One thing at a time

I have been seeing this particular philosophy in several other people's blogs - tackle on bad habit at a time.  I thought "I don't get it".  I'm not sure what I didn't "get", but I would read that and respond with nothing but a mental question mark.

Today, I think I see what they meant.  I have a few bad habits that I need to work on in order to maintain the weight I have lost and will continue to lose.  Until I get these things under control, I will wind up gaining back the weight that I got rid of.  A few of them are:

-  "helping" the dog eat the cheese that is wrapped around his pills
-   tasting the ice cream when I dish it up for Dad
-   indulging in an extra meal (or so) after my final meal of the day while in bed
-   over-topping the whipped cream on my jello
-   tasting the off plan food I am cooking for others to check for doneness
-   and probably several more that are not coming to me right now.

What made me get that I needed to tackle one at a time, rather than all at once, was the sudden realization last night that I no longer eat the cheese while pilling the dog.  It doesn't even occur to me to do it, and I'm not sure when that happened.  But I do recall actively reminding myself to not eat the cheese. And now, I don't.  I give him his pills, feed him his homemade meal and put it all away again.  None goes into my mouth.  That is one thing that I've conquered.

So rather than tackling everything all at once like I normally would do, I will work on one at a time until I have that habit down pat.  Like the cheese.  This next habit that I am going to work on getting a handle on is the biggest one for me - the extra meal (or so) in bed.  Which often leads to a full blown binge because once I get too full, I am off and running.  The other things are fairly minor by comparison.

I have one day under my belt already, although overcoming a habit that isn't rearing its ugly head at the time is really not a big accomplishment.  And one day does not break a habit.  But it has to start with the first day.  And continue.  And then keep going to protect what I fixed.  And then, one day, I will suddenly realize that this is no longer an issue.  And then I will have 2.