Mini Challenges :)

I thought it would be cool to start a thread of personal mini challenges, a list of things that we want to accomplish in ONE WEEK. Don't write down anything impossible, but try to push yourself a little past your comfort zone at the same time. Goals can be anything from trying a new food to upping your amount of calories to putting yourself in a new situation to gaining a certain amount of weight. That way we can encourage each other, share ideas, and celebrate with each other when we succeed. If you don't meet your goals this week, you can always try again next week. Any takers? I'll start:

Before next Friday I want to...
1) Take healthy, balanced, high calorie lunches to school everyday and eat in front of my friends.
2) Go to an end-of-summer party despite having to eat in front of others.
3) Try a new smoothie shop that just opened up in town.
4) Try the macaroni and cheese I bought with pasta (a food i usually avoid) and cheese, which I have yet to eat since my ED. (Nobody makes a big deal out of this since I didn't really like cheese before, but I can tell that my aversion to it is more than just a preference. Therefore I have to be the one to push myself to eat it.)

thanks tessa! i just want to be healthy again and get on with my life!

Original Post by zebulancherry:

• Eat in front of people at school and not feel so awkward about it. It's not so much that I am afraid to eat with others around, I'm just paranoid that they will make fun of what I'm eating.

 oh my goodness - this. I have this paranoia too, but mainly because the people I eat around [when I'm at uni] actually DO tend to say things about what I eat. e.g. today, I was eating some small cookie things, and one of my friends says loudly "what are you EATING... is that cat food?!" causing everyone else to stare at me. As if I would be eating cat food! Ugh.

My challenges for this week:

• Buy ice cream at the supermarket tomorrow and eat it for dessert each night.
• Try try TRY not to have any more freak-outs when my stomach bloats after eating! These are really holding me back in upping calories, which  I desperately need to do if I want to gain anything. Which I do.
• Increase calorie intake by a LOT more. I still don't know how exactly I'm going to do it, but hopefully the dietician will get back to me so we can arrange a consultation and she can help me. I will try by myself first anyway.

K, that looks like a good start for now anyways!

Wow, this is so cool! I haven't been on CC for a week, so looking at everyone's goals is really neat. My goals from last week were:

-To eat caloric, balanced meals with friends at school. Check! Day 1 and 3 were veggie burgers with mayo and tons of veggies, Greek yogurt, a protein bar, and an apple. Day 2 was 2 mini bagels, 1 cup of cottage cheese, and a peach. Day 4 was a bagel with cream cheese, a protein bar, and an orange. Today I had a big salad with fruit, veggies, nuts, dressing, and 2 grilled veggie-chicken breasts. In front of people every day. :)
-Go to an end-of-summer party. Didn't happen, Ed's fault. :(
-Try a new smoothie place that opened up. Didn't happen, not Ed's fault. No guilty feelings here. 
-Try macaroni and cheese. YES! It wasn't bad, either. Very cheesy. 

BONUS: (1) On the first day of school a friend was giving out chocolate bars and I ate the whole thing on the spot like everyone else. (2) The day before school started I went out to eat with my family and ate PIZZA (a first!) and salad with dressing, immediately followed by a big ice cream cone! (3) I ate a minimum of 1 meal per day with my family. Usually all I can manage is 2-3. 

This coming week I want to:

-Eat the fancy breakfast, lunch, and dinner that my mom will fix for my dad's birthday Sunday. I really want to try the dessert, too, but this is maybe unrealistic for this week.
-Not stress too much over homework as the load builds. This is what triggers my ED.
-Eat some part of the meal at my church Wednesday when the weekly potluck dinners resume this week. 

Haha!

This is going to sound like a stupid mini challenge I gave myself but...  back in the day when I was a binge eater, I used to have a problem with batters and eating batters and batters sparking binges. So, when my first daughter was born, I wanted to end the binge to end the purge. So I decided I'd never lick a beater and never lick any spoons or bowls with a spoon after making cookies or brownies. I KNOW, RIGHT? Way to take the fun out of life!

So I just made my husband brownies...

And determined myself to scrape the bowl with the spatula.

The challenge: scrape the bowl without shortchanging myself (meaning don't take one microscopic lick and call it a victory) but don't leave 1 cup of batter in there on purpose and don't binge after!

I put 99.5% of the batter in the pan, really, it was as much as I could get out and off of the spoon. I really did. BUT THEN I HAD THE REST! MWAH HAHAHA it was so good.

;) Sorry, had to share!

Oh, and I didn't binge and I don't feel bad either.

bethany thats such an achievement and i like it might try it myself :)

Today is my friend's birthday and I went out to a Sushi place and got 2 rolls of sushi, then came back and had a BIG piece of ICE CREAM CAKE WITH FROSTING!!! i am SO proud of myself. A few months back, I NEVER would have allowed this. 

And guess what? It was DELICIOUS

My challenge (set with my dietician yesterday) is to stick to the plan we set out of eating my one 'challenge' snack each day (e.g. muffin, cheese & biscuits, pastry/bakery item, chocolate bar)

So far I had a muffin yesterday and cheese and biscuits today :)

My challenges for the week

To have a "normal" type of breakfast lunch dinner and snack foods

To have normal portions

To include all the food groups

To have what I want

To add and choose high calorie with moderation

To stay away from making my entire meal out of high calorie add ins

Im scared, this is a new routine for me but it will be ok

it's friday again! meaning time for me to check in with last weeks goals and set some new ones... anyways. 

last week's:

-eat my dad's birthday breakfast/lunch/dessert/dinner. we went to early church service so there was no family breakfast. for lunch we had mexican food from la salsa. woohoo! then dessert was flan, the ultimate scare-food. **** i really can't even say how much this food scares me. so much fat and sugar, so dense, plus i don't really even like it to begin with and usually what helps me eat hard things is knowing that i want to be able to enjoy them again. but if i never liked this food it's like why bother? i had a tiny piece. i wish it had been bigger but i am still soo happy i managed it! dinner was good, too. 
-not stress over homework. i did awesome, and this is so hard for me. yay.
-eat the wednesday dinner. it was cancelled, so...

this week's:

-eat with a larger group of friends at school.
-eat whatever crazy hard food my familly dreams up for my sister's birthday (tomorrow).
-stress out less over the dreaded nutritionist visit. usually i freak and eat a ton. the eating isn't bad, but i'd rather do it in a more relaxed manner. 

yay! keep it up, guys! 

Super idea i love this.  Coco i just want to let you know how much i admire you...studying, working and recovering all at the same time...you've got a lot on  your plate girl (....bet ED loves THAT Saying..haha!) and you are doing remarkably.  Most people would have trouble just juggling the two things.  You have a reservoir of inner strength that is amazing...let that guide you hon and keep you going!!!  My goals this week..

Up my calories by at least 250 each day.

Include 2snacks EVERY day. 

Not get panicky about my future and what i need to be doing career wise..inspiration will come..i have to believe that and not beat myself up.

Loosen up my food routines...i eat the same thing all the time. 

My goals for this week

Do college work and read papers/magasines, watch Telly rather than surfing the web and thinking about my ed

Have a snack every afternoon and evening

choose high calorie or add high calorie to norma meals

I can feel myself slipping with snacks, gaining and boredom/isolation so this is very necessary

Goals this week:

Make my breakfast and lunch meals more substantial, even when I don't know what I'm doing later in the day.  If I'm unsure of what I'll be doing meal wise later I have a tendency to eat less in the day, then I end up with lots of calories still to make up at night.  I need to keep reminding myself if I end up eating a high calorie meal later in the day after a big breakfast/lunch/daytime snacks then that's a good thing, not something to avoid! 

Original Post by vicgirl:

Super idea i love this.  Coco i just want to let you know how much i admire you...studying, working and recovering all at the same time...you've got a lot on  your plate girl (....bet ED loves THAT Saying..haha!) and you are doing remarkably.  Most people would have trouble just juggling the two things.  You have a reservoir of inner strength that is amazing...let that guide you hon and keep you going!!!  My goals this week..

Up my calories by at least 250 each day.

Include 2snacks EVERY day. 

Not get panicky about my future and what i need to be doing career wise..inspiration will come..i have to believe that and not beat myself up.

Loosen up my food routines...i eat the same thing all the time. 

 

 

thank you SO much for your support! i am trying really hard, but it is definitely difficult to juggle things sometimes. also, i am more active at school so i need to remember to PACK SNACKS everywhere i go!!!

best of luck to you as well. i know the feeling of panicking about your future. i graduate in may from college and have NO IDEA what i'm doing. but hey, health and recovery comes first, or else we will never achieve our life goals!

Well, today I got together with my friends, and I did eat several meals with them without guilt (including a dessert). I was slowly sliding into restriction mode again this week, but there was something about being with my friends that snapped me out of it (at least today).

This is a great thread!  I love the idea of setting out goals for every week. I have been making minor changes sort of sporadically, and I have yet to see any weight gain, so I hope this will help!

Alright, my five goals for this week are:

1) Continue to eat an increased portion of oatmeal at breakfast

2) Include nuts of some sort at every afternoon snack

3) Eat avocado in my meal-salads

4) Eat snacks in the morning once school starts

5) Grab a cappuccino with friends and then still eat a full meal/snack later on

for this week:

1.) buy avocados and Omega 3 fish oil

2.) eat breakfast. I have been slacking with "aunt flo" because I get queasy but its no excuse

3.) be positive and remember there are no "good" and "bad" days

4.) this is important and I need help. this is for today. don't punish myself for yesterday. i had a glass of wine with my husband at dinner and it set me off into an eating frenzy. i don't want to punish myself today.

goals: (btw i was in residential for 3 wks and now i am in partial from noon to 8pm so i am in an ED treatment center)

1) complain less, stay positive, and journal my feelings

2) have fun at dessert challenge to cold stone on friday

3) stick to my meal plan and do not exceed exercise plan

4) get through my family session with my dad :/

5) challenge more fear foods!

6) eat at home, learn not to measure, and variety!

try to look more forward in a positive way and not back

challenge my fear of not exercising

eat some choclate as its ben years

cut dont my veggies

get my scan result:(

look into college courses and plan a hoilday

last week:
-eat with a larger group of friends at school.i was sick. bleh! i couldn't go to school
-eat whatever crazy hard food my familly dreams up for my sister's birthday (tomorrow). well, she chose non-vegetarian meals for everything!!! no kidding! and then she didn't want dessert, sooo weird. all i was able to have the same was salad with dressing and fruit and stuff. oh well. :(
-stress out less over the dreaded nutritionist visit. usually i freak and eat a ton. the eating isn't bad, but i'd rather do it in a more relaxed manner. i did a ton better with this, yay!

this week:
-eat with a larger group of friends (carries over from last week).
-eat regular yogurt more often, and greek yogurt a little less often (i like the taste of greek yogurt better, but at the same time the high protein/low carb aspect of it makes it more of an ed-friendly food, so i just want to have both).
-eat the cheese i bought at least twice.
-eat at least one of whatever snack my d-group (church group) has this sunday. it's the kick-off week, so it will probably be something like donuts/cookies/oreos.
-gain one pound at the nutritionist.

...bringing up this thread.....

I have a couple goals I'd like to achieve before this month ends.

-Now that I'm at my goal weight, try to hold back the urge to restrict in order to maintain. So far so good.....

-Try to reintroduce a bit of light to moderate exercise for no more than 45 mins. This won't be with the intent to burn calories, but because it's something I enjoy doing. In fact, part of the reason why I aimed for a higher BMI of 21 is because I KNOW that the activity I wish to do can be somewhat taxing on the body.

-To get over, or at least reduce my body image problems and to stop comparing myself to other people. I think this one is going to be the hardest...

-Try and regain my social life! Once again, things are going pretty good so far with this!

-Keep trying/reintroducing new foods, regardless of possible health benefits.

-To begin to ease off of the calorie counting. Eventually I'd like to reach intuitive eating. :)

Quite a few goals there, but I think they're achievable! B) How's everyone else doing with their goals?