So, it's Friday. We got back from vacation on Sunday. You'd think I'd be back into my routine by now, eating healthy again, getting in my exercise. Nope. I'm still in vacation mode. Still having dessert just every night, like I did on the cruise. Still saying I'm too busy to get in my exercise.
Last night, I had a chance to sit in on a live chat led by Shay Sorrells, former Biggest Loser contestant. The chat itself was pretty crazy, with dozens of people in the room, phrases getting repeated, and several people "talking" at once. A couple of things that Shay said stuck with me, though. She said that we need to change our mindset, and not see it as a "diet" that we go onto and off of... or as a race with a finish line. It's a lifelong journey. She also said, "If you're not going to do this for yourself, nobody will!"
It was pretty late when the chat ended and I dragged my tired bones to bed. As I stepped into the dark bedroom, I thought about how I have routine down for quietly getting ready for bed. Ron has usually been asleep for an hour or two by the time I come to bed, so I tiptoe in and get ready for bed without turning any lights on. The Lavender Aromatherapy hand lotion that I always put on at bedtime is always on a certain corner of the dresser, so I can find it in the dark. PJs are under the pillow, so I can find them easily. Last night, there was a glitch in my routine, though. When I pulled off my sweatshirt, the hood or a sleeve bumped a picture frame off the nightstand. The frame clattered noisily to the floor as I winced. I whispered "sorry" and tried my best to finish up my routine without any more crashes.
As I lay in bed, thinking over the day, how badly I'd done with my diet that day, and the things that Shay said in the chat, I realized how illogical my thinking can be. I start out the day with a healthy breakfast, then sometime in the afternoon, I tend to give in to temptation. Then, the "oh, I've gone off my diet, so I might as well enjoy this forbidden food and start fresh in the morning" mentality kicks in.
I don't let that mentality kick in for other aspects of my life. Take my little mess-up with knocking the picture frame off the nightstand. I "went off track" by making noise when I was trying to be quiet. As soon as I messed up, I apologized and went back to being as quiet as possible. I didn't throw my hands up in the air and yell, "Yippee! I can make as much noise as I want tonight, and tomorrow I'll get back to being quiet when I come to bed!" (Maybe that's why we're still married after 25 years!)
When I got up this morning, I spent some time reading The Beck Diet Solution again. It's a great book, and very helpful... but it's like being back in school again. I've skimmed through the book a couple of times, but haven't done it "by the book" yet. In order to really benefit from it, you need to do the assignments. The book is set up for a 6-week course, where you do writing assigments most days, and review those assignments on later days. Today I wrote up a list of the advantages to losing weight, and I need to review those advantages on a daily basis, especially when I'm facing temptations.
So, this time I'm going to go through the book day by day, doing the writing assignments and reviewing them as prescribed. I typed up my list of the advantages of losing weight and set up to have them e-mailed to myself every day by http://www.memotome.com/
Here's one of the quotes from The Beck Diet Solution that really stood out for me this morning:
"If you can identify the triggers that evoke sabotaging thoughts and lead you to eat in unhelpful ways, you can minimize your exposure to them or change your response to them."
My goals for this 6-week course: to follow Shay's advice and change my mindset to that of a person committed to a healthy lifestyle, with healthy eating and regular exercise!
I'll keep you informed of my progress!
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