Hey Nerds,
I hope you all had a great
Thanksgiving (Canadian) weekend. I enjoyed mine very much, spending time
with family and eating delicious meals… morning, noon, and night. Homemade macaroni and cheese for breakfast
anyone?
Because of the holiday, there's only
going to be one post this week (which you're reading).
Maybe you already know what the
subject of this blog is going to be based on the title. I know for myself
and many others, it starts to become difficult to keep those healthy habits up
when we start to get near the end of the year. Think about it, we've got
Thanksgiving, and then Halloween, then Christmas work dinners start in
November, and more Christmas/Holiday get togethers, then Christmas itself, and the grand finale of New Year's,
leaving you feeling like "oh good lawrd, I can’t pull up my pants no
more!".
If my healthy habits I've been implementing for the last couple of years
were dominoes set up in a row, then they all just got knocked over in the last
two weeks. One habit falls to the wayside, and soon I'm like "f* it,
I'll just drop everything and start over at some unknown time". I
have another post in the drafts about my health journey, and I think if I
published that one first it would help you understand what those habits are...
but since I'm trying to get back on the wagon right now, I thought this post
would be better for this week.
The first domino that tipped...
Ok, so the first healthy habit that I dropped was that I
started eating late night snacks again, which I usually do not do, except for
the weekends if we have company or we're watching a movie on Netflix. And
what did I start snacking on? well, I wouldn't be so concerned if I said
something like, apples and grapes. But my snack of choice was kettle
chips and roasted peanuts. And those chips dipped in sour cream…. And then why
not add in some corn chips dipped in nacho cheese sauce?
And then...
My second healthy habit I kicked to the curb was getting my
morning workout in. Since mid-August I
had been waking up at 5:15 am Monday to Friday to do a 20-25 minute workout (3
days strength training, and 2 days cardio).
But last week I did some extra house cleaning projects after my kids went to
bed, and in the morning I felt too tired to get up and workout. BTW, I work out at home because you don’t
need to leave the house, comb your hair, brush your teeth, and wear “nice” gym cloths.
Lastly...
The last domino to fall was watching what I eat. I typically will watch what I eat all week
and on the weekend I’m more lax, but, my “weekend” lasted about 10-15 days of indulging
in whatever I wanted to eat.
Wake up Call
It’s not like all this stuff was happening and then it
just dawned on me what I had done. I
knew every step of the way, the voice in my head saying “you know, you shouldn’t
eat directly from the chip bag”, and “you don’t need to finish that chocolate
bar in one sitting”, and “you just had a filling lunch, you don’t need to go
grab a big slice of pizza from the employee kitchen”. So today, the day after our Thanksgiving, I’m
committed again to following my three healthy habits:
- No evening snacking
- Maintain eating healthy wholesome foods and stop when you’re full
- Wake up and get my workout done
- Try to go to bed at a reasonable time... 11 would be ideal, but it's usually around 11:30. So much YouTube and fiction to read and so little time.
I’m getting back on my wagon that includes these steps… but, Halloween is coming, and I
need to "help" my kids eat all the candy they collect. J
Tell me in the comments below, do you have difficulty with keeping up healthy habits once we get to the end of the year? Do you cave and enjoy it and just address it in January? Do you try your best to "find balance"?
Oh, gosh, Nerdy Girl, I can relate and I don't have kids who go trick or treating. I went on a two week road trip and tossed everything to the wind, knowing full well what I was doing eating-wise and I only exercise-walked one day out of the 14, and there was a lot of time sitting on my butt driving. We put 5700 miles on the car. We had a constant supply of junk food in the car with us, the kind of junk I "never" buy - Reese's pbutter cups, chips, cookies. One "healthy" thing - nuts & dried fruit snack packets, some cheese, and applies. Then I didn't deny myself anything I thought looked wonderful on a menu and enjoyed it thoroughly and usually had a drink and dessert. So, I slept most of yesterday, but walked this morning for 40 minutes and then worked in the garden for 2 hours, and will pretty much have a "zero point" (Weight Watchers) dinner tonight with fish and several types of vegetables. I knew before the trip that I would blow off everything, but I also knew that when I returned I would snap back - - until I have company for the next 3 weekends and that means a lot of cooking/eating. I think the important thing is to know and tell yourself that you will resume healthy eating, and really stick to it. It's ok to give yourself some leeway, but I think what we're both saying is why do we overload. I also think that not giving up is important, i.e., instead of saying, "Well, I blew it this time, so what the heck, why not more?" say - "Come to your senses, girl, you know what you can do."
ReplyDeleteLainie, are you following weight watchers freestyle too? I enjoy it, I'm glad they've made options like beans and chicken breast 0 points.
DeleteOh, I didn't see this until I started looking at your previous posts. I made a comment on the new post today. Yes, I love the new program. Lost almost 40 lbs in about 4+ months. Tony, however, joined this year and hasn't been too successful. He says it's because I keep cooking things that are too good. He just needs to cut down on his quantities and he hasn't been tracking. Funny, I found a nut on the floor going into the office downstairs, so I asked him where it came from and he said from his secret stash...he said he gets hungry when he is working until 3, 4, 5 in the morning.
DeleteSeasons and holidays can definitely make things challenging.
ReplyDelete