Quiet Down, Cookie Monster!

Our insurance company is offering a program designed to help people lose weight for free.  Although a little skeptical at first, I thoroughly checked it out and it's legit.  It's totally free and our coverage can no way be affected by it.  But, that being said....all insurance companies are different and if yours is offering something similar, check it out thoroughly before signing up for it. 

Anyway, this program offers a fitness coach (with plenty of one-on-on coaching), a tracking website for food/exercise/weigh-ins, recipes, nutritional articles, etc.  It's pretty great.  I had my first phone session with my fitness coach yesterday.  It was more of a get-to-know-you type conversation but he seems to understand me pretty well.  He recognized my "all or nothing" mentality.  I'm "all in" until my first mistake....then I see myself as a failure and I'm "all out".  He helped me come up with some ways to deal with it.  He asked me what I wanted to work on for my first goal and I told him that nighttime snacking was a big issue for me.  My "cookie monster" really starts acting up at night.  He agreed that would be a good goal to work on.  So, instead of completely cutting out snacks after dinner he suggested I start off allowing myself 2-3 nights when I can have a snack.  He wants me to eat more during the day, as well.  Small steps!  By not setting my standards and goals to a level of perfection, I'll be more likely to succeed in reaching that goal. 

This program seems to be designed to help people change their habits and slowly change their lifestyle.  It's not about the amount of weight lost.  We didn't even talk about a weight loss goal. That being said, I'll still track my weight each week.  I like that they are more concerned about the long term goals than quick weight loss.  And being held accountable to someone is a plus for me.  I always do better when accountability comes into the picture.

I am really excited about this program.  I think it's just what I need!

So, for now, I am happy with my imperfect goals.  The "cookie monster" needs to quiet down.  Once he's good and trained on that, I'll work on silencing him. :)