So far in this blog, I've explained a lot of my reasoning for why I'm wanting to start the journey to get healthier and lose weight, but not what I'm currently doing now to begin this process. I wonder why I haven't mentioned this, hmmm. Let me tell you how well it's going so far...
This week was a crazy busy week for me at work and I did not go to the gym at all. I wasn't getting home until after 8pm from a 12 hour day and I just knew I wasn't going to throw the gym in there too. I'm not beating myself up over it, which is unusual, but instead I'm accepting it and telling myself yeah that sucks but tomorrow is a new week. A much, much less busy week. I can hit the gym next time at least 3 days. My current goal is to get in the gym at least 3 days a week for 45min-1 hr workouts. I've got a notebook of some sort that I'm going to fill with exercises, routines, advice, etc that I can keep with me for various reasons. I want to have a chart to fill in what days I complete what and for how long. I'm not counting the calories I've burned and I'm NOT weighing myself. Screw that. I won't be seeing scales anytime in the near future again. That feels very liberating.
I also want to have a place for recipes, a food journal, advice from friends, etc. I want to plan out family meals a week at a time. I've found that if I know what I'm having for dinner over the next few nights, there is less opportunity to eat junk and I'm less anxious when I have a meal to look forward to.
We went to the store on Sunday and these are a few things we picked up:
--grapes, string cheese,ritz crackers, apples, bananas, butterscotch pudding and granola bars all to be eaten for breakfasts and/or mid-morning snacks.
--tuna, deli meats, lean cuisines, 80 cal instant potatoes, hot dogs, stuff for salad and some nasty pre-grilled chicken patties that I just can't force down, all to be eaten during lunch
-- meatloaf, stews, crab, salmon, marie calendars lasagna, taco salad to be made this week for dinners.
I did go out to dinner with co-workers one night this week for business and had huge portion of chicken parm of which I only ate barely half of. Not because I wanted to or didn't have the room for it. I was among professionals and I didn't want to look like the piglet of the group. Especially when they all had much smaller portions and couldn't finish half of their meals without being "stuffed". When we got up to leave, I did feel nourished, but not full. This is one of my biggest problems ever. When I eat a meal I HAVE to feel full, very full before I'm satisfied. I took the rest over to Josh while he was at work, but I seriously considered taking it home and finishing it. And guess what? I was mad about it. Not super mad, not mad for very long, but I was mad that I didn't get to finish my good meal. For those of you who like to dissect "issues", there's plenty for you right here to go nuts over!
As you can see, my food options during the day are lacking. I usually get in a very tasty dinner, courtesy of my husband who is a fabulous cook, so really it's my lunches that usually suck. I'm so disheartened by the lackluster choices waiting for me at home that I order take-out or go to the drive-thru. Granted, I only do this about 1 time a week (due to not having the $) but I'm so sick of frozen lunches and tuna every single day. I have an hour for lunch and it is the quickest hour of the day by far, so everything I eat has to be made in 40 min or less if you don't count the 10 min I take to get home and 10 to get back to the office ( I like to be early getting back).
So far, my notebook is empty. I have lots of ideas of what to put in this thing and still nothing. It's taking the step to compile it all and organize it into what I want. It's just another way to put off getting healthy, right? Lazy, right? None of that negativity is going to help me do this, no matter how true it may be. I've got to get up and get moving.
Don't overdo it when you first get back to the gym, lady. Forty-five minutes to an hour is awesome, but if you kill yourself in your first workouts, it will be that much easier not to go back.... Be realistic and go a little easier on yourself. The long-term results will be easier to achieve.
ReplyDeleteFirst, BRAVO for not beating yourself up about the gym. I know for you that's a big thing. Also, BRAVO for not staying mad for long about not finishing a meal. These are two great steps in the right direction.
ReplyDeleteI've always found lunch to be the hardest meal as well. One thing I've done is cook a couple of dinner meals during the weekend and freeze them for lunches during the week. That way you have something yummy for two meals.
As far as meals with your co-workers. I promise, you're concentrating more on what you've eaten compared to others than anyone else. I'm happy that you didn't eat your whole meal (most restaurants' portions are really two if not more). You have to start being OK with not being stuffed. If you're stuffed you've eaten too much. When you go to take a bite think to yourself, am I really hungry or am I bored or do I feel the "need" to finish the meal. Greg used to eat until he was stuffed too but since he's started to listen more to his body he's stopped himself before getting stuffed. It's a long process but you're taking great steps in the right direction.
I'm proud of you Booner!!
I was actually going to send you a message since I hadn't seen a post in a bit, but I was very happy to see that you had something to discuss. I have always struggled with the portion issue. I have always been taught to finish my plate and almost always was told "oh there isn't much left, why don't you finish what is left in the bowl?" I too am trying to eat only what I need and not everything on my plate.
ReplyDeleteI like what you are trying to do with your workouts. However, don't forget that four 15 minute workouts can be just as good as 1 hour workout. So even if you can't get to the gym, you could always do a short workout on days when you have long days.
Keep it up with the journals. I really wanted to do something with my blog for recipes too, but I haven't figured it out yet. I think with your journal setting weekly goals for yourself would be good. Like you said you would like to work out 3 times this week. You know that not every week is the same so not every week should have the same goals, but should be related to a bigger goal.
Keep up the good work.
Eric