The mind is the enemy

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It's a really good idea! I am going to give it a try! Not sure I could eat much chocolate with cayenne in it, either!
 
One of the food habits I need to work on is eating more veggies, especially at lunch. Today I made an effort and sliced up some red and orange peppers to eat with a sandwich. And then a funny thing happened... At lunchtime, someone walked by my cubicle, stopped, and asked what I was eating because it smelled delicious. Who knew a raw vegetable could be the cause of lunchtime envy?!?
 
I found out today that my boyfriend (who I share a home with) will be traveling for work starting on Monday, for two weeks. He'll just be gone during the weekdays, and I'll certainly miss him, but this should be a good time to focus on ME! He has a longstanding routine of heavy dinners followed by a few hours of TV. I eat more during the day than he does and enjoy being more routinely active than he does, but it's been all too easy to slip into his pattern over the couple of years we've lived together. Hopefully some time alone will help kick start some healthy habits.
 
Hey, good idea in rebooting your habits while he is away! I agree, it is easy to adapt to their patterns, even if they are not healthy for us.
 
Dragged myself out of bed this morning and jogged for 26 minutes. The plan was thirty, but I was running a little late. I've decided it might be time to invest in some new sports bras.... Today's run was a little painful!

While I know that calorie counting is the only real way to know how much you're eating, I'm not yet willing to go full blown with it. I did in the past, with lots of success, but I was also eating a lot of prepackaged foods so it was easier. What I am doing now is counting every now and then to see what my "bad" calories are... Mindless and unnecessary eating, binges, alcohol, that kind of thing. I did this yesterday so I can see that almost 1000 calories would fit into this category. Here's how it went down....

3 homemade cookies: from a co-worker, which I shoveled into my face without taking the time to enjoy.

An ice cream sandwich: that I ate secretly, causing panic when I wasn't done yet but heard boyfriend getting out of the shower

Chips: that were eaten because I was tired and wanted to go to bed but it was only 9 o'clock so I distracted myself instead

A Dr. Pepper with rum: because I wanted it and it was delicious. But I consider pretty much all alcohol unnecessary so I'm including it on the 'bad' category

So there it is, my Thursday indulgence list. I don't always feel like I ate poorly, until I look at the facts.... Here's to a healthier Friday!
 
Oh, weekends.... It's so hard to be good on the weekends! Too much food and too much drink. I did get out for a 50 minute run yesterday, though. Picked a new spot, a 1.5 mile trail which was quite filled with dogs and stones. I might not do that again. It's hard for me to enjoy running when I'm so focused on whether or not I'm going to trip over something.

Dinner on Friday was sushi, Saturday was pizza and drinks with the boyfriend's parents, and yesterday's main meal was salmon with salad and rice. Oh, and I was given the most decedent piece of chocolate cake on Saturday. I enjoyed every single bite of that. The pizza really wasn't very good, I hate when I waste calories on food that isn't even worth it. There was no reason to eat as much as I did.
 
I'm so glad I went on here to write earlier.... I was just faced with temptation and I totally won! A co-worker offered me a homemade cupcake and I said yes (there's more to this story, I promise). Well, I tasted it and decided that unfortunately it just wasn't going to be worth it to me. We should enjoy every bite of our food, right?? Like I enjoyed this weekend's cake. I didn't feel guilty because it was a delicious special treat. Today's cupcake was not delicious or special. So into the trash it went. And I don't have to feel bad because as far as I know my co-workers don't dig through my trash after I leave, and that's one less cupcake that she has to worry about eating. Victory!
 
Well, this week of getting back into healthy habits isn't off to a great start.

Today's weight: 160 lbs. Which is higher than last week.

I'm expecting TOM next week, which makes this a week of being tired, wanting sweets, and giving in to snacking urges. Last night my body wanted to sleep but my mind wanted to watch TV, so I ate late night pita chips. A lot of them. Why on earth does eating to stay awake ever sound like a good plan?

Anyway.. I did make some awesome muffins last night, that I will wrap individually and freeze. They have carrots, apple, raisins, walnuts, unsweetened coconut... Lots of goodies. I left out half the sugar the recipe called for and swapped out some of the white flour for whole wheat. And they are pretty delicious!

These past couple of days haven't been all bad. Here are some highlights:

-I ran for 30 minutes yesterday.
-My friend signed up for the half marathon we've been taking about, and I decided to officially commit to doing it with her.
-There are some areas in my house that have never been cleaner (I'm looking at you, windowsills)
-I had a nice walk with a friend who is due to have her second child this month.

That's all I have for now!
 
Those muffins sound absolutely delicious! And I´m now feeling slightly guilty about the state of my windowsills :( Don´t bother about perfection, just be the best you can be at any given moment. Which is sometimes not very good, but always better than you might be.
 
LaMaria, it's always a shock to me how a quick little clean can make a huge difference! Those windowsills still might not be perfect, but just like you said, they are better than they could be :)
 
Went on a lovely evening run yesterday. I'm typically a morning runner, but the weather was right and I had no one at home waiting to feed me dinner so off I went. The weather was cool, the clouds were neat, and I saw two GIANT turkeys, which is a rare sight in my city. I felt really good afterwards, very content.
Tonight will be a challenge. All day, really. Pizza is being brought in for lunch, and we're going out later to celebrate a friend's birthday. Drinks and apps and the ultimate goal of some late night food in Chinatown. I'm going to indulge a little (I've never been to Chinatown) but I'm going to keep some plain water handy and will have a couple of soda waters with lime to start off. If Chinatown is the ultimate goal then I'd like to be sober and hungry enough to appreciate it!
 
:) Sounds like a pleasant challenge, enjoy it! Got a friend´s birthday to celebrate today as well so we can compare notes tomorrow ;)
 
Sounds like you have a fun night ahead of you!! Thats awesome that you got in an evening run... I've always wanted to run, but I give up on it pretty quick, haha. I think its okay to have an indulgence day as long as you follow it up with a healthy eating and some good exercise the following day! Enjoy yourself in China Town!
 
I'm making a spontaneous decision to write on here for the first time in a couple of months.... Most likely brought on by the weigh-in this morning of 162.2 pounds. Since I was trying back in August to avoid hitting 160, it's obvious that I was unsuccessful in that endeavor...

So. What am I to do about it? Number one goal: run more. I participated in a half marathon earlier this month. Super flat, I finished in 2:30. I love running, once I'm out there doing it. Getting out there is tough, and training for this month's race was nearly nonexistent. I let myself focus on my friends' running paces, which is silly and unnecessarily discouraging. But I'm planning for a few shorter races in November, and need to remember why I fell in love with running in the first place.

And the number two goal is to cut back on snacking and boozing. I don't eat out much, don't drink much soda, and love making healthy homemade treats. But I also love alcohol and snacks. Nights out with friends and co-workers, and nights in with the boyfriend... It's going to be hard to change the drinking habit, but I know it's gotta be done. Should save some money, too! And snacking. Oh, snacking. I often eat sneakily, while my boyfriend is in the shower or playing video games, hiding the evidence afterwards. That's the main thing I want to break. Secondary to that is eating too much at work (desk job), especially when I'm procrastinating or bored.

Well, that's it for now. Here's to some healthy choices in the future! I'll report back later :)
 
Hey Oaks, good to see you back here too! Knowing your weaknesses is the first step toward conquering them so go you ;)
 
Hi Oaks, welcome back. Sounds like you know what habits need to go, wondering if you've figured out how to break them. I'm a snacker, too, working on controlling that. Wonder if you can find something else to "sneak" when your beau is otherwise occupied? Reading, cleaning up a little, pushups, stretching?

You're doing a good thing by trying to control it in your 20s, I sure didn't. I was doing the boozing-with-friends thing all through my 20s, and all of a sudden I realized I was 75 lbs up from when I graduated college. Everyone says it's harder to lose weight as you get older - they're right, it's because you've been doing bad habits for so long, but your metabolism starts to slow down. It sucks! The good news is that you have time to develop some new good habits.
 
LaMaria, thanks for the welcome back!! Glad to see a familiar name from when I was here last! Let's both stick with it this time, ok?? We got this!


LittleJohn, you gave me lots of good things to think about! Now that it's cool here in Boston (and rainy and windy) I'm thinking a nice warm cup of tea should be an easy solution for distracting myself from sneaky eating. Pushups would be a better solution, of course, and doing that has actually worked in the past. I guess I can have options, right? Oooh, or maybe a warm cup of tea combined with reading. I read "fun" books during my commute, but I'm trying to work on my anxiety and have found a self-help type book that I really enjoy. But the thought of reading that type of book on a public bus makes me cringe, so I've got to get better about reading that one at home. Ok, that's my plan for today! Tea and reading!
 
Well, it is Thursday night, and I did not have tea or reading time as planned, but I'm OK with that. We opened a bottle of wine with dinner (homemade pasta bolognese, I love making pasta!) so I had my second glass during my normal snacking time. No food after dinner whatsoever. Boyfriend actually went to bed early because his work schedule has been crazy this week, so I put myself to bed in order to avoid temptation. Now I'm in bed, writing here and watching TV, hoping he doesn't start snoring anytime soon :D
 
Plans overturned and still did well, that deserves praise! In books people who don´t want others to know what they´re reading will usually put plain covers on them but that might just get them to think you´re looking at porn on your way to work ;)
 
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