My Journey With Weight Loss – Making Choices

Another successful day of training at my new interval level. At the end of the session I thought, good run. I just can’t help myself now. I am at the point where there is very little I need to do to get me motivated on training days, I just remind myself of things as I run such as ‘you’re gong to run a 10k’. Those types of mantras just keep me going and by not thinking about how may more intervals or how much longer I have to run it allows me to focus and get to the end.

I wanted to talk a bit about choices you can encounter. For example, as I have often mentioned I don’t consider myself to be on a diet. Rather, I just became more cognizant of what I eat each day. I still feel I eat way more than I did before I started this journey, I just eat better. But, sometimes I have to make a choice as to whether I want something I don’t normally eat and whether I should somehow offset that or not.

Yesterday was take out Wednesday where my family supports local restaurants and it was my pick for what we should order. I opted for Chinese food as I hadn’t had that in so long. I also recognized if that was my choice I had some other options to make. Should I just take a cheat day and not worry about the extra calories and carbs or should I strategically offset with what I would be eating for other meals. I chose the latter though I will note I don’t do that 100 % of the time but absolutely most of the time. So, I adjusted what I had for breakfast and lunch opting for super healthy low carb meals so that I could indulge a little at dinner. Usually when I am presented with this kind of choice I ask myself which is going to make me feel the best, just eating that ‘bad’ meal and knowing eventually I’ll work it off (though I normally feel bad when that is the decision I have made) or compensate a bit beforehand so that I can actually enjoy the meal. I always tend to feel better when I can actually enjoy the meal instead of having that voice of guilt in my head.

Making choices that work sometime require some planning. The holiday season last year is a good example. My husband was coming home for the first time in 10 months, we had some special dinners planned, there would be holiday meals, and likely more alcohol consumed than normal. I decided that for me after doing all that hard work to reach a goal it was ok to relax a little. That didn’t mean I went all in, I tried to stay away for the worst foods and while I reduced my workouts I still tried to do one each day. Did I gain a few pounds, yes. Did I feel guilty, no. I opted instead to enjoy myself with the full intent of being back to my normal food and workouts as soon as the holidays were over. The end result, within 10 days I was back to the weight I had been before they started. It was worth it and quite frankly I felt I deserved it.

This week has a new choice. I realized I am getting extremely bored walking on the treadmill. It is likely because when we had that nice stretch of weather I was able to do some outdoor walking and thoroughly enjoyed it. Yesterday the treadmill in particular was a very tedious experience (today was ok because it was training day and then my 2nd workout I was able to do with a walk to the beach). My choices are simple, keep doing the treadmill until the weather cooperates again, quit doing some of the workouts or find a way to shake things up a bit. I’ve opted for the shake up. Next week I will dust of my bike and try at least once a day to do a long ride. I had tried biking last summer but my legs weren’t quite ready for that. Well, that was 30+ lbs ago, my legs are incredibly strong now and my cardio is even stronger so I think it will work this time. This choice will keep my head in the game while providing some cross training for me.

Choices can be tough but the important thing is opt for what is best for you. There is no reason to feel bad if you make a choice that you know is wrong, learn from it and make a better one next time. Life is here to live and enjoy, not to always having to confine yourself. Just keep yourself on track and you will get to that end zone.