Facing the Music

I’ve been off on my eating habits since I returned from the Bahamas.  That’s nearly four weeks of bad eating.  I get back on for a few days, then back off for the rest of the week.  I need to fix this.  I need to teach myself to make healthy choices 80% of the time versus 20% of the time. 

One of the things I’m starting to realize is that it’s REALLY hard for me to lose weight in these final weeks of my half training; running for more than 2 hours at a time seriously wipes me out, and makes my appetite virtually insatiable.  Like I want to eat everything in sight.  ALL THE FREAKING TIME.  My half is a week from Sunday, and after that I’m going to cut back on my long runs for a while.  I plan to keep my base at 5-6 miles, but I’ll only do that once a week (or maybe once every other week), and keep to 3 miles during the week to focus more on my eating again.  My workouts haven’t been the problem though, the crap I’m shoving into my pie hole is.

 

I had made all kinds of resolutions and goals to reach by Memorial day weekend; my half training was the only thing I kept to.  I didn’t lose the weight I wanted to.  I didn’t see the 170s.  I still can’t fit comfortably into a size 10 (they button and all, I just think they’re too snug to wear out in public).  I know that the main reason is my eating is not on point.  I need to get back to using MFP regularly and stick to my calories on a daily basis.  I broke my logging streak when I went to the Bahamas (I was at like 115 days in a row), and since I don’t have the pressure of maintaining that streak anymore, I’ve sort of lost the drive to log in my food.

 

Well, I’m changing that today.  I need your help to stay accountable, so add me as a friend on MFP (my user name is Babebeforebaby).  I’ve opened up my diary so friends can see it, so I’ll be more likely to log everything and eat healthier knowing you all are keeping an eye on it!

I’m also considering another major change; my weigh-in day.  Lately, weighing in on Wednesdays has been tough for me to blog about because I’m traveling a lot for work during the week, and don’t have a ton of time to actually sit at my computer and write up a post.  It’s also been tough because that mid-week weigh-in can cause me to go off track before the weekend even starts….you know what I mean.  “I don’t have to weigh in for a whole week now, sure I can have ice cream tonight”.  “I had a good weigh-in today, I deserve that appetizer before dinner”….and the list goes on.  I have a tendency to “cheat” more on the weekends, especially when there are social events involved, so for me, that means I have to be totally on point Monday through Friday in order to make any headway on the scale.  This past month, I’ve only been on point Monday and Tuesday, and by Wednesday at dinner I’m ready to eat poorly again.  I’m hoping that by pushing my weigh-in days to Fridays, I can be more productive during the week.  5 straight days of truly clean eating, keeping my cheats limited to the weekends.  I can’t be perfect 100% of the time, but I can certainly try to make the right choices with my food whenever possible, and plan ahead for scenarios that aren’t as accommodating.  I’m going to try to get away from keeping chocolate and fro-yo in the house.  I can have them on weekends, but I’m not going to have them during the week anymore, it’s too easy for me to go overboard.

I also want to get into a routine where I grocery shop on Saturdays; there is a Whole Foods near where I go to Bootcamp on Saturday mornings, so I’m going to give grocery shopping right after boot camp a try, before I have a chance to go home and be lazy! I’m going to plan out my meals and snacks for the week, and have my list ready to go before I leave tomorrow morning. 

 

So that’s my plan.  I’m hopeful these changes will get me moving back in the right direction, and with the long weekend ahead, I’ll certainly need it!

 

What changes are you making to help keep yourself on track?