Image courtesy of Stuart Miles / FreeDigitalPhotos.net

According to my sister (and probably my husband and a few others too), I’m a control freak.  In fact, she’s probably spot on with her judgement to be fair.

For the most part, this helps me to live a busy, organised life.  And being in control definitely helps with my weight loss:  On a Friday or Saturday night, I sit down and plan my meals for the following week, make a shopping list then either shop online or take my list to the supermarket and I’m in and out in about 30 minutes.

This is great when I get in from work exhausted and all I have to do is look at my meal-planner to see what I’m having for dinner.  No decision making is required therefore my chances to make unwise choices based on my mood or hunger levels are greatly reduced.  Similarly, meals out are usually planned at least a few days in advance and I will look at the menu ahead of time to decide what I’m going to order (see this post for evidence of control freakery!).

However, the flip-side of this is that I get a little bit panicky should something unexpected come up.  Tonight, for instance, my husband phoned me at about 5pm to ask if I wanted to go out for dinner.  We don’t often go out in the week and I know he wouldn’t have suggested it if he didn’t really fancy it.  Now, I know I ought to have been thinking ‘What a lovely idea’ but the control freak in me was wailing ‘But I haven’t planned for this!  How can I eat out and stay on track with less than an hour’s notice?’

Well, the answer is, quite easily actually!   I was really hungry and I thought that this would lead me to make a less plan-friendly choice such as a cheeseburger or a great big bowl of pasta.  But I simply thought about the reasons I want to lose weight and reminded myself that I’d feel much better about having made a wise choice and that I’d also be that little step nearer to reaching my goal too.  We went to a local pub where I ordered a sirloin steak and asked them to replace the chips with a jacket potato so it fit perfectly with the Filling and Healthy/Simple Start plan.  Simple.

I’m not saying I’m going to rip up my meal planner and start living by the seat of my pants, but, just maybe, I can say yes to an unexpected invite to dinner without getting stressed about letting it throw me off track.