I haven’t written much about my healthy living journey on my blog for really the past year. I talked about my sugar detox and how I quit less than 12 hours in. I talked about going 30 days without drinking soda. I even decided to stop weighing myself on a weekly basis.
The truth of the matter is, not much progress has been made when it comes to my weight. Things have been really up and down for me. The only thing I seem to be doing right is drinking more water (my soda fast completely cured me of my dependence on soda!) and exercising. But I’m not exercising at the level I used to and I find myself reaching for soda more frequently, especially after a bad day or when I’m tired.
I haven’t wanted to write about what’s going on with me because I’ve written the same story time and time again. Trying and failing and trying and failing. Again and again and again and again. It’s the same old story and it’s so tiring to write about it. What more can I say? Losing weight is hard and changing your eating habits is hard and exercising is hard. It’s all just hard. And the thing is, yes, it is hard. But then if you keep going when it’s hard, push through the annoyances and the cravings and the I-don’t-wanna’s, it gets easier. One day, it won’t be as hard.
It’s the consistency that trips me up. It’s not having good habits for when I’m sad or tired or not feeling well. It’s not being strong enough.
When it comes right down to it, it’s not as if I’m eating unhealthy all the time. During the weekdays, I do pretty well. My breakfasts and lunches are healthy, my snacking is light. I drink lots of water. As for dinner, as long as I stick to my meal plan and make something at home, it’s healthy and filling. But then I go crazy on the weekends (starting on Friday, let’s be honest) and it’s like a free-for-all for three days straight. I barely drink water and I consume so much sugar and I overeat and it’s just bad. It’s so bad. It makes sleeping hard because my body is so ramped up on sugar and caffeine and excess food. It makes me feel lethargic and annoyed with myself.
So I need to put a plan in place. I don’t want to follow a strict diet. I don’t want to start restricting foods or food groups or only eating certain things. I don’t want to count calories or points or any of that. I know myself well enough now to know that system doesn’t work for me.
Losing weight is about two things: eating less and moving more. Eating less in the sense of portion control, less sugary food, less caloric beverages. And moving more in the sense of exercising on a consistent basis and taking more opportunities to be active in any way I can.
I can easily list my areas of weakness when it comes to healthy living and it’s with that in mind that I’ve devised a plan for myself. Taking those areas of weakness and building a way for me to turn them into areas of strength. I want to create actionable goals that hit on those areas and give me something to strive for. I am a goal-setter to my core and this kind of thing gets me motivated and inspired. If there is one thing I want more than anything in the world, it’s to finally lose this weight for good. I always feel a little strange saying something like that because it feels like such a shallow goal. But if you’ve never struggled with your weight, if you’ve never felt the pain that being overweight can bring, it’s hard to explain. There’s this feeling of failure and letting people down that I’ve carried with me for so long. I’m so tired of feeling like a failure. I’ve been trying to lose weight for years and nothing seems to work and it’s just time something does. It’s time I put in the effort and stop letting laziness or complacency stop me.
So, in the middle of every month, I will be talking about my healthy living journey. I will be creating three goals focused on my areas of weakness for me and spending all my focus and energy on them. They will be building blocks for my next goals.
My goals from mid-September to mid-October are as follows:
- EXERCISE 4 times a week. Exercise is something I haven’t been consistent with for a long time now. My plan is to do 3 days of running (yes, I’m running again since I plan to run the Turkey Trot 5K on Thanksgiving) and then trampoline cardio on Saturdays. I’ve been to two trampoline cardio classes and they have been so much fun. It works out your entire body and I leave each class sweaty with my arms and legs feeling like jello. At $10 a class, it’s not cheap but something I definitely want to keep in my workout schedule for as long as I can.
- SNACK LESS. I have a real issue with snacking, especially on the weekends. I basically go crazy like I will never see sweets again. My plan is to allow myself one serving of ice cream once a day. Ice cream is not something that tempts me. I love ice cream, but it’s never been something I binge on. (Such as cookies or brownies or candy.) So I figure this is a good way to keep my snacking down to a minimum. Maybe it sounds like a lot to some of you (though I don’t think I will have it every single day) but it’s going to help me so much when it comes to how much I snack. It’s a way to still have something sweet, but not go overboard.
- DRINK LESS SODA. My personal goal is to have it 3 times or less a week. Soda is such an area of weakness for me. I have to be mindful of how much I’m drinking and my cravings for it. I did think about going cold turkey off of soda, but I think limiting it makes more sense to me than a complete restriction.
It’s three itty-bitty goals to get me back on track and motivated to lose this weight for good. And more than that, to begin living a healthier lifestyle where I can learn better eating habits and choose better ways to deal with my emotions than through food. It’s not about taking gigantic leaps, because I’ve done that and then I fail and then I feel terrible about myself. Instead, I need to just focus on setting myself up for success by taking it piece by piece, slowly and steadily, with itty-bitty baby steps. Each itty-bitty step takes me that much closer to being the healthy and fit person I know I can be.
If you need a carbonation fix, La Croix is BOGO at Publix this week (through Wednesday). I bought two 12-pks yesterday but I’m thinking of going back for more. Most people like the grapefruit the best, but I’m pretty partial to the orange.
And where is this trampoline cardio class? That sounds awesome!
Ah, I totally understand. I’ve been eating literally whatever I want, whenever I want it for the last 9 months. Once this baby is here, I’m going to have some serious trouble getting back on track (or on track? I’ve never been a healthy eater … I heart comfort food WAY too much). But don’t beat yourself up over it. Every now and then, we all need to grab that tub of ice cream and a spoon and watch The Notebook all weekend. It happens. If you’re exercising at all, you’re already doing better than I am. 😉
Dude. What is it about ice cream that makes it taste so much better straight out of the container? ESPECIALLY while watching a good flick/episode. It is ridiculous. (And kind of awesome.)
It IS all about the steps, both figuratively and literally. At least for me. I’ve started monitoring my steps and the days/weeks where I consistently hit my goal along with my exercise? I notice a difference and feel different. So much so that when I don’t hit my goal I can feel that, too.
Sugar is my weakness. Always has been, always will be. It is really, really hard. I can 100% relate.
I love how rational you are about health. It is absolutely as “easy” as that. (And so not easy at all. Not to adhere to all of the time, anyway. But, then again, I’m also a firm believer in “cheat meals” and treats. You can’t quit 100% of everything. That’s unfair and dangerous.)
Good for you, lady! 🙂 I’m trying to clean up my eating habits again. I did really well a few months ago, but that was gestational diabetes prompted (it is AMAZING what you can get accomplished when you don’t want to give birth to a 12-pound baby). I need to get back into the healthy groove…while taking care of my absolute love of junk food, of course!
Weekends are the cause of all my problems, too. With eating, spending money, waking up at a consistent time… it’s just so easy to be lazy on the weekend! It sounds like your weekdays are pretty awesome though, which is HUGE to acknowledge – that’s 5 days out of your week that you’re eating well (or 4 and 2/3 if Friday nights count as “weekend” time)!
Happy to see you giving healthy living another try! If I might recommend a trick for cutting out sweets… Don’t buy them 😛 I know that sounds silly and maybe obvious? But if you just don’t buy them and get other things to replace them, it won’t be so difficult because it just won’t be there to tempt you. Try buying these: http://fattylane.files.wordpress.com/2011/10/100-calorie-packs.jpg
They’re actually SUPER yummy, and at only 100 calories for one bag, you can eat two at a time and still not feel very guilty!
Best of luck, and if you ever need someone to talk to about it, I’m just a text away!
Good luck with your goals! I think it’s good to set really specific ones as they are easier to follow that way. Right now my goal is to get better about using the weekends I am in Charlotte to make extra meals to freeze for the weeks when I am gone over the weekend. That way it’s way easier to keep on track with my meals. I am still doing WW and have had good luck with that, I just need to be better about tracking while traveling. I have sort of hit a plateau so really need to be more disciplined if I want to hit the new goal I have set. Good luck with your goals!
My biggest problem is I have NO healthy habits. I overeat til I hurt and I rarely work out and if I do I don’t break a sweat. Haha. My metabolism is slowing down and my blood is probably all fatty. Your post was really motivating to me!
Have you read any of Jillian Michaels’ books? I read Slim for Life recently and loved it. I feel like I got a lot of good insight on eating healthy, exercise, how to eat healthy at work, how to eat healthy at social gatherings, etc. Check it out!