I always tried to maintain healthy weight. and managed to do that successfully. A natural salad lover (with choice of so many dressings), and a vegetarian helped me do that anyways. But I had a vice which got full blown in US. Chocolate. and having a really indulging spouse was a real problem. he never uttered "how many are you going to eat" or "aren't you eating too many chocolates??". one of the reason being he is very forgiving when I spend on eating (overall as well since i don't have much affinity for anything else except books for which he is equally forgiving ) and a bit rare on pretty pair of shoes (not that forgiving). god...I am digressing so much. so whenever I go for any grocery and non grocery shopping, I invariably wind up to the candy lane and most of the times I end up with my weakness...chocolate but not any chocolate but dark one or white one (never a milk unless the filling or brand is good) and if it has filling then all the more possibility of buying (except of course, Tofay and Mamba). Over the time I came to know why people like Lindt and why do dollar store chocolates taste more pasty than Ghirardelli. maybe I could write personal research on it ...the effect was what I expected. a deeper dimple in the cheek and a tire on midriff that even daily brisk walking was not helping. and I was clueless. wondering what is it that I am eating that's making me balloon. As much as I wanted to I couldn't blame age (my mother is trim for her age even now) or hypothyroidism (my levels were normal with the tablet I took every morning). When I slowly started getting breathless as I finished half walk, I couldn't only blame on sinuses that made a half melted "kulfi" in my nose that threatened to come out if I didn't breathe it in. a tissue was not helping. Slowly all reasons getting ticked off. I came across the thing that I did motivated forgetting for. A sweet pang after lunch or before pilla came to school. That once opened, didn't stop after two pieces but whole bar. Sometimes sitting with a big bar in front of Netflix, and eating mindlessly. As I realized that even intermittent fasting and banning fast food and eating real and wholesome food is not helping, I started tracking calories. But I lost interest soon. Then one fine day, along with my morning quiet tea I read about an obese man who lost almost 150 pounds by banning one ingredient from his diet and that was in big and bold SUGAR. haha. now I wondered if I am eating more . and rather than denying what my logical mind said, I started noticing. I had banned ice-creams few weeks back. but chocolates stayed lurking in the top most corner of a corner cupboard. The place where pilla came and stood and wondering how to ask for a snack just before lunch or dinner. next to a tin box where I kept my emergency cash of few hundred dollars. they included dollar store dark chocolate raspberry, milk and some Italian chocolates from ocean job lot, Tofay and sometimes Lindt (offer of 5$ for two bars of white or dark richness, sometimes with coconut) from Walgreens and the death of me, dark chocolate with almonds from trader joes. Most other contenders had got over in my hurried gluttony, to satisfy a sugar urge and what remained now were a bar and a pack of three of trader joes dark chocolate almonds that winked at me each time I opened the door.
- The first step became : arranging the bars a bit behind on top corner cupboard a bit hidden. though the brain knew, I wanted them out of plain sight.
- The second step became : bringing better options in. my another favorite: dried dates. fresh fruits like oranges. a tangy sweet candy called "pulse" which noticed satisfied my craving with maximum two candies (and they were hazardous if I ate more since they scraped the insides of mouth real bad.
- The third step became: counting the days. I started on last Friday (8th march 2019). and I wanted to see my self succeed for a month (8th april 2019)
- The fourth step became: planning. Don't visit "empty stomach" in food stores and even if you do, DONT go to candy section.
- The fifth step became: let the tofay in car stay in car (glove compartment). added bonus is my better (?) takes the car so no temptation throughout the day.
