Weekly Check In: Diet Talk

Note: Please understand that with any of my diet and exercise posts, I am not beating myself up over a number. I fully understand the difference between having healthy goals and having unhealthy goals. I’m not out to lose 50lbs and diet to the extreme. I’m not devastated over my current weight or body. I’m trying to teach myself to eat healthily, make the right choices, and reach goals that I have had for a long time. I’m trying to break  bad habits that will definitely carry me to obesity if I let them keep happening.

I hope you all don’t mind if I start doing a weekly check in with diet and exercise. I definitely need to start a diary my progress (or lack thereof, if that’s the unfortunate result), and my last post received so much encouragement from women like me who just want to be healthier that I want to make these posts more regular. I know dieting can be sort of a touchy subject, and some people think I shouldn’t be so restrictive with myself, but if you read on, you’ll hopefully understand my choices. 🙂

This past week has been up and down so far as keeping with my diet change. Just when I thought I was getting really good at eating healthy and moderating my portions, a day of being exhausted hit and I made mac and cheese… and then my husband wanted cookies and I couldn’t say no. And you know when you make cookies, you can’t not have one. Or two. Or three. And then the following days kind of went down the drain because I was just too lazy to be good.

I’ve also realized that my days off are terrible for my health. Workdays are easy, because I have to pack a breakfast and lunch and I can’t cheat, and then by the time I get home I’m ready to cook a good dinner. But on Fridays, when I don’t work and my husband does, I forget to eat breakfast, then I run errands and get too busy to eat lunch, and then dinner rolls around and I haven’t eaten anything all day. Saturdays, I’m usually better. But then Sunday rolls around, and we sit and watch TV and the munchies hit. Somehow a bag of chips gets involved. And there goes that portion control.

See, here’s the thing: a big part of this diet– and by diet, I’m not talking about some quick fix; I’m talking about healthy choices and moderation that I will carry on for life– is to teach myself portion control. I have terrible self control when it comes to food. I will eat until I’m full,  and then go back for seconds just because I feel like it. And then go back for dessert, and snacks later. And I’d like to kick that habit.

So this coming week (and weekend!) I’m going to focus more on paying attention to when my body tells me to quit eating, and… y’know, quit eating.

Exercise wise, I think the biggest hurdle is pushing myself out of my comfort zone at the gym. See, I have this one machine that I know how to use, I know how to pace to music, I know how to push myself on it, and I love that machine. But I end up going to that machine every single time. Comfort zone. So last week I made myself try out some of the weight training machines.

And my legs killed me for it. In a good way. I thought I wouldn’t really like the torturous looking leg press and all those other great weight training machines, but you know what? They were actually kind of fun! From now on, I’ll alternate my workout days so that I’m doing cardio one day, and machines the next. I’m still intimidated by the weight machines, but at least I’ll be changing up my workout to get more muscles and keep it from getting boring!

I still haven’t written out an entire week’s worth of food yet, but I think I might get started on that by just making a list of breakfast and lunch options. I tend to only plan dinners, and then I get lost because I’ve gone shopping and haven’t stocked up for breakfast or lunch at all. Which, y’know, is bad.

But I’ve got granola and fruit to fall back on! The above is a typical breakfast for me. Coffee, granola, sometimes yogurt, and fruit. It’s pretty good. And easy. And I can put it in a jar, which makes it cute, which makes it more fun to eat.

If you’re trying to lose weight right now, or if you have lost weight, tell me the most motivational thing you’ve found helps you out right now. (and please feel free to share your struggles as well if you need to vent somewhere!) My motivation right now is proving to myself that I can. Because I’ve given up so many times before, but I know I have it in me. I just have to prove it!

Happy Monday!

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