I am trying to keep my focus on eating for optimal health, rather than just calories and losing weight. I think my change in outlook is helping me stick with the program. I am still trying to lose weight (and celebrate every pound gone), but I'm not playing around with calories to squeeze in a cookie. I think that cutting those addictive, toxic foods out 100% has helped tremendously with cravings. And as a "bonus" I feel better than I've felt in months. I have more energy, my thinking is clearer, I'm sleeping better, the benefits go on...
Here’s how it has gone so far this week:
Sunday night we watched "Extreme Pigouts"; in the past all those hamburgers and ice cream would have had me heading for the fridge; instead, I was grossed out and thankful for my supper of healthy vegetables and beans.
When I weighted myself on Wednesday I saw no downward motion on the scale. I had to struggle a bit to keep my resolve, but I reminded myself that it is good health that I'm aiming for and not just weight loss. Also, I have been exercising more, so perhaps I'm just building muscle (a girl can dream right!).
I went to Curves with Christina this afternoon. I've never been before and was a little apprehensive about how out of shape I'm in. As it turns out, I'm better than I thought. The instructor showed me how to use each machine (I thought of our dancing lessons and wondered how many times she'd have to show me...), and then I'd try it out. For the next circuit I did them myself, with the instructor giving tips and reminders. It was fun. As Christina dropped me off she hoped that I wouldn't be too sore today, and I'm not! Next visit I'll make sure to really use my muscles to get the full benefit.
I have been eating to plan, but maybe a bit too much. My bedtime snack (1 cup almond milk & 2 T chia seeds with some fruit mixed in) has possibly too many calories (there's that calorie thing again); to compensate I've stopped putting almond milk in my morning smoothie. Maybe I should try cutting out the nuts that I'm eating (20g) as I am having seeds. I'm supposed to have nuts and seeds everyday for their healthy fats and other nutritional benefits, so maybe if I alternate days...
Thursday: Still no downward motion on the scale. Still resolved to keep eating healthily. Speaking of "healthily", which is it: "healthy" or "healthily"? It always bothers me to see "I'm eating healthy" or other such phrase, it just doesn't seem like the proper word. Isn't that the same thing as saying "I'm eating a hamburger" - is healthy the thing that they are eating? I don't know - it just bugs me! Comments please to set me straight!
I did "day 1, week 1" of Couch to 5k today. That really put me in my place! It is an ambitious 9 week program to get me in shape to run 5km. Can I do it? Will I stick with it? Only time will tell! But I'll tell you that I barely made it through the first session, and now I'm totally exhausted (a few hours later). Yikes!
It was my hardest day to keep with the program. I had serious cravings for chicken shwarma but didn’t give in. I DID change my bedtime snack to healthy chocolate peanut butter icecream (frozen banana, frozen almond milk cubes, 1 T coco, 1 T peanut butter). A bit of decadence but still with the plan.
And then… I had a bowl of popcorn. Was that a terrible divergence – no (popcorn is allowed in limited quantities). But it wasn’t on MY plan. I think being discouraged weakened my resolve a bit… I haven’t decided yet if it still counts as a green day, or has to be logged as a yellow one…
Friday morning: scale is still stuck. Trying not to get discouraged. Some people on the ETL forum say that their weight goes in fits and starts – nothing and then 2 or 3 in one day – I’m hoping!
Be intent upon the perfection of the present day. ~ William Law
No comments:
Post a Comment