What do you do when.....................?

To be honest my way of dealing with it-i dont know if its for e eryone... But its what works for me. Pep talks dont work, nothing like that...


-i just look at logging, exercising, not going over my calorie goal, and making healthy food choices as something i have to do. Like showering, or going to work, or washing my clothes every week, or doing the dishes daily so they dont pile up.

If i give myself the choice, like 'oh, i dont feel like logging and staying on plan today, i wonder if i could skip one day', then it leads to a lot of back and forth-trying to convince myself its ok to have a slip, then trying to motivate myself to have eillpower and stay on plan... Its just to much bs, and too easy to tell myself its ok 'just this once'. ( thats not to say i dont indulge or have slipups-im human. But i can honestly say i dont slip up a lot. If i indulge its something ive planned and alotted calories for, or its my free meal on sunday.)

When its just part of my routine, its a lot easier. I dont agonize about if i should take a shower in the am, even when im super slepy and an extra half hour of sleep sounds like the best thing ever... I dont dither about taking time to visit a sick friend, or wonder if theres a point to doing dirty dishes. These are things i just need to do. Part of the maintenance of my life. Putting eating right, logging, and exercising into that category eliminates a lot of stress. Theres no 'shouls i work out today?' i just do it.

Its actually kind of freeing

I may have just started this journey about 5 days ago, but one thing that I found that helps motivate me to keep going is reading the success stories here. The before and after photos amaze me and I realize that I WANT that.

In fact, it's those photos of those who were 300+(as I am) that are now under 200 that got me serious and pumped to do this. Also reading the things here got me to start the Jillian Michael's 30d shred, where I was just planning on walking for a couple months first. Glad I've tried it, sure only day 2 and sore but I'm looking forward to tomorrows work out!

I know we will all have bad days, but sometimes reading someone's story how they made it or nearly made it really help me push aside that snack, jump up and move around, and generally feel better about this long road ahead of me!

If it Saturday I rejoice - because on Saturdays I eat whatever I want in whatever quantities I want and never schedule any exercise.

If it any other day than Saturday I tell myself that there are only X (which is maximum 6 days) days until I can do just what I want and then stick with the program.

I've set up MFP so that if I log (and follow my plan) I will be in a weekly deficit of about 2500-3500 calories no matter how much overboard I go on Saturdays (within what is physically possible for me), so I do this with a very clean conscience.

Also, this sunday is my free day, and its always six days or less away. I dont pig out that day, i just eat what i want. One sunday we went out to breakfast and it was great, but by dinner all i really wanted was a Lean Cuisine. I couldve had anything-pizza, chinese, restuarant italian food... But i honestly just wanted a Lean Cuisine. That was one of the moments i thought hey-I'm really changing my relationship with food.

I highly recommend a free day.

I just might use this idea. Typically my boyfriend and I go out to eat before I go grocery shopping, which we do every 2 weeks on his day off after pay day. So I think I may allow myself that "free" meal every couple of weeks. I'll see how that goes.