Why I don't schedule food, exercise or daily activies

1  I don't schedule exact meals because my wife does the cooking and she often doesn't decide what we are going to eat until that morning or even later in the day.  I do know how much of each type of food I want to eat such as how much protein, veggies, fruit, dairy, and fat.  I keep a running log during the day of what I am eating and make sure that I get my cal count in by the end of the day.  This is how I was able to diet under WW and OA.  It's what works for me.  And, it works with my wife.  I value my marriage far more than my weight.  I know that many people feel that their physical health should come first, but my wife is my rock, my love, and my best friend.  I say that we have a give and take exchange in our marriage--she gives and I take.  Well, one place I can give is in allowing her the freedom to prepare our primary meal.  I take responsibility for my other meals.  It doesn't make any difference to me whether I have 4 oz of protein at lunch or dinner.  I can mix my portions during the day as long as I end up with the proper amount of each category of food at the end of the day.

2  I don't schedule exercise because my knees are shot.  I have trouble doing almost any exercise.  I can't do water exercises due to skin reactions.  I can do strength work and use resistance bands.  Maybe I don't schedule the exercise periods because I'm basically lazy and bullheaded.

3  I don't schedule activities because I haven't worked since 07-02-92 due to manic-depression.  That's what it was called then and my shrinks haven't changed that designation,  I simply refuse to make a rigid schedule for myself.  I don't have to find time to do anything since I have all the time in the world.  I can't multitask at all.  I don't feel any pressure due to too few time in the day.  My friends and family know that I'm in a strange place compared to them because I simply don't feel any time constraints on time on a regular basis.

Bob, I think letting your wife choose the primary meal is defiantly in your best interest, LOL If it will keep the wife happy that’s an ingredient for a safe/happy marriage. Some keep track of Cal. and Pr. on paper and some can just keep a tally going in their head the important thing is being aware of what you are eating, right! I have to use paper there’s too much else going on for me to rely on my brain to track the numbers.

About exercise, well I understand the lazy and bull headedness, I have just started back to the gym after not being there in more than a year and in that year my exercise was pretty much hit and miss. Lack of exercise is what got me in trouble in the first place and back then I did not have any limitations, I have a few now but I try not to let them hold me back from being active.

I’m sure with your limitations it must be hard, I just feel so much better about myself when I exercise or just move around. If I just sit in front to the tube or computer all day by evening I feel as if I have wasted the day and if I don’t make plans for the next day it’ll be wasted too.

My Motto…. If we don’t make time to do anything most times that’s what we do…. is nothing....I am speaking from experience here.

I agree with you on the skipping of meals and eating as fast as you can, this day was not written for those of us that have had WLS. We all certainly need to use wisdom and skip any day that may conflict with our health or well being., but not skip them just because we can't be bothered to do the step.

I personally don’t have a problem missing a meal or even two because most of the time I am not hunger, what I have is head hunger I eat because I have to, to be healthy. I did choose to do Day 12(skipped my lunch) and did just fine. Day11 was more of a challenge that day 12.…I survived both of them.

I just feelt hat I should be honest with my posts here.  Ideally, I'd follow Beck's 100% and all would be well.  I felt empowered last year when I was abstinate from addicting food and free from the urge to have it.

But, on reflection, life was not bad after I lost that absinence.  No, I did not go a single day without having an eating "mistake" or slip ( as I prefer to call it ).  I actually lost a few pounds between the end of May when I finished Becks and Oct when I got weighed again.I gained 3 lbs over the holidays which I found when I went back to the doc's on  01-08-10.  I just saw the doc on Fri and had lost 4 lbs.

I'm losing weight by just trying most of what I learned on Becks.  I'm taking Becks a program a  Day per calendar week so I can review the program slowly and still aspire to following it as closely as I can.  I don't plan on eating binge foods.  Most of the time I can avoid cravings because of the lessons I've learned.  However, when I get to the point where I feel like I'm ready  to climb the walls--remember that I am mentally ill with manic-depression-- sometimes it's just better for me to have the smallest portion possible of an addicting food.  I usually have my wife get me something from her hidden treasure trove.  I've asked her to hide my favorite addicting foods.  Or, I'll ask her to get a small sample at a convenience store.  If I don't have it while I'm feeling that way, I sometimes go back to old behavior patterns like literally banging my head against a wall.  That hurts!  Or, I start getting depressed despite my meds.  I have to balance my physical and mental needs based on personal experience and my level of craziness at that moment.  Thanks to Becks, I can usually get by without having the addicting food.  But, if I do, I just acknowledge that I am a food addict and I forgive myself for my slip.  Yeah, since the eating mistake is due to my illness of addictive eating, I shouldn't need to forgive myself.  But, I'm a Roman Catholic and we're very big on Sin and Redemption and assigning blame.