Three Weeks to Start a New Habit? #31days

They say it takes three weeks to start a new habit.

Three weeks is twenty-one days. That seems doable when I really think about it.

But then the math sets in. I start calculating how many days I can go without sugar (my nemesis).  We start the first of the year with cake from my husband’s New Year’s Eve birthday, January 15th is my younger daughter’s birthday, February 14th is Valentine’s Day, and then there’s all the clearance candy that lasts until I cannot resist any more Easter candy.

Finally I have to say enough is enough. There is always an excuse for me to eat foods that aren’t the greatest and reasons why I cannot possibly drag myself to the gym.

Rather than making resolutions for the New Year I made goals for 2011. Among my goals are to lose 5 pounds by March 1st.  I committed a fatal flaw when making that goal.  I was at the peak of eating whatever I wanted whenever I wanted it and was too ashamed to step on the scale.  I honestly have no idea what I weighed as of January 1st, 2nd, or even 12th.  That makes it really hard to know how much weight I need to lose.

In my quest to lose 5 pounds in the next 2.5 months I know I need to eat better.  Rather than grab lunch at Chic-fil-A I picked up a Lean Cuisine with whole wheat and an itty bitty serving of Skinny Cow ice cream this week at Walmart.  Not only did I save money but I saved calories too.  It was a win-win situation.  There were so many Lean Cuisine options on the freezer shelves that I could have one for lunch every day for a month and not have a repeat entree.  Lean Cuisine offers what I truly need – portion control. The entrees are simple to make and almost everything about them is recyclable (which is a huge plus in my book).

The people who made those teeny Skinny Cow containers marketed a group of people just like me.  Time and time again I sneak back in to the kitchen to get “just another bite.”  Once the 150 calorie container of Skinny Cow was gone there was no need to sneak back into the kitchen because there was no more temptation hiding in the freezer.

Now, it’s time to get out there and lose these five pounds!  Who else is losing with me?

Disclosure: I received compensation for my time and materials from Collective Bias. All opinions are my own. Check out http://31days.us/ for a bunch of inspirational bloggers.