I have a confession, friends. I have not been fully committed to regular runs, strength training, or a healthy nutrition plan. I've been running, I've been trying to eat well, but I haven't been committed. My efforts have been very half-hearted. Enough to keep me going, but not enough to help me progress in my goals. This has to change.
The biggest problem is that I haven't really been planning. I might make a loose plan ("I think I'm going to try..."), but nothing I've fully thought out, and therefore, nothing I've stuck to. I've let myself derail on my diet a number of times more than I can readily recall. It's been frustrating and discouraging, and I've wanted to throw in the towel so many times. The only reason I haven't is because I know what the outcome will be: 224 pounds.
I'm going into the upcoming week with a plan. 1) I will get up early each morning. I will run the neighborhood route on Monday, Wednesday, and Friday, and I will walk a shorter route on Tuesday and Thursday. 2) I will go to the bike trail Saturday and get a long-ish run in. 3) I will not use social occasions as permission to indulge in foods that will not help me meet my goals. I'm going to dinner and frozen yogurt with some friends this weekend. I have already let one of them know what I am eating for dinner and that I will be passing on the frozen yogurt. It sucks that I have to rely on telling someone else to keep me accountability, but that's my reality right now, so there you have it. 4) I will NOT continue to give in to unplanned indulgences. I don't have any specific mechanism in place to accomplish this, but I am bound and determined to beat this behavior.
The good news is that I have fully committed to a half marathon in September and a full marathon in October. I know I'm capable of taking better care of myself than I have been, I just need to tap back into that will-power to move forward.
Showing posts with label diet. Show all posts
Showing posts with label diet. Show all posts
Friday, April 8, 2011
Wednesday, February 23, 2011
Sugar-free, that's me!
It's no secret to anyone that knows me that I LOVE things that are sweet. Cookies, cake, ice cream, chocolate, hard candy, pie, brownies... I love it all! I love it a little too much. My consumption of these delicious, sugary goodies has been causing me a lot of problems in my efforts to re-lose the 12 lbs that I gained while unable to work out. So I decided to do something about it. I decided to commit to going a full week without any sugar from these types of sources.
I've tried to do this before, and I failed. I couldn't commit. My heart wasn't in it. But last week, I just decided enough was enough. There was sugar all around me for Valentine's Day and I lost control. I didn't like it.
In a moment of frustration, I emailed my dear friend Rachel from Minnesota who is my fitness accountability buddy (and also has a very good blog at becausethefloundersaysso.blogspot.com) and told her that I'd had enough and I was going to fast from sugary, desserty-type food for a week.
To be clear, I didn't commit to going completely sugar-free for a week. I still ate fruit. There was sugar in my yogurt that I wasn't too concerned about. There was probably sugar in my tomato sauce, bread, ketchup, beans, whatever else I might have eaten that I didn't prepare 100% from scratch. And I still put honey on my peanut butter and banana breakfast sandwiches. But I laid off the things that I would consider to fall into the dessert category.
I thought it was going to be very, very difficult. I wasn't sure if I could do it or not. But I guess my mind and body had finally had enough and I actually made it an entire week without these delicious items. Do you what else is amazing? It honestly wasn't that difficult. Yes, there were times when I craved something sweet, but I felt so good without having all that extra crap in my body that I think it more than compensated for not having that sweet taste in my mouth.
I also realized that sweets are a much bigger trigger food for me than I ever thought. I think what would happen is I would lose control around sweets, feel like I went way off track, and then just throw my whole eating plan for the day out the window. Without losing control of the sweets situation, I was able to stay much more focused on making good eating decisions with all the other food groups available to me. A bag of Dorito's lasted AN ENTIRE WEEK in my house. AMAZING!
I successfully completed the fast. I'm allowed to eat dessert today. I'm just just not sure if I want to!
I've tried to do this before, and I failed. I couldn't commit. My heart wasn't in it. But last week, I just decided enough was enough. There was sugar all around me for Valentine's Day and I lost control. I didn't like it.
In a moment of frustration, I emailed my dear friend Rachel from Minnesota who is my fitness accountability buddy (and also has a very good blog at becausethefloundersaysso.blogspot.com) and told her that I'd had enough and I was going to fast from sugary, desserty-type food for a week.
To be clear, I didn't commit to going completely sugar-free for a week. I still ate fruit. There was sugar in my yogurt that I wasn't too concerned about. There was probably sugar in my tomato sauce, bread, ketchup, beans, whatever else I might have eaten that I didn't prepare 100% from scratch. And I still put honey on my peanut butter and banana breakfast sandwiches. But I laid off the things that I would consider to fall into the dessert category.
I thought it was going to be very, very difficult. I wasn't sure if I could do it or not. But I guess my mind and body had finally had enough and I actually made it an entire week without these delicious items. Do you what else is amazing? It honestly wasn't that difficult. Yes, there were times when I craved something sweet, but I felt so good without having all that extra crap in my body that I think it more than compensated for not having that sweet taste in my mouth.
I also realized that sweets are a much bigger trigger food for me than I ever thought. I think what would happen is I would lose control around sweets, feel like I went way off track, and then just throw my whole eating plan for the day out the window. Without losing control of the sweets situation, I was able to stay much more focused on making good eating decisions with all the other food groups available to me. A bag of Dorito's lasted AN ENTIRE WEEK in my house. AMAZING!
I successfully completed the fast. I'm allowed to eat dessert today. I'm just just not sure if I want to!
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