Happy Wednesday - how is your health?? Mine on this particular Wednesday is a little haphazard. You mean 4 hours of sleep last night, a large coffee, 4 Diet Cokes, move popcorn and hamburger with fries at an old fav junk food restaurant is not optimal? Ummmm, no. This week has been full and as I have been powering through to do’s, cleaning out, preparing for my new jobs, some city work meetings, and big birthday celebrations - health has not been a top priority. Isn’t it always three steps forward one back?
The good news is my weight is feeling manageable - which is key for motivation and continued change. I am still attempting to make better choices when possible, such as thin wheat bagels or my burger today - no cheese and mushrooms instead. But it is not a focus….and when that happens, I start to lose ground.
Before I go completely negative nancy - let’s break it down.
EXERCISE
Actually - this area of effort is UP. I am thrilled to say that I ran the longest I have in awhile this week and it felt really good. The fall weather is my best friend right now and that run jazzed me up! I can do this - I do like this…..and although I had to walk a little bit, I ran and did not feel totally defeated when I was done. In fact I had some of those endorphins and carried an extra smile for the evening…..and even some extra energy! WHAT??? This stuff works! That was exciting.
And even when I am not running I am turning to exercise - another important win. On Monday I was in a funk….I could not shake frustrations with fake people sending fake birthday wishes to Danny (let’s be honest - sounds dumb, but my momma bear took over and I was mad), my to do list being replaced by other peoples ideas…and then with myself for being grumpy on Danny’s birthday! We had a fun night planned - why was I in a funk!!! See that rabbit hole? Let’s jump down it and get as irrational as possible.
So I did the first thing I thought of and walked and walked and walked. Quinlan and I came back winded and dripping in sweat. I said a few prayers and actually felt the frustrations start to dissipate. Then hit the shower and felt them start to melt away.
I am not perfect and it did not 100% cure me like “o -no big deal"…but I was able to break through my irritability enough to not make any snappy comments or knee jerk reactions. You know the kind that suddenly changes the whole tone of the day? Instead I looked at exercise as a release and me time (with my favorite 4 legged guy). That people is progress - especially compared to sitting on Facebook fuming at backhanded comments. #AMEN.
DIET
Today felt like a total wash…but prior to that I was proud of my efforts to 1. make healthy food accessible and 2. focused on foods that fill me up. Here is my frig stash which was a good starting place and great habit to work on, as next week starts the new full schedule.
Additionally I have been marveling over the incredible, edible egg. I love eggs! All types, all styles, plain, or lots of ingredients. They fill me up, give me energy and I look forward to cooking them (well as much as someone who would prefer to use their oven for sweater storage can look forward to cooking). This is a big step in the right direction as I am choosing things that I like and that curbs the hunger.
Hope you are finding some ways to keep healthy this week….even a little win - its a win!
