PWLP: Week Six - Lesson Three

Personal Evaluation

1. Review your food journals. Are you eating protein each day? If not, how can you adjust your daily food program to include protein?    Yes, I am eating protein every day - some days more than others. I definitely need to make sure I'm eating more protein on a daily basis - even if it's just 1 tbsp of peanut butter with a meal or 30 oz of cheese.

2. How many times have you experienced "the ogre's attack" since you began this program? Can you remember what you ate just prior to your hunger attack? Do you see a connection?    I haven't had a ton of attacks since starting the program. Mostly, I have the attacks when I'm out at my family/in-laws' homes and I feel the overwhelming pressure to eat - not because everyone forces me to, but just that underlying stigma that you overeat when you go to have family dinners. Usually I notice that chips/chocolate as being trigger foods for the ogre's attack.

3. Do you feel overwhelmed by all this new information? Do you believe it will help you become and continue as the TRUE YOU? Do you understand that these changes are gradual and will take time?    I don't feel overwhelmed by the information, but I do feel stunned by it - I knew that I had a 'food problem,' which I now refer to as a 'food addiction,' but I wouldn't have gone so far as to say that I had chemical dependencies which made me addicted to food. It makes total sense, but in saying that, it seems really scary and frightening. I believe that knowledge of this information will make it a lot easier to make the changes permanent in my life. It's hard to accept that the changes will be gradual, but at the same time, I do know and understand this difficult truth.

4. Are you willing to make these changes if it means you will experience a lifetime of eating with self-control? What does this mean to you?    Yes, I am willing to make these changes. I don't want to go back to the way I was before... I hated it. These changes mean freedom and a new life for me, a life which I've always dreamed about but never attained. I think it's definitely important to use this information to the best of my ability, and that being that I make the changes permanent.