This week, life happened. My balancing act has toppled and I’m trying to pick up the pieces. I’ve really struggled this week, and as much as I am trying to stick to my diet, I find myself cheating a little bit here and there, and then justifying it with lame excuses. I’m learning that I’m a veryemotional eater, and have a REALLY hard time saying “no” to junk food when I’m feeling down. My bad food choices turn into a downward spiral, and it gets harder and harder to make good choices after I give in to that first bad one. It’s also harder because I haven’t been to the gym as much. I wouldn’t want to work out hard just to cancel it with some bad food, so I stayed away from the bad foods.I’m not able to go to the gym everyday like I did in the summer, and now I’m starting to see how I ended up as big as I was. I work some kind of long days, and then I come home, eat, and watch TV and sleep. I just don’t feel like doing anything else. Grab and go foods are too easy, a quick run through the drive through, or a microwave meal for lunch. I have a lot on my mind lately when I go to sleep, which makes it hard to sleep, and then I wake up the next day with very little energy and even less motivation to go and workout.
I know what I need to do, but doing it is hard. It’s kind of an “actions speak louder than words” situation. I keep saying that I want to be healthier, and I’ve definitely made some big steps in the right direction. I just need to stay on the planned route, and quit making so many pit stops. I know I’ll get there eventually, but it’s a long trip, and sometimes I want to just hang out at one of the rest areas when I should just keep going.
I know emotional eating is a big problem for me as well and one thing I’m trying to do, with some success, is to not look at slips as a total failure.
I used to look at my attempts as completely black and white endevours; i.e. if I was trying to eat healthier but had a candy bar, I would then go into a spiral of self-loathing that had me telling myself to go ahead and eat all the crap food I want, since I’m hideous and always will be.
Now I instead try to remind myself that each day (or even each hour, or each meal) is another opporutunity to “get it right”. I still have times when I don’t make the healthier choices, but not seeing that as utter failure has helped curb some of the emotional eating.
Another trick, which you probably already know, is to make meals up ahead of time like on the days you have that aren’t so long, and freeze them; or do crock-pot meals. That way you have something quick and easy to make on the longer days that’s a healthier option.
It hurts me to “feel” the frustration in your post. I don’t know your home situation, so I can’t really give advice other than this. Nothing is easier to make for lunch or supper than a salad. Put in a lot of stuff. I didn’t cook much this summer. When I did, I did it big and froze individual portions. Small individual portions. It is easy in one way for me to eat healthy foods – I don’t have anyone else to deal with at home. On the other hand, I can buy whatever I want to eat. When I want a bag of Oreos, I just pass it up. Try thinking farther ahead than the next meal. Plan this out and you can do it. Little Caesars calls my name on a daily basis – I just ignore it and drive right past. You can do the same. Keep apples, hard pretzels, string cheese, yogurt, etc. available for snacks during the day. Make each choice one at a time. Immediately fix it when you mess up. “Sticking to a diet” would never work for me. A diet has an end. Healthy eating can’t have an end. You just have to do it – and keep on doing it. Good luck in getting yourself headed back in the right direction.