Day Two

So today was easier than yesterday. I didn't feel so hungry so often. And the day was busy. My husband (DH) and I took our daughter (DD) to her soccer game this morning. Then we came home and he fed her lunch while I went to the gym. Then DD went to naptime and DH and I got to play World of Warcraft. The coffee helped during that time. But around 4p I started to get light headed, irritable and unable to concentrate. But 4:30 was my next shake time, but I went ahead and drank it early anyway. Then we all went for a walk and now I am craving food quite badly.....

I keep trying to think of this like a smoker trying to quit. I personally never smoked, but one of my co-workers did and she used the patch and gum to quit the first time. Then after she relapsed, she quit cold turkey the second time and hasn't gone back since. So I am trying to view this Optifast like it is the patch. I am trying to view it like a way to get rid of my food addiction. It is not like you can just quit eating cold turkey, like one can with smoking, but the Optifast is my patch. I think that it will help me learn to stop craving food all the time, to view food in proper perspective, as something necessary to live, not as an emotional crutch. So I need to find ways to fulfill the cravings that food once did, though poorly. For example, food was my comfort, my friend. My DH works nights and so after my DD goes to bed around 7:30, I am home alone, stuck in the house until I go to bed until 9:30 or 10p. So what did I used to do? I ate. I would cook things, snack on things, eat everything I could think of. That was my comfort. I am still searching for something to alleviate the boredom and the loneliness.....

My other relationship with food is to stress eat. At work (I am a CPA, lots of stress!), when deadlines approached and things got busy and stressful, I would reach for the snacks. I always looked for multiples of something, such as nuts, grapes, trail mix, etc. No one large item would do, it had to be something I could eat repeatedly.

So, now, I am chewing gum. Today I had 3 pieces so far. Yesterday I think I had like 7.... So that is curbing my chewing craving, but not sure what to do to cure the underlying issue of stress, loneliness and boredom....