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.

A Mistake, A Lesson Learned and a Plan for the Soda Habit

Day 1: Done.

Seriously, it wasn't so bad. But let's review the highlights.

A Mistake: I ate some restaurant leftovers for dinner. I justified it by telling myself that the portions were small. However, the sodium content was large. So I felt pretty yucky after. But I hadn't exercised yet, so I figured that would make me feel a bit better. Which brings me to...

The Stars Are Aligned Against Me: During my physical this morning, my doctor was saying that the best thing we can do for our kids in terms of exercise is to have them see us exercising. I usually exercise after A. (my daughter) goes to bed. This is a problem because I usually end up falling asleep too. But I am just neurotic enough to envision her hand getting caught in the treadmill, so I tell myself I should wait till she is asleep. Actually, she is pretty timid about everything and won't go near the treadmill while it is running.

So with the doctor's advice on my mind. I headed to the treadmill for my promised 30 minutes before she went to bed. A. came in and began playing with her Little People town in between long periods of staring at the treadmill. (In all fairness, up until now the treadmill had mostly been filled with Little People stuff. So I think she felt a little like an invaded country.) But as she played I began to smell that odor that tells a parent no matter how much you are committed to the exercise, you are not going to be able to get through it until you have changed a diaper. Well, to make a long story short, my daughter, who has only had two previous "blowouts" in her life, left my work out pants covered with a not so lovely substance and a playroom floor in need of bleach wipes. At this point, I abandoned the treadmill and vowed to try again tomorrow.

Lesson Learned: Even at the age of 41, I cannot be trusted to have Nutella in the house. It is the devil's spread.

The Soda Plan: In the spirit of full disclosure, a normal day for me includes more than 150 ounces of diet soda. I love it. I really do. I have read all the articles. I know it is terrible for me. I know it isn't really helping me diet. I know. I really do. But did I mention that I love it?

So here is the plan. Beginning yesterday I am going to cut off my soda drinking one hour earlier until I am no longer drinking soda. Tonight I can drink soda until 11 pm, tomorrow until 10 pm. With this pattern, I will be soda free by June 19. This is a hard one for me... I really do enjoy my Diet Pepsi.