I’ve been ‘amping it up’ for a little over a week now and I have found out that it’s really just what I needed! For the last couple of months I have been struggling a bit.
Struggling to stick to my number….mostly on the weekends.
Struggling to be at peace with the amount of exercise I do.
And mostly just struggling to get out of my head, and stop being so hard on myself!
It amazed me so much how quickly these things were either fixed or made better by just a few tweaks to my routine.
Sticking to my number during the summer had become harder than I thought. I found myself ‘saving up’ for calories at the end of the day for dinner with George, alcohol and dessert. I thought this was great, I could still be at my number and have all the things I wanted. Yet, I was going to bed feeling full almost every night, and feeling guilty about it. In my #ampitup fashion, I decided not only to start being more strict with my number, but to try and drop it down a bit. I went from 1450 to 1400. It doesn’t seem like a lot, but after using the food log for a year now, I think every calorie counts. I was so surprised that by lowering my number, I was actually eating more. I finally got over the hump of choosing either dessert OR alcohol (or both on some days when I felt I needed/really wanted it). I am now eating a bigger breakfast and focusing on all the healthy, real food I am eating during the day. As my besties say, the food log should be used as a tool, and not as something that completely rules your life, or stresses you out. I’m finding it much easier than I thought sticking to my new number. I’m not going to bed full, I’m not drinking every night, and overall, I’m just feeling better about eating in general! And I think that’s awesome…especially since I am still enjoying one of my favorite parts of the day…dessert! And for dessert I have been a bit addicted to watermelon and Edy’s Slow Churned Chocolate Ice Cream, so refreshing, and about 150 calories for a half cup of each, perfect!
I felt like I had a breakthrough with the food log, after feeling like I was fighting it for a while, it was nice to actually embrace it. And once I stopped fighting it, everything really fell into place.
So that got me thinking about this healthy lifestyle and about life in general. There are always going to be things in life that we don’t love. We may not love our job, or a person, to exercise or eat healthy foods while avoiding the junk. But if we are always fighting these things in our life, where is that going to get us? It’s just going to make us upset. It’s just going to make us wish for other things while ignoring the good.
So don’t fight it, embrace it.
Embracing the food log for me, changed things almost instantly. I finally stopped thinking about missing out on the cocktail if it was a night that I wanted a bigger dessert. And you know what, I enjoyed the heck out of my yummy dessert, didn’t miss the drink, and went to bed feeling great. By focusing how good I feel while eating nutritious foods my body needs, by staying to my number and knowing I can do this, by skipping that uncomfortable over-stuffed feeling when eating to much, I am embracing the food log. I’m finding the balance I needed, and I’m finding it easy, and doable. And I’ve also accepted the fact that it won’t always be perfect, and that’s ok too.
What can you stop fighting in your life? Try to embrace it, let go of the struggle, and just rock it 🙂
happyhealthyhealing 
I LOVE This and am so glad that you are finally embracing it, not fighting it and using it as a useful tool!! The way it should be! AND feeling satsified in your eats and your choices – ice cream or a drink, or whatever treat you plan for. Proud of you 🙂 XOXO
seriously friend, I’ll say it again — I can learn SO MUCH from you in the not fighting it department, especially when it comes to difficult people, difficult situations. I like to avoid vs. trying to overcome or embrace those things sometimes, and well maybe I should reconsider that tact. Just like you did with those little tweaks to your eating and your mindset overall, you’re like a new, refreshed you in just a week or two. little tweaks to be change. I love it!