Week 2 of the 21 Day Food Writer’s Diet
Congratulations! You’ve made it to the Week 2 of the 21-Day Food Writer’s Diet! How are you feeling? Lighter? Leaner? More productive perhaps?
*This piece contains affiliate links but it’s for the only product I trust for success that you might already have anyway.
Week 2 of the 21 Day Food Writer’s Diet will be compounding on what you have already accomplished in Week 1 by kicking it up a notch to increase your gains!
If you’re just getting started then please make sure to reference the Introduction to the 21-Day Food Writer’s Diet and then tackle Week 1 before you begin Week 2.
As a reminder, I’m not a dietician or a doctor, so I recommend you consult with one of them before taking any of my humble advice! I’m just sharing what has worked to keep my weight off as a food writer and a mom for the past seven years!
Now let’s begin Week 2 of the 21-Day Food Writer’s Diet with my 3 tips for success including the one thing I recommend buying to guarantee victory on Monday!
Tip 3: Eat More Mindfully
Week 1 brought you the clarity that comes from knowing you can eat whatever you want and still lose weight. Hopefully, you’ve been eating in an 8-hour (or less) window of your day and ending before 8 p.m. This allows your body to experience the benefits that come from being in a fasted state for at least 16 hours.
This week I want you to try and be more mindful with your eating practice; which keeps mealtime from becoming like a daily trip to a Vegas buffet.
Here’s a real-life example: I used to have a terrible habit (Pre 21 Day Food Writer’s Diet of course…) that involved standing in the corner of my kitchen mindlessly eating Oreos while scrolling through Instagram. I probably would eat 6 or 7 Oreos without even noticing, and I’m pretty sure I subconsciously would remain standing and almost hidden from my family to somehow pretend I wasn’t doing it…instead of sitting down and really savoring every cookie (even if it was 6 of them).
Food shouldn’t be riddled with guilt because we are sending our body the message that it’s doing something “wrong” and simultaneously removing the joy that should be part of eating something delicious.
The Yoga of Eating
Michael Eisenstein wrote a great book called “The Yoga of Eating” and I recommend it highly if you’d like to dive deeper into the mindful eating practice. Here are the biggest takeaways that I find helpful in my own life:
- “If you read while you eat, you are eating the words; if you eat while you’re watching TV you are eating the TV show; if you eat while you talk, you are eating the conversation”
- “At every meal, let the first bite you take from every dish be with perfect attentiveness”
I don’t know about you, but there’s rarely a meal that I actually pay attention to EVERY bite, but if you slow down and listen to your body for at least a few, I guarantee you will enjoy it more and probably eat less.
Eating with your children can help strengthen this because you’ll have the opportunity to be fully present with them, and take a few mindful bites with your eyes closed, while they narrate their entire day for you.
Tip 2: Stop Snacking
I know this is hard to read, but if you’re eating for just 8 hours a day or less, then that’s 3-4 hours between each meal. Adding a snack to that means that you don’t go more than 2 hours or so without eating; which keeps your insulin levels constantly elevated, making your body more likely to store fat.
This week make your first meal your biggest meal, eat dessert as part of it (not an hour later), and then stop eating until your second meal. Yes, you’ll be hungry, but that next meal will taste that much better.
Also, when you find yourself jonesing for a snack, ask yourself, “why am I hungry?” Chances are it’s actually more like boredom or an attempt at distraction. So grab a cup of tea, take a walk, and just breathe through it until dinner.
If you find yourself ALWAYS hungry, plan to make yourself a bigger lunch the next day.
Tip 1: Eat like a Toddler at Dinner
This last tip has been one of the most important that I’ve installed in the last year because it always gets me back on track if I’ve had one too many tastings.
I stumbled upon it while making my son (then 3 years old) dinner every night and portioning his meal into the multicolored Re-Play brand dishes. I always made sure to fill every spot with something different (veggies in one, meat and rice in another) and I kept it interesting night after night.
Meanwhile, with myself, I was just throwing together leftovers into a bowl and eating much more than I needed to for the end of the day.
What if we took the care with our own meals that we do for our children?
One night I just decided to take the same time with my own plate as my son’s and made decisions about the three different things I wanted to eat instead of just eating what was around. I still ate everything I wanted, but it was a little bit less and I enjoyed it a lot more. Also, I was sure not to get refills or snacks. Quickly I noticed I was leaning out! Now every time I feel like I need a reset, I eat my dinner with a toddler plate.
While the Re-Play plates are for young children, it’s just a little bit smaller than my normal dishes, and the sides are higher :). Also, when I eat salad or soup I use an “all sizes” plate which features one very large side and two smalls so I’m always eating enough.
What I Recommend for this Week
For the next week eat all of your second meals (or dinner) with a Re-Play plate and see how you feel. Plan your meals well and eat anything you want…just a little less.
If you find you’re chewing your stomach at night, or if you’re a 6’4″ man, then you might need to always use the All Sizes Plate; just be sure not to fill it up so much that it fills over the sides :).
A sample meal might be a Hamburger in the large portion, French Fries in the other, and then a Brownie in the last. Then you stop eating for the night!
If you are going to have wine, juice, or anything other than water with your meal then it counts as one of the smaller portions.
Also, this is designed to help measure dense meals not necessarily low calorie. If you’re eating just salads and whitefish all the time, chances are you don’t need this 21-day restart…but the point is to make sure you’re eating enough calories!
Think of it as a colorful Bento Box!
While there are a few brands that make these divided dishes, I like Re-Play because they are made from recycled materials and are relatively low cost. You can get them from the Website (which always has sales); Amazon; or Target.
Congratulations on Making it This Far!
Week 2 might be more challenging than Week 1 but it will also be the most rewarding and it’s only a week of your life. You’ll reconnect with your hunger while rediscovering the joy of food that comes from mindful eating. Listen to your body and don’t overstress it! Too much hunger isn’t a good thing either.
Additional benefits include waking up early and refreshed naturally because your meal is fully digested
Looking forward to seeing you for Week 3 when we will implement the final stage!
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