak my roof had last year (metaphorically AND literally), before the roof guys fixed that baby up (5,000 bucks) and before I got my diet act together (priceless).

Just like a house, you gotta keep up the repairs in your diet system. Squalls and storms and wind gusts and insect attacks...the dieting life has them all. We have to figure out how to fix each of them and cut down on invasions....

Speaking of ceilings.... Lyn at Escape from Obesity (see blogroll for link) asked about the number of pounds that are one's safety zone. How much you allow gain-wise before taking action. I call that the regain ceiling. Like the glass ceiling. What stops the regain.

For me, while dieting, 2 to 3 lbs is the smack-in-the-face ceiling that tells me I'm too loose in the reins and get back to measuring/weighing flawlessly and cutting back on sodium and carbs. Two to 3 lbs regain have to be from either 1. additional starches/carbs, 2. more salt, and/or 3. eating too many calories. One of those three needs to be addressed. Not moving enough would be the 4th factor, but generally, it's one of those three.

I have a friend whose ceiling is 3 lbs. She takes action when she sees 3 lbs over her ideal weight. For her, that is a manageable diet task. It can be handled in 1 to 2 weeks of corrective eating and movement.

I think that's wise. If you know that you can fix it in a week or two, rather than months, it's not as daunting. It's "corrective" not "all out war." It's "an adjustment", not "an upheaval."

So, think about that. Whether you are in the losing or maintaining phase, choose your ceiling, keep it low, and then you don't lose too much ground or momentum. You can make "adjustments" rather than tear your hair up about "disaster". Small fixes are always easier than big ones.

A roof patch is cheaper than having to put in a whole new one.

Although, I guess all major lifestyle changes are a renovation in big, grand style. A whole new roof, from beams to nails to tiles...then just a lot of care and upkeep. :)

What's your diet regain ceiling or maintenance ceiling? How much regain before you MUST take action? Or have you never chosen one?

Happy Thursday!