Thinking Inside the Boxes

"See, don't knock the boxes," I heard myself saying to a friend of mine. Though I said it to her, it was really more of a comment to myself; a reinforcement that I do, from time to time, find myself on the right track.

We had been discussing different weight loss plans and theories and were discussing The Zone diet and how it worked and it suddenly occurred to me, my own approach to dieting is rather similar and, when actually followed properly, rather effective.

At it’s very basic; The Zone allots a certain number of servings of different types of food (Protein, Carbohydrates and Fats) at different times of day. This reminded me of my box technique; which involves allotting x number of servings of Protein, Fruit, Veg, Fats, Carbs and Water. These allow for me to account for the number of servings of each of these that I consume in a day – in order to limit the first five, and to encourage me to consume more of the final one – water.

The number of boxes I allot for each different food type was based on my past experience on various diet programs and reading I have done on healthy eating (including the Canada Food Guide).

It has worked in the past, it is visual; it is a version of accountability – right there, in black and white, is the evidence of my nutritional malfeasance, misbehaviour and excess; indisputable and indefensible.

It helped keep me aware of how much I was eating, and when… if at the end of the day, I was feeling peckish, I would look at my sheet and see I was more than maxed out on carbs and was lacking in the fruits and veggies department, I would force myself to put down the popcorn and slowly back away until I’m next to the fridge where I can head for the veggie crisper and grab some veggies to munch on.

It’s not rocket science; it’s not a quick fix; it’s personal accountability; it’s challenging; but it works! It helped me loose 40 pounds about 5 years ago.

Unfortunately it stopped working when I stopped doing it - shocking! Cause and effect so completely linked - who knew? “You mean I can’t eat bags and bags of Cadbury’s Mini Eggs and not gain weight??” “You mean a bag of chips isn’t a good source of nutritional sustenance.” Apparently, I can’t eat nothing but carbs for four days without suffering some negative nutritional ramifications. – NO KIDDING!!

I need to regain my focus before I regain too much more of something else. I need to rediscover my persistence and personal accountability when it comes to my food consumption.

So, starting today, I’m renewing my nutritional philosophy of thinking inside the boxes.