Progress at a Snail's Pace

So it has been almost a week. One week into the healthiest day of my life. Let me reflect on the three areas I am supposed to be focused on.

Food: This hasn't been as hard as I thought it was going to be, in most cases. I have accepted that my current obligations require that I eat out. So I dropped $7.99 on the Eat This Not That app so I could at least make better decisions. I have also been pretty successful in choosing Subway or the like when fast food cannot be avoided.

So where are the challenges? Surprisingly, breakfast is a big challenge. Mornings are hectic for me and hectic might be putting it lightly. I need to figure out breakfasts that I can either prepare ahead or that I can grab on the go. So far that has been a jar of pineapple chunks and maybe a hunk of cheese from the gas station. I would love to hear your ideas for breakfast.

I attended a wedding this weekend and without guilt had a piece of wedding cake. I am not really a cake person, but I love wedding cake. I was able to eat it without guilt because I had been making good choices. The problem is once I let myself have a little leeway, I seem to lose focus and continue to justify bad choices. So I started Monday feeling a little defeated.

Then I stepped on the scale and was down 2 pounds. Not bad for small changes. (And I noticed that I feel and look less bloated since I have avoided fast food.) So I immediately felt a bit encouraged and was back on track. Even turned down a Dilly Bar that evening. (If it had been a Buster Bar, I might be telling a different story, though).

But tonight, I kind of lost perspective. I made good food choices all day and met a friend and her daughter for dinner. Since we both had toddlers with us, we opted for IHOP. Keeping in mind that IHOP receives an F grade in the Eat This Not That app, I figured if there is no right choice I should just choose what I normally would have. So I ate too much and now feel bloated and stuffed.

Just because a place offers options for good choices, doesn't mean I will make one.

Exercise: I wish I could tell you that I am exercising every other day and am almost in love with it. To be honest, I haven't really exercised at all. I have thought about it alot, but by the time A. is asleep I am exhausted. I will try and do better.

Sleep: I have done surprising well here also, with the exception of tonight. I have got seven hours of sleep every night. But here is the catch, I am not sure if it is because I am entering into a deeper sleep when I sleep more, but I am having a much harder time getting up than when I was sleeping less and exhausted all the time. I am consistently snoozing my alarm with no recollection of it happening. Luckily, work is pretty flexible and we have yet to miss breakfast at daycare.

Soda: Okay, I know this wasn't one of the original goals, but it is a biggie for me. I have stuck to my soda schedule. We are up to 6 pm and tomorrow it will be back to 5. So far so good. Keep your fingers crossed.

So to recap, I now have two rules of a healthy life
1.) No Nutella in the house. It is reserved for trips to France only.
2.) Just because a restaurant has some healthy alternatives, doesn't mean I should eat there. IHOP falls into this category. I am sure there will be others.

Starting Monday I am going to set small weekly goals. Any thoughts on what they should be? I would love to hear your suggestions.