Well, it's been awhile since I've come here to share my thoughts so I figure it's time to get them out! I thought the holidays were really hard this year but I also thought that once they were over, I'd be better about my eating...wrong! I started off January with the Shakeology cleanse and was absolutely thrilled to be back to my pre-holiday weight and to have that fresh start but after that I started letting the bad habits creep right back in. My weekends have always been the hardest for me and for the whole month of January, I ate out just about every one of them. The past two weeks I also let the bad eating and junk food creep out into the weekdays! I'm all for having a little indulgence throughout the week but I'm talking full blown eating entire bags of chips, candy bars, and fast food meals bad! Lately, I've just been having such a hard time remembering my goals and making the choices I know I won't regret the following day. So, the past few days, I've been trying to pick my brain as to what is going on with me!
The biggest and most obvious factor is, of course, stress. Try as I might to keep it at bay, it just keeps coming back for more. The latest stress-er to come about is the upcoming loss of my husband's job. Although, we'd known it was very likely to happen, when the news finally came in, it did bring about a good deal of panic for me. I see the bills stacked up and our savings depleted, our house about to foreclose and the fact that my husband has already been searching for a better job for the past two years with absolutely no luck and I don't know how anyone couldn't be worried in this situation. Also the lease with our apartment is ending the day before my husband's last day on the job. There's just so many things all coming at us at once! Things are about to change quite significantly in the next few months...whether good or bad remains to be seen. So this is a biggie and I know it plays a part in the way I've been eating but it's also played a part in the fact that I've been working out more because that's my other outlet for stress. Seriously, don't ever let stress be a reason not to workout because it helps soooo much! Get up and do it!
The other thing I came up with and probably something that so many others do is to get into that 'all or nothing' mentality. I've been getting so strict with myself during the week...eating all the right things, counting calories to a T, not eating a single morsel of candy...that I think by the time the weekend comes, I have just made myself nuts and I end up going off the deep end! I then feel bad about how much I back-tracked over the weekend that the cycle starts all over again the following week. I started off my weight loss and fitness journey with the knowledge that it's okay to have anything in moderation and that it's good for your mind to have a little of your favorite not so healthy things a couple times per week or even every day if you plan accordingly but, somewhere along the way, I lost that knowledge and got totally consumed with perfection! I've known that the last 10 lbs and overall tone I've been working on was going to be tough so I started to forget what works for me and what doesn't. I need a little serving of chips or ice cream through the week or I will go crazy during the weekend...simple as that.
So, this past weekend I started over. I had my normal healthy meals and I also had a little candy and a little ice cream. I did not gobble everything in sight and for the first Monday in awhile I don't feel like I have to kill myself undoing the weekend from hell! Lol It's a small step in the right direction and I'm proud of that step. I'm sure there will be many more wrenches thrown in my path but that's just life. I can let these things make excuses for me and be reasons why I 'can't' or I can decide to take control and keep moving forward even when things get tough. My life, my goals, and my successes are all mine to make! :-D
