Searching for a Beginning

Ok so I have decided that I want to lose weight, and I have decided that the first step to take is to cut out sodas and sweets. Great. So why am I still drinking sodas and eating sweets? I feel like I am still waiting for a date to start this thing. I don't know why I need an explicit start date, but I imagine it's a pretty natural feeling for most people. It's the same driving force behind overflowing gyms in early January; the New Year is a great occasion for making lifestyle changes on an explicit date, a la resolutions.

I could have made my birthday my kickoff day, which would have felt significant and memorable, but we went out of town on a birthday trip and visited nice restaurants and I didn't want to miss out on those things. I wanted to indulge for my birthday - one last hurrah - and as a result I have a house full of cake and ice cream and soda. It seriously dilutes the strong mental association of beginning this on my 30th birthday and stifles my motivation.

So why not just stop eating the stuff now? Sure there is ice cream and soda in my fridge, but just don't eat it, right? That makes perfect sense and the only real reason I continue to eat the stuff (ignoring the fact that it is delicious) is due to silly mental games that I play. Today is a good example: we had a staff meeting at noon and lunch was provided - sandwich boxes from Jason's Deli, complete with chips and cookie. If I had begun my "sugar fast" and I was making a concerted effort to avoid these kinds of foods, I would have just eaten the sandwich and given the cookie and chips away. However, because there is no "real reason" for me to not eat the cookie since I haven't "started" my diet yet, into my belly they went. And then of course later when another cookie was available over dinner, hey, I already had a cookie today so obviously I am not dieting so why not have another? It's a vicious cycle, and it's purely mental.

This is why I think there is some value in otherwise insignificant constructs like resolutions and start dates - it's a mental tool to overcome a mental stumbling block. I think I am going to need one, and it's a conversation I want to have with my wife because we want to do this together. When we pick a date, I will post here and log my successes/failings sticking to it. Hopefully it will help hold me accountable.

In the meantime I continue to try to do better at least. Black coffee, unsweetened tea, and water with lunch - choices that can make a big difference in my daily sugar intake. I just have to hope that nobody brings in donuts to the office for a while.