No more f-ing around

There comes a breaking point for everyone where you just have to say to yourself, “That’s it. I’m done with f-ing around with my bad [eating, exercising, or whatever it is that’s making you unhappy and unhealthy] habits. This has to change right now."  I’m at that point today.  I had a really great 4 days of what I call total debauchery with eating and drinking in Tofino. Yes, I got out for a run twice, a really hard, dripping sweat run uphill by the ocean. But working out every day for an hour does nothing towards my weight loss goals if I eat crap. Crap meaning a lot of stuff with refined sugar (such as chocolate, marshmallows), carbs (pasta, potatoes), booze (love champagne, beer, anything that’s cold and carbonated and alcoholic!), and very few green or colorful veggies.  Sometimes I wonder, why do I even bother working out if I can’t get my eating in order.  Oh, and breastfeeding burning up to 500 calories a day is either a myth or it does a psychological number on my brain thinking that, “hey, I am burning calories just feeding my baby so I can eat this {cake, bag of popcorn, etc.} and I’ll just magically burn it off!”  Well for me it just doesn’t happen. 

So I enjoyed myself, made some not so great food choices and today the scale is NOT my friend.  I’m frustrated, annoyed, and motivated to eat better.  I need see that number go down pretty soon or I am going to give up…I know myself well enough to know this is what I do when I don’t see progress.  I’ve been back to working out for 6 weeks and it’s very depressing to have not lost 1 pound.  I have more muscle definition in my shoulders and arms, I can run 8K without dying, so there is some progress –all is totally not lost.  But nobody wants to work this hard and not see pounds come off.

Michele (BDHQ Director) suggested a couple weeks ago that I should just eat clean for 72 hours, because that’s how long it takes to start feeling more energetic and not wanting that feeling to go away…I know this from personal experience but it is just so hard to start again for some reason.  She said, “sometimes just to get started you need to make some rules for yourself and stick them on your fridge.”  So, it’s taken a couple weeks for that to absorb but as of today I am going to do this. 

My goal: clean eating for 72 hours.  Lean protein in every meal. 5-6 small meals a day. 3L of water. 2 servings of carbs a day, preferably upfront in the day and not late at night. No sugar (except in fruits). I’m not counting calories.  I may have a glass of wine, but it’s not going to be a free pour. This guideline is going on my fridge tonight.  I want you all to hold me to it, and don’t give me excuses for failure!