Damage Control

MomBod81

I just posted this on my blog and wanted to share it here too. Hoping to maybe get more insight from others who don't read my blog


I've been thinking a lot about my recent bad eating and why I'm having such a hard time getting it under control. This is really one of the worst "falls" I've had and I need to turn things around. NOW. I know I have written about this several times, but sometimes it helps me to write down my thoughts. I've come up with a few ideas of things that I think are getting in the way of my progress.


1) Lack of planning- I have been absolutely terrible at meal planning for the past few months and this has lead to bad choices and eating out WAY too often. The more crap I eat, the more crap I want to eat and on and on it goes. It seems like the longer I go letting myself make unhealthy choices, the less desire I have to make and eat healthy meals. It's crazy to think how bad I've been eating when I know how much I love clean, healthy foods and how much I enjoy cooking.


Solution- I need to get on a consistent schedule of planning meals and going grocery shopping. If I have healthy foods in the house, that is what I'm going to eat. And when I already have all the ingredients I need to make meals, there won't be so many last minute trips to the store to grab something fast & easy (and usually unhealthy) and the temptation to eat out won't be as strong.

2) My Internal Dessert Debate - I am constantly going back & forth between whether I should cut out treats altogether or just practice moderation. I really (I mean REALLY) love treats and I want to be able to enjoy them occasionally, but sometimes I think it would be better to just cut them out altogether so that I stop eating so much of them. I like to be able to make fun treats with my kids and enjoy special things during holidays, but sometimes this turns into me thinking I need to eat treats everyday. Then I feel guilty and crappy about myself and go on all-out sugar binges. It's ridiculous.


Solution- Giving up treats is not really something I want to do. I am not striving for a perfect body or working towards some kind of competition, so I don't think that 100% clean eating is something that I really need (or want) to do. Instead of telling myself that I can never have treats, I really need to just save them for special occasions. It's okay for me to make sugar cookies with my kids for Valentine's Day and enjoy a couple. It's NOT okay for me to use it as an excuse to eat heart shaped doughnuts, heart shaped junior mints, red and pink m&m's, red velvet cupcakes, and all the other holiday inspired treats. It doesn't have to be all or nothing. If I am eating healthy most of the time, it's really not going to screw up my results if I enjoy a treat every now and then.

3) Unrealistic Goals and Expectations- When I make goals that are too big or try to be perfect with my eating and exercising, I am just setting myself up for failure. As soon as I slip up (which we are all bound to do) or fall short of a goal, I immediately get discouraged and rebel against all the things that I know are good for me. If I'm not seeing the results I want, then why keep working out so hard? If I didn't eat perfect today, why not just eat what I want for the rest of the week? That is exactly the type of thinking that has gotten my where I am right now...10 lbs up from where I was a month ago.


Solution- Make small, attainable goals and stop beating myself up for every mistake I make. This is going to be a lifelong journey. It's not just a matter of reaching my goal and then everything is over and done with. Since that's the case, it's okay to enjoy life a little sometimes and not be so worried about numbers and calories and all that. 5 or 6 days at the gym are not going to be undone by skipping a day to head to the park with some friends and our kids. Yes, it is important to be healthy and work towards my goals, but that is not my purpose in life. Sometimes LIFE needs to be my priority.

4) Including food in all activities- I have noticed that I like to look for reasons to go out to eat or grab a treat somewhere. If we're going to the mall, I might want a Mrs. Field's cookie. After taking the kids to play at the park, frozen yogurt sounds good. Date night should definitely include dinner and then some candy at the movies. I think that sometimes I am so obsessed with food that I find a way to revolve everything I do around it.

Solution- Plan activities that don't involve food. It's okay to go out and do fun things with friends and family without eating. It might be hard at first because I am so used to doing otherwise, but it is not necessary. I can go out and have fun WITHOUT FOOD. Maybe if I find more things to do that don't involve eating, I can tone down the obsession a little. It's hard not to obsess over calories and food all day if it's a part of everything I do. It's okay to have a treat or go out to eat every once in a while, but I need to limit food to mealtimes and snacks and not just eat all.day.long. I feel like this one might take a while to fix because it's like an automatic thing...when I'm getting ready to go somewhere, I automatically link it to food somehow. I need to plan ahead and not give in to those bad habits.

lovinmysoldier

Anyone who has done this for any real length of time has been exactly where you are. Through trial and error I have found what works for me to get myself back where I want/need to be.

Day #1: write everything down, regardless of how bad it is I write everything down.
Day #2: do better than day #1, doesn't matter by how much just do better
Day #3: do better than day #2.... And so on.

Eventually and typically by day 3 or 4 I'm back where I need to be.

I used to expect myself to jump right back to where I left off and would then get frustrated that I wasn't. This works well for me. Hope you find what works for you.