Creating the Habit - The Struggle is Real

The one thing I had an issue with while traveling the last few weeks was my diet and exercise (or lack of exercise).  I like to think I did well for the most part. I did have a few cheat days (ok maybe more than a few). The struggle is one we all have. I figure its okay every so often, but I have to not let the cheat days become part of my daily habit. 

Snacking when I am bored is a problem. Probably a left over from the days when I used to smoke. I snacked on bacon jerky (best invention since sliced bread) and sunflower seeds. Both items are no carb, healthy, and provide needed protein.  I drank water primarily. On occasion I would have a diet coke or coffee. Except for my stop at Portillos, I tried to eat low carb and definitely gluten free when we stopped.  When I stayed at my sister's house for a few days before I made the return trip; she helped me with the gluten free, but the sugar free was more difficult.  I also had wine, lots of wine with my sister and rest of my family. The first alcohol in over a month.  I also cheated when I took my daughter out for lunch after church and splurged having some creme brulee. We also tried this crazy appetizer lobster dogs.  They were like corn dogs but made with lobster.  It was delicious. 

My purpose isn't supposed to make us crave all the bad stuff we eat, but to show that we are all human and well we all struggle to do what we know we shouldn't do.  When I got home I found that I gained back about 3 pounds.

I've been doing quite a bit of research and I love one of the things the Today Show has been doing since the beginning of the year.  Take the quiz on their page. See what possible diet might actually work for you. I am going to combine Craig and Hoda's diet plans into my current one. I think I will benefit from both.  Craig's lack of time and need to learn better stress management is so much like me, but Hoda's age and metabolism issues is also something I am dealing with at my age.
Craig's Plan
Hoda's Plan
Jenna's Plan

Its been fun watching the Today Show and the challenges these three are going through to succeed.  I loved the idea for Hoda that Joy had for her. Joy had Hoda put in a ziploc bag all the stuff she was trying to snack on throughout the day. She did this and was amazed at how much she snacked on all day.  I thought this was a good technique to see how much you really eat. The other enjoyment is the food they are making and getting their co-workers to try.  One of which a friend of mine tried and said was delicious.  Try this recipe for pizza with a cauliflower crust Pizza

After being on vacation and traveling, I've noticed its been difficult to get back into a routine. I started drinking wine again, but I think I am going to cut it out of the diet. I think it heightens my cravings for things I should not eat.I also realized that even though its been almost 2 years since I quit smoking that I still have an issue. I noticed with the way I was snacking on sunflower seeds this week at work. I couldn't stop eating them when it was getting crazy busy. I realized that I was replacing the smoking during the stressful moments with the sunflower seeds. While its healthier its an indication that I have some bad habits I still need to break. I also had some cravings for chocolate this week. I broke down and had some and thankfully I haven't gained weight back, but I definitely need to focus on the next 4 weeks as my time to get over the bad habits I've developed in my life.

I have to realize I am no longer 20 and my metabolism is never going to be the same. And while this might be the case I know that I can return to the body I had even 5 years ago. (I look at old pictures and its very depressing to see how great I looked and I laugh when I think I thought I was fat then.)I know I am not alone in this revelation.  So the fight continues.

Traveling

The past two weeks were long but needed to restore some of my sanity.  Life at work was more than stressful as was trying to determine whether I was going to be traveling for work for 4 months or not. I found out the night before I was supposed to leave that I was not going to be gone and while I was disappointed I was looking at the silver lining that maybe, just maybe I wasn't supposed to go as there is so much I need to do right now. But first things first.

Regardless of whether I was going to be gone for training for work for 4 months, I had to take my oldest back to college for his last year of school. It was very bittersweet. He spent the last semester with me taking classes at the local college and it was wonderful. I had both my boys here. The only person missing to make my home complete was my daughter. She was off at school enjoying her Junior year of high school and creating memories. Well, my oldest had so much stuff I made the decision months ago I would torture him one last time and we would drive half way across the country to return him to school. He might disagree, but I enjoyed the one on one time with him. I realized when I dropped him off that it was probably one of the last times I would get to spend so much quality time with him.

So off we went. First stop was to visit with my Aunt Jamie. She is the oldest of the sisters on my mom's side of the family. She is my Godmother and the favorite.  We had a delicious dinner and then hit the road and stayed the night in Palm Springs. I didn't realize until the next morning that we were on a golf course. I swore once again (I did the last time I spent the night in Palm Springs) that I would return for a week of pure spoiling. We took off the next morning for our next stop. Of course my son who was not happy about driving couldn't understand why I wanted to stop for the night and not keep driving. Well, gee honey, you see dear ol mom is getting old. We can't go non-stop like that anymore. My legs swell, I need comfort, proper rest, etc...  Funny side not here, when he complained to his dad about not going straight through his dad said almost exact same thing I did. The best part of this leg of the trip was getting to stop at Portillos.  If you haven't had Portillos oh my goodness you so need to. This is where it got difficult. Until this point, I was able to avoid carbs, gluten, etc and even at Portillos I just tried to eat the beef, but well the dipped Italian Beef sandwich made it soooo difficult.  I ate part of the bread and within minutes regretted it.

We really live in a beautiful country. I rediscover new things on each of my trips. Watching the sun set over the desert and mountains was so majestic.  We arrived at our destination, again in the dark, but were able to get a quick meal at Applebees and then off to sleep. The next leg of the trip introduced me to southwest Texas. I wasn't missing anything. The only thing missing was the warmth. As we continued to drive east the temps dropped to freezing. Imagine my joy the next day when we got to drive through the snow as we headed north out of Texas. I was happy when our drive came to an end, but I was very sad to drop my son off.  He is off to do great wonderful things, but I will miss him.

Tomorrow I will talk about my few days around there and when my return home.  I am amazed I still want sunflower seeds and bacon jerky. LOL

Is This You? It is Definitely Me!

"Do You struggle with Cravings, Low blood sugar or Hypoglycemia? - Do you Skip meals or breakfast? - Do you get Hungry between meals? - Do you eat more than two hours after waking up in the morning? - Are you irritable or moody if meals are delayed? - Do you get sleepy or energized after a meal? - Do you get shaky or lightheaded if you don’t eat every couple of hours? - Do you deal with mid-morning or afternoon slumps? - Do you wake up in the middle of the night and can’t fall back asleep? - Do you drink coffee, soft drinks, or energy drinks to keep you going? - Are you using stimulants such as ephedra, ma huang, guarana, kola, bitter oranges? - Do you regularly eat processed, refined, fast food? - Do you wait more than an hour to eat after a workout? - Are you under lots of stress or adrenal fatigue?"

Oh my goodness! YES! YES! YES! This was SO ME!

I just read an article, Test Your Metabolism, this article describes everything I've struggled with and the reasons why.  

"If you answered “Yes” to more than a couple of these questions I would suspect you’re predominately burning carbs and proteins instead of stored body fats. In essence your body isn’t functioning the way God designed it. You are always going to have a difficult time losing weight and “keeping it off”. There are other possible health challenges too.

A huge misconception about losing weight and revving up your metabolism is to think that all those calories you are burning are coming from the breakdown of stored body fats. That’s not the case. You can burn calories all day long, but if you are burning carbs and proteins you are going to always struggle with fatigue, weight gain, cravings, mood swings and other hormonal imbalances."

This is the best explanation to date as to why I workout for hours and nothing changed.  This validates more than anything the changes my Dr suggested I make. Its added motivation that now the time I spend working out will not be a waste of my time.

A few updates. The pages are not pretty, but as I find links to good articles, recipes, etc... that I don't necessarily feel I need to post I am going to add it to a separate page. You can find the link to this page, Health and Diet Changes on the right-side column under Pages.

I would also enjoy some feedback. Tell me your struggles, what is working for you or not working for you? Ideas are very welcome. Comments are welcome!

Happy New Year!

The New Year

Hello 2017! I welcome you with open arms. I had a wonderful evening saying good bye to 2016 last night with the neighbors. I was lucky when I bought my house that it came with some amazing neighbors (we have that one that we all want gone you know "the Klopecks").  

 

I did a pretty good job of sticking on course with the food and drinks. I only had a small bit of Champagne at midnight and one of the guests brought these amazing tasting gluten free multi-seed crisps.  They were tasty with spinach dip. I also snacked on the pulled pork. Stuck to water and coffee. First New Years in I can't remember how long I didn't drink. I stopped drinking alcohol a month ago. First let me say I only stopped drinking because I didn't need the excess calories, or sugars. I've decided I won't add alcohol back in to my diet until I hit my first main goal weight. More on the weight loss goals later. 

I think most can say 2016 was a tumultuous year full of surprises. I know for me it definitely was a year I would like to forget. I have hope that 2017 is a better year. I hope to find a better way to handle the stress I've been under and achieve the health goals I started to work towards at the end of 2016.

When I reflect back on 2016 I am grateful for what is really the only important part of life (God and Family) but I am most grateful for the time I had with my children. The road trip 'Operation Battleship Roadtrip" through the western part of the states (the route resembled a battleship); the weekend in Vegas with my sons, sister and her husband; the day in Sacramento with my son that wants to be a chef and taking him to a very fancy schmancy restaurant to introduce him to the finer foods in life. I am blessed with the friends in my life. I am blessed that I now work for who I work for (although when told I was transferring last year I was fighting it every step of the way). They showed me this past week what taking care of individuals actually means. I am grateful I have a roof over my head even though it can be a struggle at times to make ends meet.

I don't want to dwell on the bad of 2016 and unfortunately some of it will follow me into 2017, but I have faith the bad will become good.  I always look at the glass half-full. I am forever the optimistic pessimist. I hope for the best and expect the worst. 

As I look forward to 2017 I want to accomplish the following:

My list in no particular order:
Completing my required job related education;
Meeting my weight loss goals;
Becoming debt free (minus the mortgage);
Improving my health (lower blood sugar and lower bad cholesterol);
Finding new ways to deal with stress;
Read more books (I love to read, but seldom have the free time to do so);
Remove the negative people from my life;
And maybe finally finish unpacking my house from my move almost 4 years ago;
Which leads to the last goal:
Unclutter the house and remove the stuff I don't need, use, or that no longer brings me joy.