Am I at 100% compliance? No. Am I beating myself up? No. Am I giving up and just saying oh this day is shot I already screwed up...? No. Is this progress for me? Yes. In any other diet endeavor I've tried it seems the urge for carbohydrates and sweets is much greater than my desire for compliance. With this came the usual binge on "insert something tasty and sweet here" to the later feeling of remorse and then saying oh what they heck I already messed up why continue? I know what to eat, at what times to eat, and what I should think, and how I should act and react based on what I choose. Knowing and doing are very different creatures. Willpower is yet another. Listening to a brief segment on NPR yesterday I heard the word "willpower" and turned up the volume. The guest had written a book on willpower and how, as a society, our willpower has dwindled due to abundance and excess that surrounds us everyday. While I was only able to listen for 10 minutes I came away with some very important insights: 1) we innately do not have willpower & 2) we can employ the use of tools to train and strengthen our willpower.
Here, I will remind you of some tools that will help us all with our compliance.
1) Remove all bad foods from your sight of vision and easy reach; if they are in your house and you know where they are you WILL find and EAT them. Hint: I located a one inch square of brownie in the freezer this evening; and yes.... I ate it! (these are the times one wishes their memory was not photographic).
2) Have a plan. If you do not shop for healthy foods, and schedule your meals for the day or week and stick to it= you will get hungry/desperate/and lose all willpower. Another example: this Tues. for me. Had my Athletic Greens at 5:30am; had a great protein and coffee shake at 7:45am; got busy at work and stayed until 2pm. The plan was to leave at 12 or 12:30 to go home and cook. I got home at 2pm and cooked my nice egg, broccoli, and green salsa concoction but wasn't satisfied... and felt stressed. Picked up Grant at school and drove promptly to Lone Star? to pick up a container of cake doughnuts!!! I ate 5 (they were small). Did I feel defeated? Yes. Did I give up on the day? No. For dinner I fixed a nice salad and called it an evening.
Today: think about ways that you are improving your health and lifestyle by making a commitment with this challenge. Learn that this is a process and that one cannot change overnight. Understand that one mistake need not lead to another. Relish in the fact that you are open to change by doing something positive for yourself. Realize that even those that appear to be strongest have kinks in their willpower.
2 comments:
Jacqui, thanks for your post. I agree it's very important to not get defeated. Each time we eat something we have a chance to make better choices all over again. So I screw up and have those cookies. So I screw up and have that beer. Our brains tend to tell us that because we didn't have the will power that one time, we can let it slide from then on.
Thats not the case. Eat something that's unhealthy? Don't beat yourself up about it, just resolve to make a healthier choice next time around.. or the next... or the next.
Jacqui, I'm glad to hear you speak of getting back on track. Life is not perfection. Life is a series of missteps and hopefully corrections. This is ongoing, it's not only this moment. I have found honing diet and exercise is always morphing as I get older. The answer to what is right has not always been the same for me. Sometimes I'm completely at a loss as to where to start when I've " misstepped" for awhile. I'm so greatful for this structure you are providing me. This answer, the "green faces" answer to the question- where the heck do I start?(although I'm only doing the "green" to stay vegetarian) seems to be working. I feel really motivated.
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