Sara’s Day 2 – Snooze I Lose…

My mother taught me to be honest, so…..today was a total ZONK.

I’ve learned over the years to be transparent when leading Weight Watchers meetings – and not pretend or presume that when one gets to weight goal, life is peachy.  Today, life for me was the pits.  Here’s why:

Contrary to what I have believed in the past, having PMS is not a ticket to eat endlessly. Today was a crabby day for me. The good news is I have recently become aware of these girl-cravings (chocolate, grease, Diet Coke) and have made valiant efforts to ignore these cravings only to raid the refrigerator and all cupboards and cabinets in search of a suitable substitute. The unfortunate lesson has been that all efforts to substitute still left me searching for THE craving. Needless to say that over the years, I have prowled all kitchen surfaces and eaten a whole lot of things that didn’t meet the need, then ended up overindulging (read: borderline abusing) the craved item anyway. I seem to make progress little by little each month since I’ve been practicing mindful eating. So today I ate the craving but made a few small changes and am satisfied with the compromise.  It was meeting night for my husband and I so (because I didn’t plan ahead) we ordered pizza and breadstix from our favorite local pizza hot spot. But here are a few changes I made:

  • I enjoyed cream and sugar in my morning coffee (instead of my typical black) to indulge my sweet tooth
  • I ordered a medium pizza to go (instead of the all-you-can-eat buffet) which limits the consumption by sharing between four of us (and saves us $$$)!
  • I had half-glass of soda (instead of 2-3 glasses) and finished the meal with water
  • I cut my pizza slices in half (instead of mindlessly gulping down two big slices and reaching for more)
  • I took the time to TASTE and SAVOR each bite of pizza, breadstix and soda.
  • I listened to the excited chatter from my kids about their day at school and my hubby’s work day (instead of being focused on shoveling in the carbs and missing the conversation).

I’ve also learned to acknowledge that days like this aren’t ideal, but are also far-and-fewer between too. I have already forgiven myself for the slip ups, and acknowledged the learnings and adjustments I’ve made.

I started the day with Yoga (a new thing for me), and plan to end my day with a few minutes of peaceful prayer and meditation. I’m learning to be kind and patient with myself, even when the day didn’t go as planned. After all, a little kindness goes a long way in learning to love oneself again.

Kindness, forgiveness, encouragement. Three things I practice each day for better health. You should too.

Hugs,

Sara

One Comment

  1. jqrose02@gmail.com'
    November 13, 2013 at 9:49 am

    Sometimes it’s hard to be honest with yourself. We all have bad days. You gave us excellent tips to work through it. Thank you.