Thursday, January 20, 2011

Somewhere Along The Way This Ramble Got Philosophical

Okay, I am starting to feel like I am getting this eating thing more and more in control. I am having fewer sweets and when I do indulge it is with lower fat options. I am having greater success with turning down temptations and with talking myself out of cravings. I am even slowly starting to work a few servings of produce back into my menus.

I know that I need to tackle portions. I am often making healthier choices yet am consuming too much of a good thing, so to speak. I also need to increase those fruits and vegetables from the token helpings to a higher majority within my eating regimen. My water intake, too, is getting much, much better, but – again – there is a lot of room for improvement. I am not as consistent as I would like to be with getting all the H2O my body needs.

I have been working hard at improving my habits and at leaving the temporary regression I went through in the past. I am moving forward, but – most importantly, I think – I am allowing myself the understanding that I would offer to any other human being in these circumstances.

I am not perfect. I had a great streak – an amazingly, nearly unbelievable one, in fact – but it came to a screeching halt a few months ago. I don’t know what the trigger was or if there even was one. I don’t know if I just got careless or if it could happen again. What I am sure of is that what I have done does not define what I will do. If it did, I never would have lost a hundred plus pounds in the first place after years and years of struggling with obesity.

The truth is that this journey is worth it, but it can also be heartbreaking in some ways. Living up to the expectations we set out for ourselves is a tricky business. We need to find the balance between challenge and trial. We can’t achieve what we personally define as success without trying to be more than we think we are, but we also can’t weigh down our hearts and minds and bodies with the effort of driving ourselves towards some ideal accomplished with utterly unblemished progress.

Perfection always has been and always will be the impossible goal… and thank goodness for that! To push ourselves towards betterment is one of the best things about being alive, but I can’t imagine how boring and stale life would suddenly become if we ever achieved absolutely everything we ever wanted. I forget that sometimes.

FOOD & BEVERAGES:
- 9 glasses of water
- 1 banana
- 1 1/4 cups vanilla yogurt with 1 cup wheat flake granola cereal
- 1 toasted whole wheat English muffin with cheese
- 1 cup pasta with garlic Alfredo sauce
- 1 apple
- 1 cup meatballs in mushroom sauce
- 1 cup steamed broccoli with margarine
- 1/2 cup seasoned basmati rice
- 1 cheese bagel with low fat herb and garlic cream cheese
- 3 1/2 warm low fat banana and chocolate chip muffins

EXERCISE:
- 10 squats

10 comments:

  1. yep. grateful to see the ramble. let it out.
    I knew going in that expecting perfection would be a big Achilles heel, which is why I give myself an out with a cheat meal. Great job figuring out what is going on..you may want to delve a bit more deeply and see if you can put firewalls into place to stop it from happening again. Good luck.

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  2. I had great success, last year, when I did not know what I was doing...I was totally doing a lot of things wrong and some thing right and I lost 54 pounds. Then I started to educate myself, really focused, ate the right kinds of food under my calorie range, drinking my water like a good girl and the scale has not moved. Since I got my new education, my attitude changed about my journey. That's all I can say. Now I know that and I'm trying to change my attitude, but just can't get back to where I was last year. I am hoping that with all of the good and healthy choices I am making and with a new attitude I will get back to losing the weight.

    This is an amazing journey for sure!!

    Keep up the great work. You amaze me!!!

    Keep focused!!!

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  3. I think it's important for you to try to identify what led you off your path for awhile.

    As a casual observer and one who has no clue what's really going on in your head - it seemed like lack of sleep, less time for yourself/self-reflection and stress knocked you off the road.

    Maybe if you incorporated some sort of class/reading or counseling that addressed coping with these issues when they crop up, it would help you in the future.

    Because, after all, you want to lose the weight and keep it off, right? No sense in losing it only to have it come right back on because you are having a hard time navigating through troubled waters.

    Nobody's perfect but recognizing triggers that send us over the edge (we all have them) and learning to cope is also part of weight loss success.

    That said (and this is what I tell myself - I'm trying to lose 57 lbs and I have 11 to go) NEVER GIVE UP! and YOU CAN DO IT!

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  4. Definitely better choices. As a Lifetime Weight Watcher I can truthfully say that the battles never end. For six years I kept off the 42 pounds that took me 9 months to lose. For two years I was five to ten pounds over my goal weight and struggled every day to get back on track. FINALLY, when the new program came out, I got back to goal in three weeks. We're never "cured" and that's a fact. TGIF :)

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  5. I'm glad to hear you're feeling like you're back into the swing of things. It takes a bit of time to do that once you get off course. This post makes me really happy - it's nice to hear a bit more of what you're thinking. Thanks for sharing!

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  6. Just a thought.... it seems to me that you got a little scared when that guy (a while back) kind of flirted with you. Could that have been a trigger to get the old protective coating, so to speak, back on yourself? It helps me when I really dig deep to see what the whole story is. It seems like triggers sometimes run deep. Anyway, as I said, just a thought.

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  7. This is why I blog. This is why I read blogs. There's always someone with the words that you don't have. I struggle with perfection. Always have, always will. For me to accomplish this, I have to let go of that idea of perfect. This journey won't be perfect. My body won't be perfect. But imperfect can't be my excuse to stop. I love this post.

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  8. I've been away from the blogs for a while, but remembering how much encouragement and motivation I used to get from reading/writing, has brought me back. This was a great post, and exactly what i needed. if you don't mind, whenever i get the time to write again, i'd like to quote a few of your insightful words. i'll give you credit and link back to here. I love the one about what i did before does not define what i will do. I haven't read what has been going on with you lately, but you still got it, girlfriend, now ROCK IT like you know you can!! xoxo

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  9. If your tirade comes out of the blue, is not linked to the part of the process you're discussing, and then goes on for an eternity, forget it...you've lost your reader.

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  10. It's also good to know proper nutrition, coaches are leaders by example so be there early and stay late. Those who need a leader will look for one; those who want to be leads will respect your authority.

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