This picture is awesome<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/p>\u00a0<\/p>\n
I skipped running yesterday. I have a slight cold, and usually my asthma flares up when I have a cold, and I didn\u2019t want to deal with a flare-up so I didn\u2019t run. I got back on the horse this morning, though, and went for a quick walk\/jog after I walked Sienna to school. It occurred to me, for the billionth time, that I probably will lose some weight from running but not all of it because I never, ever stick with a plan. I\u2019ll start something, like the Abs diet, or Nourishing Traditions, or running, or Insanity, and do it for a while and see some results but then I\u2019ll start slacking off and pretty soon I\u2019m up ten pounds and wearing nothing but t-shirts and yoga pants again. I brought it up to the Ogre last night and mused that maybe my problem is that I have an either\/or mentality when it comes to dieting and exercise. I either eat whatever I want and lay around feeling sorry for my fat self, or I completely overhaul our entire family\u2019s way of eating and commit to running like I\u2019m training for a marathon. The problem is that neither of those ways of living are sustainable. They are opposite sides of a healthy balance, and instead of finding the balance I keep ping-ponging back and forth between them.<\/p>\n
This morning, though I had another thought. I\u2019ve always followed someone else\u2019s plan. I\u2019ll follow a diet in a book, or a way of eating in a book, or an exercise video, or a \u201crun your way to a 5k\u201d program, but they\u2019re always plans thought of by someone else. I\u2019ve never said, \u201cokay, this is what I have problems with, so this is what I\u2019m going to do about it.\u201d I\u2019ve never drawn up my own map, which now seems pretty stupid, because I know my own body better than anyone. I also know my cravings, my weaknesses, my strengths, motivations that work for me and motivations that don\u2019t. So following a generic, one-size-fits-all pattern will never work as well as tailoring my own plan will.<\/p>\n
I really want to lose all the baby weight this time around, and be healthy. Part of it is that I am just uncomfortable in my own skin. None of my clothes fit, I don\u2019t like going out in public, and I feel awkward in my own body. But another part of is that I\u2019m really seeing the consequences of living an unhealthy lifestyle, probably for the first time. I\u2019m on about six daily medications, I feel depressed and lethargic all the time, I don\u2019t have the energy or the endurance to keep up with my kids, and the deluge of health problems I\u2019ve had in the end of my pregnancy and the last seven postpartum weeks have just drained me. The idea of another pregnancy terrifies me, because physically, I\u2019m a broken-down wreck. I really need to get my body healthy before asking it to support another human being again.<\/p>\n
I\u2019ve decided to make my own plan this time, and to tackle areas where I struggle first, making my goal control and restraint over what I eat and how active I am instead of weight loss. I\u2019m going to move really slow \u2014 excruciatingly slow, even, to make sure that these changes don\u2019t fade into the trash heap of \u201cfailed diet schemes\u201d but become ingrained as habits. First, I\u2019m going to make 2 small changes in my eating habits a month. Second, I\u2019m going to slowly increase my activity monthly. So for the rest of November, I\u2019m going to do 2 simple things with\u00a0 my diet: not have seconds, no matter how hungry I am or how good something tastes, and only eat 1 sweet thing a day. Sweets are really my Achilles\u2019 heel, and I\u2019ve done way too much ping-ponging between swearing off all sugar and eating every brownie as fast as I can make it. I know that a sudden, drastic change when it comes to sugar has not ever and probably will not ever work for me, so slow tapering will have to be my strategy if I really want to change. As far as seconds go, I\u2019m honestly not that gluttonous when it comes to meals, but I think it\u2019s just a good habit to get into if my goal is to temper how much and what I eat. Next month I\u2019m thinking I\u2019ll work on cutting out snacking (or at least limiting it) and decreasing my carbohydrate intake.<\/p>\n
For exercising, I\u2019m just going to keep doing what I\u2019m doing: 30 minutes of walking\/jogging daily. I\u2019m gradually trying to increase the length of the \u201cjogging\u201d portions of my daily exercise, but I\u2019ll keep the total time the same. Next month I\u2019ll add 15 minutes of exercise and 10 minutes of stretching onto my daily total.<\/p>\n
I\u2019m not going to do a regular post series or anything on this, but it occurred to me that some of you might be similarly frustrated in your weight loss goals and might be interested in joining me on the slow and steady path. If anyone shows some interest, I\u2019ll probably do one post on it at the beginning of the month, stating new goals, and then one post at the end with results, reflections and maybe some ideas for the next month. Let me know in the combox if you have any interest. Otherwise, I\u2019ll just muse on how it\u2019s going occasionally. Or not, if I completely implode and fall off the wagon, a la <\/em>the mayor in Chocolat<\/em>.<\/p>\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/wp-media.patheos.com\/blogs\/sites\/225\/2012\/11\/chocolat-mayor.jpg\" "\\"chocolat")
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\u00a0 I skipped running yesterday. I have a slight cold, and usually my asthma flares up when I have a cold, and I didn\u2019t want to deal with a flare-up so I didn\u2019t run. I got back on the horse this morning, though, and went for a quick walk\/jog after I walked Sienna to school. […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1110,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[36,37],"class_list":["post-980","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized","tag-running","tag-weight-loss"],"yoast_head":"\n
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