it takes 21 days to form a habit.

Sidenote: it's really hard to concentrate on anything (read: blogging) while watching the Food Network. Like, super difficult.

Where was I? 

Oh right. I haven't started yet. Curse you, Bobby Flay! You just had to be making fish and chips while I'm trying to write (Not really, though. Boy Meets Grill is a staple of my morning routine).

One of the great things about the WW message boards is that there are always support groups and challenges popping up. I had seen the OP to Overcome challenge floating around, but never thought anything of it. (Correction: I thought it was awesome for those involved, but didn't think it had any benefit for me. I'm perfect, remember?). One of the hardest parts of my WLJ has been planning ahead. I love planning and list-making, but follow-through tends to be a rough spot (I blame the Food Network). Tracking is no different. It never seemed to matter that when I did plan ahead with my meals, I saw better results. I'd get overly confident and think Oh I've got this. The planning would stop, and tracking all together would slowly come to a halt. So would the weight loss. Damn, I guess I don't. Typically at this point I will just wallow in self-pity and french fries for a few weeks, and then attempt to make a comeback. 

This time has to be different. It has to. I need to make a serious change while I'm still young and yadda yadda yadda. For serious, though. I can't keep using the excuse that I work at a restaurant to keep me from planning ahead. It's not that hard, guys. We have healthy items on the menu, and if I feel so inclined I can just waltz back into the kitchen and cook something up myself. On my days off? No excuses. Planning should be a joke. Crucial to success will be getting into a strong enough habit of planning that when I decide to be social (yes, I have friends), I won't be completely derailed.

The point of this? Yesterday I joined the OP challenge. There are no end dates, no official start dates, just a bunch of people with a common goal of creating good habits. I decided to make my first goal planning each day ahead of time. Yesterday went swimmingly, and today I'm one meal into my planned day. Since I started in the middle of my week, I'll wait until next week to post some official results. But so far, I'm liking it! When I plan ahead I don't tend to use all of my points, which is perfect for work days because I have a little leeway. I can pick at a couple french fries or take a piece of the brownie ends that the cooks (whom I love so much) set out when they cut the tray of brownies (heaven, I tell you). As long as I still track those, I'm good to go.

Happy tracking!