Weekend Rewind

Oh, how I wish this were true! Just the opposite though – gotta make every day count toward you goal.

Weekends are always the hardest when you are trying to change your bad eating habits in my opinion. There is something about the lack of schedule and consistency that makes everything more difficult. Having an almost 7 month old definitely gives me SOME routine in the sense that he usually wakes up around the same time and goes to bed around the same time. But really, everything else is up in the air. On the weekends, we had really fallen into the habit of going out for breakfast on both Saturday and Sunday. And I would say it’s pretty simple to eat Primal style for breakfast (bacon and eggs, please!) but it’s always healthier and cheaper to just eat at home. Over the past few months, eating out has just been the norm on weekends. We didn’t buy enough food to cook meals on the weekend and it just was easier to get something while we were out and about.

But the fun has to end, folks. I just can’t eat out every meal on the weekends and expect to be staying on track with my goals. That makes me sad, because I love to eat out. Not that my husband isn’t an amazing cook, but there is just something magical about going out to eat. Sort of like the difference between seeing a really good movie at home or seeing it in a theater. You still walk away thinking it’s a good movie, but the theater experience just was bigger, better, MORE! I have to make peace with eating at home. After the new year, my husband and I are going to pick a month in which we will NOT eat out. I will probably cry a little bit, because it sounds terrible. But sometimes the things that are the hardest to give up are the things you need to give up MOST. And perhaps after not eating out for a month – it will be easier to stay on track with just eating out once a week or whatever.

After this weekend, I’m pretty proud of myself. We ate out for breakfast on Saturday and had dinner at home with some friends. Both breakfast and dinner were on track with our primal habits. On Sunday, I had some raw walnuts for breakfast and we met friends out for lunch. This was going to be my “cheat meal.” But instead of going ALL OUT on my cheat, I just cheated a little bit. We went to a barbeque place, so getting meat was pretty simple. I ordered pulled pork and a side salad and sweet potato fries. I didn’t eat the texas toast that came along with it. So my cheat were the fries (I can eat sweet potatoes but I should probably not eat fried things in general!) and the southwestern dressing probably wasn’t the best either. But I didn’t have a large portion of it. Our eating mates ordered fried pickles for an appetizer which is my FAVORITE app from this place. But I didn’t have a single one. Just for that alone I should get a prize!! I also had 1 beer which was a cheat. After I had it, I immediately felt congested. Crazy, huh?

But the rest of the weekend? Totally on track. I felt like I was less snacky and in general, less hungry this weekend than normal. We ate 2 meals each day vs. 3 and I felt fine. This week is going to be super challenging since we have TWO Thanksgiving dinners to attend. I haven’t decided what I’ll do yet about staying Primal. But I think my overall goal for both meals is to not indulge in giant portions of anything that isn’t Primal. Just have a taste of something if it’s not on track vs making it the main event. I hope I have good news to report back next week.

For my first week back on Primal, I am down 4.5 pounds from my starting weight. Now this week, weighing sounds like a scary thing since we’ll be going through a major holiday! So we’ll see how I survive. But in the end, moderation is the biggest takeaway here, not perfection…because perfection ISN’T real life.

Primal Progress such as NOT eating a cookie

Well, I know it’s only 3 days in to being back on Primal track. But the first few weeks of any new challenge is the hardest, so I thought checking in would be a good idea.

Overall, i’m feeling good. I haven’t had too many cravings – but I know it’s only been three days! I will say that I’m so much more aware of how temptation is everywhere. I went to a meeting on Monday and what did they have? Sodas (UGH I wanted a free diet coke sooo.bad.), cookies (work cookies are MY FAVORITE. As in, I want to steal them and eat more later). And brownies (just stab me).

I maintained total control. I was all “in your face, cookies. I don’t need you!”

And I didn’t. I brought my water and focused on the content of the meeting, not on how good those cookies and brownies looked that everyone else was eating. I am not everyone else right now, I am a woman on a mission. And the only thing that will come between me and my goals…is me, right? (cue cheers from the crowd!)

I often hesitate to make any final decisions because I like to be open to changing things up, I like flexibility and the option to change my mind (hello fellow Perceivers for my MBTI folk). So making a hard and fast decision to go back to Primal eating is a challenge in itself. I’m really glad we built in the cheat day because knowing myself – I would probably crumble apart the first time I screwed up and throw in the towel. But life isn’t all or nothing, although I think we are all guilty of acting like it is sometimes.

I’m going into this new challenge with the idea that it’s going to be HARD. I’m not going to get to eat cookies everyday (I might need counseling about this). There will be some weeks where more than one fun event happens and I’ll have to  choose which thing will be my cheat and find a way to stay on track at the other one. In the end, there will be times I screw up and accidentally have a bite of cake that someone brought in before I realize the error of my ways. But that is okay. There have been a lot of things in my life this past year that have been way more challenging than this (like figuring out how to take care of a newborn) and I can figure it out.

I really wish I just didn’t care about food so much. I envy people who can really view food as just “energy” or “fuel” vs. an opportunity to experience food because it’s so delicious. It seems like changing up what you eat wouldn’t be such a big deal if I could get to that place. I remember when I was doing the Primal eating consistently last year and I definitely got to the place where I enjoyed foods differently. Like today I snacked on organic raw walnuts. Me from 2 years ago would have thrown up in her mouth a little at that idea.

But I like them now…I just needed to give myself the chance to try them. So I know that with this challenge, there is also great opportunity to discover new things about what I like and what I’m capable of (apparently NOT ending a sentence in a preposition is NOT on that list).

So as I head into the last half of this week – I’m feeling optimistic. And maybe I’m not so scared of the scale on Friday!

Back to my Primal Ways

Today is my first day back “on a plan.” I’ve been stewing about what to do for the past month or so. I think part of meeting health goals (or really any type of goal) is best served by knowing what type of person you are and then coming up with a game plan that meshes well with your personality type. I am a pretty laid back person, but when it comes to health and fitness – I know that I need a regimen. Something to put on the calendar, a schedule – a guide. Books to read ABOUT the plan. You get the point. This is in severe contrast to my actual personality and it took me awhile to figure that out about myself.

So I’ve been hesitant to commit to a plan because I feel like my life no longer revolves around me, and that makes sticking to any sort of personal schedule really difficult impossible. As I’ve  been reflecting on things I’ve done in the past and what worked, what didn’t work – what I hated and all that fun stuff, I kept on arriving back at the Primal inspired eating habits I took on right before I got pregnant. The first few weeks were not fun, but once I got past all the carb and sugar cravings, I felt really good. I wasn’t starving all the time. I got to eat good things, even if they were different from what I had eaten in the past. But making a decision to give up grains/wheat is a big one. It’s not something I was ready to do right away after returning to it again – all my cravings are in full effect and the idea of not eating sandwiches and bread sticks seems really terrible and hard.

Then I remembered that when I was eating Primal – I stopped having those cravings and it wasn’t so bad. And I gave myself one cheat meal a week so if I felt like I HAD to indulge (like say….my birthday cake or something!) – I had the option to do so and I could plan for it. It really all boils down to just committing to something. For me. I realized over the past few weeks that I’ve stopped making any decisions for ME since I’ve become a mom. And now I understand all those moms I would see on What Not To Wear who had gained weight and lost touch with their own sense of individuality. I can totally see how that happens now. It’s easy to lose sight of your own goals and interests when you have someone else 100% dependent on you to live.

And that decided things for me. I can’t give up on me…on my goals and my own personal sense of happiness. Being healthy, or at least working toward that goal was a big part of who I was pre-baby. And I have to find that part of myself again. Instead of waiting for some “return to normal life” switch to flip on (not going to happen), I just have to jump in and figure it out as I go. I’ve done Primal before, I can do it again.

So today is a new day. A new start. This is my first decision for me that I’ve made in awhile and I think it’s a good one. Today is our return to Primal eating in an effort to be healthier and have more energy for my ever more difficult to juggle schedule. I think starting with an eating habit makeover is easier than trying to find time to work out right now, so this is at least a start! And as research shows – diet alone can be a major impact on weight loss and exercise is bonus points. I want those bonus points, but not making it my focus right now.

My first goal is to lose the baby weight I’m still carrying around. I forgot to get on the scale this morning to having a starting point – but my estimate is somewhere between 10-12 pounds. And then once I’m there, I’ll set my next goal! As usual, I start my fitness and healthy eating plans at terrible times – like holiday season. I guess I like a challenge!