Friend of Julie: Get the Fat Out of Here

I had just big discovery: I am eating way too much fat. Seriously way too much fat. Why didn't I see this sooner? Because I was living in the grey area of this program. You may be asking what grey area? Great question! There is no grey area —you are either on program or you're off. The grey area is the third program — a program that you and I made up. And guess what — it doesn't work.

Here's my discovery as it unfolded for me this morning...

11:10AM
As I mixed salad dressing into a large bowl with coleslaw and carrots, I glanced over at the plastic containers of ham salad and sriracha chicken salad that I bought from the deli last night.That's when it hit me: I'm not losing weight because I'm eating way too much fat. 

11:20AM
I plated the salads, took the photo above, and then I tossed the jar of dressing into the trash, despite the fact that there's still more dressing inside the bottle. I headed upstairs to my computer to eat lunch and begin writing this post. 

11:22AM
The right thing to do, I told myself as I took a bite of chicken salad, would be to cut back on these salads. It's too much food and it's too much fat. Or not eat everything on my plate. Or toss everything and go for something else.

11:30AM
I made the choice to eat everything on my plate. As I ate my chicken salad, I kept looking at the MOUND of ham salad. I really should not eat all of this. 

11:32AM
Continuing my inner dialogue: I know that I will eat the rest of the coleslaw for dinner tonight, despite the fact that I know I've already had too much fat today and I'm not even done eating my lunch.
Despite the fact that I have more coleslaw than chicken in the refrigerator, I know, as I type this, that I will eat all of that coleslaw for dinner tonight.  I'm leaving town for a few days and my kitty-sitter won't eat it. 

11:35AM
I debated about posting this today or waiting until tomorrow.
I don't want anyone to call me on my choice to eat the rest of that salad tonight.
I don't want anyone to call me right now and convince me to stop eating the coleslaw that is on my plate. 

11:37AM
This weight loss journey is all about choices. I'm going to make the right choice right now. Right this moment I am choosing to stop this insanity of eating too much fat. I'm taking this plate downstairs and throwing away the coleslaw that's on my plate and in the refrigerator. 

11:40AM
I'm done. I fell into this fatty lunch today because I didn't plan ahead. When I stopped for groceries last night I decided chicken would take too long, so I ordered deli salads and picked up ingredients to make coleslaw.

This is what's between me and the size I want to be: fat, fat, fat. I'm done with eating all this fat.

I've been making myself promises and lists of foods I'm going to avoid. I never had a list before. Why do I need one now? I needed a list because something was off. I was off-program. I was eating too much food and too much fat.

I wasn't tuning into the clue that it felt hard to be on program. Anytime this program feels hard, I'm doing something wrong.

I seized the moment and I took my power back. I choose to eat clean right here and now.

What about you? Are you eating too much fat? Are you eating too much food? Are you playing in the grey area? There is no grey area on this program. The grey area is the third program, the program that we make up instead of following Julie's program.

Get the fat out of here —go back to eating clean and losing weight!