Trying to Amaze Myself

So if you took me up on my challenge (and I am hoping SOMEONE did/does/will), you have been recording food intake.  So now the question becomes what to do with the information?  

You're first instinct may be to hide the information and pretend you never saw it.  I was there.  However, knowledge is power.  You have a very powerful tool in your possession now.

So here are a few things to consider and to ask yourself:

How did I choose what I ate?  Our food choices are influenced by a number of factors:  money, time, knowledge, and motivation.  Let's look at each one individually.

First of all the obvious one is money.  It is a tough economy for just about everyone.  More people than not are living paycheck to paycheck.  This definitely influences your choices in what you choose to eat.  The unfortunate reality is, healthier food costs more.  First of all much of it is perishable, which definitely changes the game some.  Cheap, processed food has longer shelf life, requires less work to keep fresh, and is often in a ready to eat state.  However, it is also full of preservitives, added sodium, fat, and many times sugar. 

I am not your financial adviser.  Heck, I am not really anything more than someone that has been there and done that.  However, I would highly suggest that if your log is loaded with these types of food you prepare yourself to change the way you think to change the way you live.  More about that later.

Second is time.  If you are (uh) alive you are probably quite busy.  We cram a milion things into a 24 hour period.  We are out and about more so now than ever before.  Due to circumstances I was constantly on the road, therefore, eating on the road.  This definitely led to much of my weight gain.  If you are unable to get your schedule to change, you are going to have to plan around it.  Being prepared is a tenant of success in weight loss journeys.   

Do you think you do not have time to eat?  Another huge culprit which I wll address in greater detail as we move forward.  Just as importantly as WHAT we eat is when we eat.  So as you look at your log, did you eat regular, scheduled meals or did you sporadically cram something into your already busy schedule.  No lectures pending.  Just be aware.

Next up is knowledge.  How well do you know how to prepare food?  Someone with limited cooking skills may see reflection in that of what they choose to eat.  How much do you understand about nutrition?  I am amazed how little people understand about food, what is in it, what they should be looking for, etc.  However, if you go searching for this information you get about 60 million pieces of this and that thrown at you.  No wonder you are overwhelmed.  My goal in writing this is to break it down into more simplier issues for you.  You have to start somewhere.  At first we are going to keep it really simple.  We'll get complicated wtih time.  Baby steps.

Motivation.  Again none of this is a reason to berate yourself.  However, you do have to do a mental check in at times.  How badly do you really want to lose this weight.  Enough to get out of your comfort zone and challenge yourself?  I hope so, because you have no other options.  However, I like many of you have a chronic illness.  This definitely presents challenges and can be a motivaitonal killer.  A momentary reality check.  What you have done up until now has not worked.  If it did, you would not be reading this.  However, you now have an opportunity in front of you.  You are here.  You made the decision to join this journey.  Pat yourself on the back.  Be proud of you.  I am not going to tell you this is easy.  I am not going to tell you that you will get instant results.  What I will tell you is that it is worth the effort.

So if you are logging, keep going.  If you haven't been doing it, please start again.  If you are reading me for the first time, I invite you to go back and read the archives and get to speed.  Use this time between now and the next time I appear to think about you.  Contrary to popular belief, there is no one size fits all diet plan.  To succeed you must understand you.  That is what this exercise is about.

My goal is to log in about once a week.  So take a week to think about what you are seeing on the log about how you eat, why you eat, when you eat, where you eat.  Think about you can change and what you are willing to change.  Praise yourself for taking steps to improve your life.  You are still here with me.  Failure is not falling down, it is failing to start again.  Have a great week.