Below is the habit tracker portion of my BLE journal for the first 25 days. As I said above, I'm well over 30 days into this program, but I had to start a new page as of day 26, so I'm just sharing these first 25 days. I'll share the next page once I reach 50 days!
By way of explanation, the entries down the left hand side come from BLE's nightly check list. I actually track "commit" through "weight" in the morning, and then rate my hunger and cravings scales after my last meal and check off whether I've posted or been successful before bed.
What does each one mean? Glad you asked:
Commit: Every morning while I meditate, I make a promise to myself to follow the bright lines as best as I can.
Meal plan: Though I do a weekly meal plan on Sundays, I assess daily whether I've actually followed through (or a reasonable facsimile) as best as I can before checking this habit in the tracker.
Mediate: I mediate first thing every morning for 15 minutes. It's become a ritual I love and hate to miss. As you can see, I didn't miss one morning in the first 25 days. I incorporate yoga and other stretching exercises as well. I started doing the stretching out of necessity last summer so I could get out bed each morning with my bad back, but now it is truly an essential part of my morning routine.
Sleep: I give myself credit in the sleep column if I've gotten at least 7.5 hours of sleep.
Weight: The scale is still not my friend because it only moves in small ounces. As long as that movement is in the down direction, then I don't have too much room for complaint. On those days when the scale has inexplicably gone up an ounce or two or stayed the same, I do get frustrated and think, "what would the scale say if I wasn't following BLE?!" It's frustrating, but I remind myself that I feel better and my clothes fit better and hopefully the scale will eventually cooperate. I've convinced myself that I need the daily accountability of weighing every morning. I'm concerned that if I switch to a weekly weigh in, then I won't be as diligent on a daily basis with not blurring my lines.
Hunger scale: This number is on a scale of 1 to 5 assessing how hungry I get between meals. Hunger hasn't really been an issue, the spacing between meals and amount of food that is permitted is satiating. I'm considering adding a fasting component to this regimen which is also permitted under the BLE program. I don't eat anything after dinner which is typically over by 6:15, and I don't eat breakfast again until 6:30 am, so there's 12 hours of fasting anyway. Some days I'll stretch that first meal until 8 am, after I get to work. I could physically stretch the fasting window longer and eat only between the hours of 11 - 6 for a 17/7 fasting/eating schedule, but most days it's not conducive to eat while I'm at work at 11 am and then again at 2 pm. I'm still tweaking this part of BLE and will update.
Cravings scale: This number is also on a scale of 1 to 5. Mostly my "cravings" are sugar cravings, specifically chocolate. I haven't really been tempted by bread, pasta or cookies, though those items are still in my pantry, but chocolate is definitely a vice. It's not reflected above, but I allowed myself literally two small bites of dark chocolate on days 28 and 29. I'm not beating myself up over those slips, since I started this, I've successfully abstained from temptations such as wedding cake, bundt cakes, Valentine's chocolates, chocolate covered strawberries, Girl Scout cookies, pasta, crackers, wine, and whole host of other items that I love but no longer eat, so allowing myself 2 small bites of dark chocolate is not going to send me on a downward spiral of overeating sugar and flour.
Post: I give myself credit for posting if I write a blog entry or if I post a comment on the BLE Facebook page.
SUCCESS 😊: Means that I kept my commitment to follow my bright lines. As with any measure of success, there's always room for improvement, so though I've given myself credit for being successful every day since I started this program, even though there have been days when I haven't been 100% perfect. As I mentioned above, I allowed myself 2 bites of chocolate on 2 different days, but I still gave myself credit for "SUCCESS 😊" those days because my success on those days far outweighed the small deviations, and importantly those small bites of chocolate didn't send me on a downward spiral of eating too much chocolate. Another example is that I don't weigh every ounce of food I put in my mouth. Yes, weighing my food is a bright line, and yes, I'm blurring it, but after awhile, because I eat mostly the same things everyday, it is a bit tedious. So, when I eat something new or different, of course I weigh or measure it, but I don't weigh or measure every item, every meal, every day. 💖
Have you started a bullet journal? I've shown you mine, now show me yours!
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