This is Day 9 of the 14-Day Healthy Living Challenge held in Jan 2015 where we work on improving our diet and fitness for 14 days. The challenge is now over but you can do the tasks in your own time. Visit the overview page for all the challenge tasks.
Hi everyone!! :D It’s now Day 9 of our 14-Day Healthy Living Challenge. Let’s get started!
Challenge Tasks to Date
- Announcement and signup page: Join 14-Day Healthy Living Challenge!
- Day 0: Create Your 14-Day Healthy Living Plan | Comments
- Day 1: Drink 8 Glasses of Water | Comments
- Day 2: Eat 5 Servings of Fruits & Vegetables | Comments
- Day 3: Create Your Calorie List | Comments
- Day 4: Calculate Your Total Daily Energy Expenditure | Comments
- Day 5: Create Your Ideal Meal Plan | Comments
- Day 6: Follow Your Ideal Meal Plan! | Comments
- Day 7: Review & Set Your Plan for Week 2! | Comments
- Day 8: Get a Great Workout! | Comments
My Day 8 in Pictures
Okay, so my Day 8 is a perfect example of how my healthy eating plan can go potentially sideways when I get too busy. Because I was busy working the whole day, I only managed to get out at about 9+ pm to get food. And by then, most stores were closed!!! I was lucky to get a burrito which is marginally okay with its fresh vegetables, beans, and corn. But not so much for the wrap though (which is definitely not wholegrain) and how they grill it (the bottom part was completely charred today so I had to remove it manually):
First meal: Burrito with lettuce, cucumber, tomato, BBQ sauce, black beans, corn, and mash potato
Plus grapes! Can never forget fruit! :) (Read: Day 2: Eat 5 Servings of Fruits & Vegetables
Later in the day, the same grilled red pepper and tomato soup (leftover from yesterday) and ginger tea. Do you see the smiley face? ;) That’s for you guys!!
I got hungry in the early morning but there wasn’t food, so I ate 3/4 of an egg muffin (wholegrain) that Ken got for me. Not part of my ideal meal plan, to be honest, though it can be worse like eating fries or instant noodles (there is instant noodles in my house that Ken bought for himself, but I didn’t touch that). Normally I don’t eat eggs unless there’s nothing else to eat or it’s mixed into a dish or food that can’t be separated (e.g. birthday cake). Also drank some orange juice (no pictures). Now that I know the shops here close before 9:30 pm, I know to go out earlier next time.
My first exercise for week 2 of 2015! Morning jog of 2.73km at 8:06 min / km, burning 184 calories.
Last meal of the day: Healthy homemade salad by Ken with chickpeas, tofu, lettuce, homemade sauce, and bacon bits. Yay!! :D
Reviewing my 14HLC goals, they are
- Exercise at least three times a week – Check! Did my first exercise for Week 2 today!
- Cut out deep fried / oily food from my diet – None of that today, check!
- Eat salads more regularly, ideally once a day if I can – One salad today, check!
Check out other participants’ amazing food logs and progress updates in Day 8’s comments section!
With that, let’s move to Day 9’s task, which is…
Day 9: Identify Your Healthy Living Pitfalls
If you have made it this far, I want you to congratulate yourself. Please, give yourself a HUGE pat on the back!!! :) After all, many people tend to start off the new year with resolutions and promises to eat healthily and exercise regularly. However, the same many people also slip off their plan and forget about their goals within a goal or two later. For you to still be with us in this challenge — I say, kudos to you!!! I’m proud of you, and I hope you’re proud of yourself too!
Now, I’m sure many of us have times when we fall offtrack in our healthy living plan. Many of you have openly shared about your obstacles sticking to your ideal eating/exercising plan in the challenge comments in the past week, and I applaud you for your honesty. Myself, I’m no exception. There have been so many times in the past when I diverted from my ideal eating/exercising regime for all kinds of reasons: from emotional eating issues, to other priorities in life demanding my immediate attention, to distractions, to lack of availability of my desired food (as can be seen from my Day 8 recap), to poor planning.
Look, like I’ve continuously iterated throughout the challenge, it’s normal to fall off the wagon. Rather than beat yourself up, the most important thing is that YOU understand what went wrong, address that, and then get right back on your healthy living goals after that.
Today’s task is to identify your healthy living pitfalls, understand them, and identify steps to address them, so they don’t recur. Let’s go! :D
Step 1: Identify past incidences when you went offtrack
Write down at at least three to five past incidences when you went offtrack in your healthy living plan. It could before the 14-Day Healthy Living Challenge — from as long as several years ago, to several weeks ago, to something that happened in the past 8 days when the challenge started.
If you can think of more than five incidences, that’s even better. Basically, the more incidences you can identify, the better! For example, when I did this exercise in the past, I could easily identify at least 20 incidences where I went off-track! This then made it easy for me to do step two.
Step 2: Pick your top two pitfalls to healthy living
Refer to the incidences you just wrote. Are there any commonalities among them? Try to see if there are any patterns causing these situations where you go off-track in your diet/exercise.
Based on these incidences, identify your top two pitfalls to healthy living. Write them down. If you can identify more pitfalls, go ahead and do so!
Here are common healthy living pitfalls people have:
- Emotional eating
- Poor planning
- No time to exercise
- Not able to exercise due to circumstances (i.e. bad weather, no nearby gyms)
- Lack of healthy food options around you
- Prioritizing work over health
- Family buying unhealthy food
- Friends and family are bad influences as they do not eat/live healthily
Step 3: Identify steps to address your healthy living pitfalls
Now, for your healthy living pitfalls, what actions can you take to tackle it?
For example, if your pitfall is your friends and family are unhealthy influences, your action plan may look like this:
- Take ownership over your diet and health. Know that you don’t need to be influenced by them; if anything, they should be influenced by YOU!
- Look for friends with similar interests in eating/exercising; Spend more time with them.
- Join communities and meetup groups where you can be around like-minded people.
- Make a commitment to engage in these communities often so as to get the best of what they can offer
Then, take action on these steps!
Next, Follow Your Plan for Day 9 (Take Pictures Too!)
What tasks have you set for Day 9 of your 14-Day Healthy Living Plan? Do them today!
Take pictures of your healthy meals — breakfast, lunch, dinner, and mid-day snacks if any — and share them in the comments section. :D After all, a picture tells a thousand words, and when you share photos of your healthy meals, it inspires others to eat healthily and gives them ideas on what healthy food they can have too!
Post your initial comment sharing your results for today’s challenge task, then add on throughout the day as you have your breakfast, lunch, dinner, and/or if you’re doing any workouts. Attach photos of your meals by clicking the image icon on the bottom left of every comment box. As you add on to your comment thread, be sure to click on the reply button directly below your original comment so that you reply to your own thread (as opposed to starting a new thread).
Share Your Results (and Photos!)
Share in the comments section!
- Your top healthy living pitfalls and your plan to address them
- Your progress with your healthy living plan today
- Pictures of your meals
- Pictures of your workout (if any)
Do check out the other participants’ comments too and share a word of encouragement or two. We’re all in this together, so let’s support each other as a group! :)
After you’re done, proceed to Day 10: Meditate!
(Image: Women running, Girl crying)
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Incidents
when I fall off track with healthy eating:
Instance 1: I eat a regular breakfast and go to the university. I have a
stressful day and didn’t get a chance to eat properly. Then I come home and
have a regular dinner. After that I start doing my homework, but still have a
feeling that I am not full or keep craving for something particular. The I got
to the kitchen after an hour after I ate, and get more food (often not the ones
I should be eating) and get more calories for the day then I need.
Instance 2:
as simple as eating more then intended. I finish my meal with 1 apple, then I
stay in the kitchen and think: it was so tasty and too small, I could have one
more. And I have it. When this is the same for dinner, it’s not good. I keep
getting full with carbs and then am not hungry when the time for a next meal
comes.
Instance 3:
I know that I work today. So I get myself a rich breakfast and lunch as I will
not eat a lot at work (supposedly just a protein bar). But when I get to work,
I see that today we’ve a free pizza there (you never know, when this will
happen) and I eat a piece, or some other employee treats me with a cookie or
candies. My work is sedentary, and when sitting for 8 hours my metabolism slows
down, so the energy I get from those cookies and pizza is not spent and gets to
my hips :(
I tried
another scenario of not eating much before the work. Then I got some stressful
work and a terrible headache that I could not work properly, and eating later
on did not help to recover completely. So I’m kind of at loss of what to do
with that.
Instance 4:
We have a family celebration. Everyone keeps eating, when I am already fool. I
eat more then intended.
Instance 5:
I buy something really taste and can’t stop thinking of it until I eat it all
(like with that Munich
bread yesterday). It is just too tasty to stop.
For the
lack of exercise:
1. I don’t have time for eat as I go to the university in the first part of the
day and to work in the second. Nothing can be fixed there.
2. I won’t
have time to exercise, as I have too much of homework to get done for tomorrow.
3. The day
before: I knew that I have too much homework, but still exercised, then I got
all the homework done, but slept for 4-5 hours and feel terrible. Of course, I
am not able to exercise when I feel like this and it is a big stress for my
health.
4. I just
don’t feel like doing it today. I am so tired.
5. Going
out in the evening, instead of going to the gym.
The main
pitfalls:
for unhealthy eating: lack of control because of being stressed out or tired.
for not
exercising: perceived lack of time
Each time
when I have eaten, but still feel hungry, I should not go to the kitchen and
stuff myself with the food that is sugar-rich. I should analyze, what was wrong
with that meal that I had before and see if this feeling of hunger will go away
in 10 – 20 minutes (what is strange, usually it persists). Then I should
probably get a small piece of food that is a healthy option that will satisfy
me
.
I should
plan more carefully and stick to my plan (!!!).
But, in
general, I should make my life less stressful and exhausting. (Not sure this is
possible, but should try). I wish I had
more time to pay more attention to my health: to sleep more to exercise more
and to be more conscious of what my daily diet is. But I also need more time to
study what I need at work (programming) and to study deeper the subjects at
university that I enjoy (literature). I also need more time to go out and have
more friends, as I enjoy hanging out with interesting people. I need more time
to read about what interests me: music, movies I like. Where is my time for all
that?
But all the
time is spent for work and university, but I like them both and do not want to
quit. I have a great job and a great major at university. So I let it go as it
go, and try to do my best in balancing it all.
For breakfast today I had some wild (black) rice (trying it for the firsttimein my life). It is rich in protein and vitamins and I am happy to eat it. And for me it tastes fine (hovewer, looks strange in a black plate). Also I had an apple and a cup of coffee with milk (all as usual).
You just woke up a curiosity in me to try out black rice. Yesterday I happened to try out black beans but I’ve never heard of black rice. I’m excited to taste that and see the reactions in my family haha. Thank you for sharing and good to see you’re still around. :)
thanks a lot, fufu! It is so pleasant to see your comments. I just love trying new foods and when I try a healhy option it usually tasted good to me. I am not a big rice lover, but this one I wil keep eating and getting herbal proteins and lots of B vitamins from it.
Hi Maryna, I also never heard about black rice before. It looks interesting. Does it taste like brown & red rice or like beans or herbs?
I would say it is more similar to red rice. It has dark husks and each grain is separate from the others. For me it required a bit of extra chewing, so I was eating it for a pretty long time and felt fool for a long time as well.
As I read on the Internet, it’s not a form of rice, but another herb that is similar to it and was eaten by Native Americans long ago. Here is the link to a Wikipedia article, if you’re interested: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wild_rice
Some more updates for what I ate today:
for dinner: some eggs and cabbage, a mango and herbal tea
for supper: got some pizza at work – it is ordered for the whole department, so I can’t omit it and diverge from the group. Did not take a picture of it: chicken – mushroom pizza. Really good, just a bit too oily because of melted cheese.
Here is my dinner:
Hi Maryna,
Sounds like to me that you are doing great! You are conscientious and eat healthy food. Your apples look small, by the way, lol, but that is just me talking….overweight me who looks for bigger pieces, and I need to choose and get use to smaller servings. …’getting a small piece of food that is a healthier option for me’ is just what I need to be thinking and doing! I relate to all your ‘Instances’ and am right here with you trying to brainstorm just what does healthier living to me really mean and then DO it… Thank you!
Sending you all the best, especially when it comes to having/feeling much less stress in your life! Here’s to living peaceful and relaxing days and nights! Stay warm, and best luck to you with work and with your studies at the university.
Incidences when I went off track on my healthy leaving:
1- I didn’t mark things on my calender
2- I didn’t wrote.daily to-do lists
3- not reviewing my plans ever so often
4- procrastinating
5- fights with family members
6- limits to what I can access in the fridge
7- the day is very hot (tropical island)
8- it starts raining
9- I procrastinate fitness due to lack of privacy. I am embarrased to do exercises in front of people.
10- pains after exercise for several days so I have to rest the body
11- lack of food on the fridge
12- festivities
13- social situacions
14- when someone buys me something (I was fine yesterday in my meal plan until my sis brought cola home and I gt tempted and cola is nothint but a glass of acid, salt and sugar.)
15- depression
16- lack of money to buy healthir food
17- poor planning
Three major pitfalls:
I’d have to choose three. In order depression, lack of organization and no money to buy healthier choices on the fridge (plus mom is the one who does grocery shopping so I have no control over that and if I were to buy something with mt money my siblings will just eat it all in a day.)
Depression is my #1 thing that makes me procrastinate. I’m the type of person that gets sad often, including by silly things and when I do I procrastinate even on my hobbies and in extreme cases even eating. I start feeling empty and am unable to do any task until I manage to move on from what made me sad. I do write a lot on diaries when that happens and tell my girlfriend, my sister or my best friend and that really helps. On other ocassions I talk to my mom. Her advice always seems to be a bit harsh but the most useful. I can take action on this incidence by remembering the times I tackled depression faster when I followed a goal. It gave me a reason to wake up and sleep satisfied and to make it a habit to reflect on a quote each day. The days I did, if something happened and I got sad, I could manage it better and could move on faster because my soul was calm.
2- I can take action on lack of organization by marking my deadlines on my calendar and writing short daily to do lists in my agenda and cleaning my phone and laptop’s memory. (Not complex as complex to do lists just cause me to not do them at all. Oh! And add variety to daily tasks or I’ll eventually feel like it’s a task and not a passion.
3- the money issue… well there’s not much I can do at the moment but hope I land the job from the interview I made last month and continue selling sweets on my free time. (Which is a paradox as I need money to start an official business, money I don’t have)
And by the way, is it just me or are less people commenting each day? :( I enjoy reading other people’s comment. I learn a lot of healthy things I’d never thought about or knew about before and I enjoyed the meal and workout pictures some people posted. This is like how you had mentioned in one of your past posts. if nobody comments then who how can the community support each other. Maybe tomorrow you can try out a shout out for more people to try and comment.
For breakfast I’m eating 2 boiled eggs mixed with half a cup of raw onions. (I’m an onion lover and the plate is too white so I’m gonna see if I can add sone colorful veggies and fruits for the rest of the day. And not in the pic but for brrakfast also consumed a glass of water, a glass of 100% orange juice and a glass of milk and a peanut butter whole wheat sandwich. I’m surprised. Usually in this situation I would just eat 1 boiled egg, water and done 0-0
For lunch my sister and I ate out Chinese. It’s not so healthy but at least to some degree it’s better than going to Burger King: Chinese rice with (by chance) even more onions, green peppers, pepper steak and instead of soda we drank fruit punch (not hawaiian punch) and water. It was by a bit but we tried something slightly healthier.
I Forgot the picture O.O ! 2 plates of that Chinese food.
By the way fufu, since you’ve been posting at PE for a while, you ever considered registering for an account with Disqus (the commenting system at PE)? It makes it easy to reference back to your own comments (plus you get to choose your custom picture for your avatar)! There are also other options like being alerted when people reply to you and so on!
I think so too…regarding responding to comments. Also, when I ‘vote’ up on a post, it just says ‘guest vote’ so I maybe registering with Disqus would make it so it would say my name instead of ‘guest vote, and that would be more personal. Plus, if I want to see if others have commented, it takes a lot of time, not so efficient. Especially when I fall behind and then make comments days after others have made their comments, and others may not go back to previous days to check posts or comments. Am I making any sense? Hope so!
I’m just glad to be here and share with others and be making progress with more concerted efforts to live healthfully. Thanks again Celes for ‘bringin it on’ (this challenge), and for your great photos, comments, and posts….They all really help so much!
Yes, it’s pretty normal for the number of commenters / active participants to decrease over the course of the challenge as distractions/etc. set in. I totally understand about enjoying others’ comments; if it helps I’ll definitely be commenting each day! :) I personally am really enjoying your comments by the way fufu! I’ve been doing numerous shout outs in the challenge but I’ve found that if the participants don’t want to comment, then there’s very little I can do but to continue doing the challenge in my best capacity and hopefully inspire others to join in too! There are actually many people checking in on the tasks (at least 2,000 people reading each day’s task in real time) by the way, but I think many people just want to read but shy away from actively participating. (Perhaps laziness, can’t be bothered to comment, distractions in real life not allowing them to commit, not ready to commit fully to their healthy/fitness, etc.!) Whatever it is, we can’t really control whether they want to join in but can only lead by example and hope everyone hop on in when they feel comfortable to do so!
By the way, is your girlfriend still in the challenge or is she participating by proxy of you? :D I think it’s really cute that both of you are doing it together!
I remember I had made an account but I forgot my password. Let me see if I can try doing another one. It’s true I have to manually track back my own comments to find if anyone replied or not and that takes me some time and about commenting I understand what you mean.
Most people (like my girlfriend) prefer to follow the challenge without bothering to commment, in her case because of lazyness and she sort of still is in the challenge in the workout and eating area. Ever since she started college this week she’s been really busy and she doesn’t like to complicate things when she’s busy.
Well appearently I was able to remember the password to my lost account but I don’t like how my username is different. :/ anonima is Spanish for anonymous. I think I used it in other blogs as well. I’ll try to check the settings if any and see if I can put fufu (this account has my only working email so I can’t really make another one) but if it doesn’t have that then remember anonima is fufu. I will always be fufu. ^_^’ and the picture to yesterday’s dinner: orange rice with black beans, green vegetables and some meat. For snack I ate a peanut butter sandwich (whole grain), some pudding (not healthy but they offered me) and natural coconut ice cream (I bet it has sugar but this certain brand barely has any ingredients and it’s known for being a healthier kind)
Hi fufu, the name that shows up in comments is not the username, it’s the name in your profile. If you want to change it, you can do so by clicking on edit profile.
By the way, I find your comments very interesting and insightful:)
Mobile doesn’t let me for some odd reason but I’ll change it in laptop. Thank you for letting me know Vani and I’m glad my comments are of interest to you. :)
By the way fufu, there’s a way to merge your past comments not made using your account into your Disqus account. It’s somewhere in the account settings so you may want to check it out if you’re interested. All the comments made under your email (the gmail one) will get synced with your registered account, so it makes it easy for you to reference your past discussions!
That’s awesome to know! I was starting to worry about my old comments. I’ll check that out as well. Thank you for letting me know.
Hi fufu! I am glad to read your posts and to hear your thoughts. One you made about not wanting people to see you exercise is certainly something I relate to! I mostly do not like people to even see me sometimes….I have had a super-sensitivity to being seen due to low self-esteem, body image, overweightness, feeling very self-conscious. Although we are at opposite ends of the scales, we share similarities. Sometimes I feel rather hopeless, and I tell myself that there IS hope, that things will get better, that the low feeling will change…’This too shall pass.’ I join you in being dedicated to getting better every day, no matter how small the change is! Some days we will see/feel much progress, and feel brighter about ourselves. We can do this! We ARE doing this!
Also. where do you live in Puerto Rico? Have you always lived on the island?
So today I left home 45 minutes earlier to takeaway my meals for today and tomorrow, and turns out it still wasn’t early enough! The Cedele outlet seemed very disorganized (I think they have new staff and everything just isn’t as fast and organized as it used to be) and it took about 20 minutes before I got my food. So when I reached Subway, they RAN OUT OF BREAD! -_- In the end I could only go with the wrap option for my veggie patty. It’s okay, next time I’ll head out earlier to avoid such a situation!
So first meal of the day, veggie patty wrap and grapes! Inside the wrap, the standard vegetables I’ve been having — lettuce, tomato, cucumber, black olives, and a veggie patty. Tomorrow I’ve a live course so I’ll be busy preparing later amongst other work. I’m really enjoying this healthy living regime and busy work routine!
Mid-day meal: Salad (lettuce, pineapple, mushroom, sesame seeds, cucumber, sunflower seeds, and vegetarian bacon bits), dragon fruit, and ginger tea! :D Today is another long workday (several to-dos to tick off) but I’m loving it!
Dragon fruit looks great to me. We don’t have them here at all. If I will hapen to travel where I can get it, will definitely give it a try.
Probably the last meal of the day before I go to sleep (will be writing Day 10’s post before I do so) — curry pumpkin soup with bread! It’s surprisingly good actually! I was disappointed when the shop didn’t have mushroom soup today but this one turned out to be quite good.
Also I felt surprisingly full today despite not having ate a lot. I think the wrap was very filling, and then the salad was very very filling too (mushroom and veggies tend to have the effect). I didn’t finish the dragon fruit and kept half in the fridge for tomorrow; same for the ginger tea.
My biggest pitfall is what I call “domestic disturbance”. That could mean anything from an argument with a family member or a child getting sick or a major item breaking down and needing emergency repair. This week, it was a major disagreement, followed by days of angry tension and feelings of despair and grief. I could not focus on the challenge at all, so I didn’t even post anything all week. I’m still looking for that way out of despair. I have been reading all of my inspirational material daily, but so far, I’m still stuck. However, I was able to avoid sugar for 5 out of 8 days, and eat good food. I just couldn’t bring myself to post anything.
That sounds so hard, Susan! You did so well to eat good food for those five days! About getting out of despair, look around the PE site; Celes has written a lot of things to help overcome emotional obstacles. Also, reach out to others around you, or seek help from a spiritual leader, pastor, or perhaps a medical professional.
Dearest Susan, today’s task (Day 10) is dedicated to you (and all of us here too)! Hope you’ll find it helpful in some way, not just today but also in the future! https://personalexcellence.co/blog/healthy-living-day-10-meditate/
Susan, Great that you avoided sugar 5 out of 8 days. Everybody’s different, but my experience/what I learned is that when I had sugar, it was a big plunging ‘downer’ for my body and my moods, etc. And it made it harder and just a matter of time before I had it again…and again….keeping the plunging ‘downer’ effect on me very much active. Eating healthy really has made all the difference in my life, but now I am stating the obvious! You already know all that. I guess I just wanted to jump in and say that altho I am far from perfect or where I need to be, I did find that eliminating sugar made a major difference in my life with my body chemistry, moods, outlook, etc., and that perhaps you would find the same to be true for you. Anyway, I am rootin’ for you and your feeling well on a regular basis.
Pitfalls:
1. Stress, which triggers emotional eating. I want comfort food! I sometimes think that I have to be the world’s expert on stress management because I’ve lived with ongoing stress for so long, and still stress undermines my healthy choices.
2. Going to the hospital. My husband’s all-too-frequent emergencies mean that I spend hours at a time in the emergency room, and the food in the hospital cafeteria is not the most healthy! That still surprises me. Also the tension of those times makes it hard to eat and digest a lot of things, so I go for easily digested things, which tend to be starchy. My “stress foods” used to be Jello and cottage cheese but now I can’t handle the cottage cheese, and I need something besides Jello.
3. Disrupted sleep. Sleep is very important for health, and my sleep has been a lifelong struggle. I tend to reach for caffeine and sugar to keep me going. Stress makes it difficult to sleep, and emergencies totally mess up my sleep schedule.
4. Feeling deprived.
5. Being cold. I prefer cold drinks but when the weather is really cold, I need warm drinks to help keep me warm, and I like hot chocolate better than any of the other options.
6. The smell of good food. I think that I mentioned that the smell of my husband’s perfect-for-him meal triggered me to eat food that was not good for me. Alas, our dietary needs are very different.
7. Not exercising — because I just don’t want to, never mind that it is good for me and I like the way it makes me feel!
What to do about them:
1. Stress: do more to manage it. I know a lot about stress management and sometimes I don’t do things that I know will help. I can brush up on that, review my materials, and adjust my day’s activities to include more of the things that will alleviate stress.
2. Going to the hospital. I can put some protein bars in my bag and in my car so I will have something that fits my diet and won’t need to rely on less-than-optimal choices.
3. Disrupted sleep: I have a new medication that seems to be helping a bit with that. Some changes in my diet will help too – I have a condition similar to overactive bladder and it wakes me up during the night, and if I am careful about following the eating recommendations for that problem, I will be able to stay asleep once I get to sleep. It happens that most of the foods that I am supposed to avoid are less of a problem if they are sweetened with sugar!
4. Feeling deprived: Following that eating plan plus avoiding dairy and sugar and other things that are not good for me leaves me with limited choices and those limited choices are not the ones I prefer! A few days of eating pears and bananas has me hungering for tomato sauce and onions and chocolate. I can plan for those feelings and perhaps allow for those foods every few days, in limited amounts, so as to avoid too much disruption. And count the calories in the sugar if I use it.
5. Being cold: The worst was yesterday when the furnace was not able to warm the house to where the thermostat is set — at one point it was 12 degrees below where it should have been!. I was huddled in several sweaters and wearing a fleece cape indoors. Body motion helped, but hot drinks were the thing that helped most. What to do about that is to start thinking about replacing the furnace.
6. The smell of good food. Since I don’t want to stop smelling (!) I need to have a plan for what to do when someone else’s food smells better than mine. The only thing I can think of is to do what I did when I had to be on a clear liquid diet before a medical procedure — I wrote down every food item that I wanted and couldn’t have, with the idea that when I was finished with the medical procedure I would have them. Interestingly, afterwards, I didn’t want most of them. So perhaps I can write down the things I want, and plan to have them at a specified time later, and put them in my eating plan for the week…
7. Not exercising because I just don’t want to. There are lots of reasons behind not wanting to and I can think about them, dig down into the reasons behind the reasons, and address those. But I can also look for a way to make physical activity more part of my normal day. My neighbor in the next block walks her dogs several times a day. Maybe she could call me when she’s taking them out and I can walk with her.
I thought I already posted a comment here yesterday. Looks like I posted on day 8 and missed to post here.
My top two pitfalls to healthy living
1. Emotional Eating – When I am stressed, I tend to eat fried/junk foods.
2. Prioritizing work over health – I tend skip workouts and have unhealthy meals due to prioritizing work.
Steps to address them
– Relax by listening to a soothing music or distract myself away from stress by talking to someone
– Plan meals ahead and have everything ready so that I don’t have to settle on an unhealthy food due to work
– Finish workouts in the morning (before work)
I’ve went off the wagon so many times in the past that it would be impossible to give a number for it. My eating issues have been with me for more than 10 years now, which is kind of crazy.
The main factors leading to my failure in improving my eating habits are:
-emotional eating
-availability of food
-parents don’t have a healthy diet, so I’m pretty much forced to eat what they eat (they buy the food they like and only a bit of what I would like to eat – like fruits for example -, issue which ties in tightly with the availability issue)
-self-sabotage (lots of time I just let my body go on autopilot and eat whatever it wants whenever it wants, and although there’s a voice in my head saying “You’re not hungry, you shouldn’t eat, you’re not doing any good to your body, etc.”, I still eat; this is because of emotional eating, of course, pretty much anything is a trigger)
The only way to get rid of these triggering factors is to commit to changing my lifestyle. Because my parents won’t change theirs, I’ve tried talking with them in the past, and my emotional eating won’t magically stop. It’s really difficult to exercise self-discipline all the time, reason why after eating (almost) decently for a few days, I overeat and emotionally eat lots. To me this is a matter of “Either you really kick your own ass or nothing will change.”
As for the challenge so far, my eating hasn’t improved at all. I’ve somewhat reduced my sugar intake compared to the previous weeks, but I still eat when I’m not hungry, and I eat lots of processed, salty, fatty, sugary foods. However, exercising is going great.
I have one thought (possible solution) about the parents and how you are forced to eat what they eat: if you are making your own money, you could buy healthy food yourself and you could cook for yourself – if you do not have enough money, you could start with only one healthy meal a day that you buy and prepare it by yourself (like a fruit salad for example). Maybe parents can give you some money for you to buy what you would like to eat.
If you managed to reduce your sugar intake compared to previous weeks, I guess that is progress – your eating did improve a little bit and you can congratulate yourself for this :) How much water do you drink everday (or since the challenge started)? Just a thought: I read read somewhere that often people eat instead of drink – that they mix a feeling of thirst for a feeling of hunger. Also water drinking makes our stomach full so we do not feel hungry (we become hungry later than usual).
Thank for your tips! :)
I don’t work at the moment, so my parents actually *do* buy me fruits and vegetables. When I’m at home, say during summer holiday, I have a more balanced lifestyle and I eat more regularly and then two meals per day are made by me and one by my parents. During the academic year, when I’m at Uni, my eating is way more hectic, but just like Celes said, I could pack healthy food (it’s just that I have to turn this into a habit instead of doing it occasionally).
I drink 4 liters of water and sometimes even more – especially during summer days when it’s hotter. For some it may seem much, but for my body it’s a normal quantity. If I drink less, I get stomach burns and also my digestion is slowed down (read: I get constipated; TMI maybe, haha).
Maryna this is fufu! I found my long lost account. Thank you for the information. It was really interesting.
It seems interesting and healthy too. I’ll try it someday. Thank you for the info Maryna!
1.
Step 1: Incidences when I went offtrack in my healthy living plan
In the past there were many times I started running, but never really became a runner. I enrolled in yoga class and volleyball training, but than was not consistent at taking classes and going on training (although I payed for it) – I went 3-5 times in a row than missed one or two, then went again 3-5 times and missed again and so on (in my perfect healthy plan I would go every single time unless I would be sick or something). I went offtrack with eating chocolates, biscuits, sweets.
Step 2: My top pitfalls to healthy living
– poor planning
– not sticking to the plan (giving up, excuses)
– not knowing what the real issue is for skipping yoga classes and volleyball trainings
– emotional eating
Step 3: Identifying steps to address my healthy living pitfalls
Make a plan of the running workout (how to run 10 km after trainig for 6 moths) – set a final specific goal to motivate myself. Maybe run in a group. Go to yoga class and volleyball trainig even if I do not feel like going – the resistance will loose its power through time, explore my limits. Write down excuses and being honest with myself. Buy a stock of fruits once a week – to prevent cravings for chocolate.
2. My progress with my healthy living plan today
– drank 9 glasses of water
– ate 4 servings of F&V
– did not go for a walk
– made a meal plan for the week ahead
– went to grocery store to buy foods for the week ahead
Day 9 HLC Identify your Healthy Living Pitfalls
Incidences when I went off track
1. Just wanting to have something that was not on my Plan/Bored of same food/not enough variety
2. Not being prepared with the right foods in the kitchen
3. Not preparing the right foods, having them ready to eat, or ready to pack up and take out with me on the go
4. Feeling deprived…or feeling sorry for myself….feeling hopeless…like I have been disciplined and dropped SO much weight before throughout my whole life, and I have not been able to maintain the weight loss thus far…(Most I ever maintained was about two years.) So why even bother? What difference does it make? (I do know that it makes a huge difference in my life in every way, but when I feel like ‘What’s the Use?’ my mind goes a little nuts, sinking low.
5. Feeling a bit cocky…over-assured…like I do not have that much of a problem with food or eating or ‘I’ve GOT this!’ (In some ways I DO have it, having accomplished success with my weight-loss goals and healthy living plan.) I think this pitfall also includes self-sabotage….’I don’t deserve to be successful with my weight loss/maintenance goals.’ Sounds very far-out and unbelievable to me that I could/would allow myself to backtrack, regaining weight that took SO much effort and diligence to achieve! And I know what it takes to drop weight, and that’s why it takes such a monumental effort for me to get fully back on track. And the thoughts regarding ‘Here I go again…Why bother?’ creep up again! I see more of the long stretches of discipline and then the short-lived maintenance of weight lost, and I feel defeated at the start.
Top Two Pitfalls
4. and 5. Emotional Eating…Feelings of unworthiness and sabotaging myself to fail since i don’t deserve to be my healthiest best. Hiding away and isolating so I won’t be judged ‘out there in the world.’ Also judging myself and others keeps me isolating.
1, 2, and 3. Not having what I need to eat….in the kitchen or wherever I am. Getting bored with the same foods, prepared the same way.
Steps to Address Healthy Living Pitfalls
Keep up with making Affirmations, Visualizations, Prayer & Meditation, Being with, Associating with, Sharing with Supportive People. Keep the flow of making, thinking, saying all the reasons I have to be grateful. Read, look at, inspiring material. Keep my eye and mind on success, not past failures. Love,not judge myself unconditionally…Look in the mirror and tell myself wonderful things about myself and love myself no matter what!
I am the only ME there is! Remember to breathe and just love!
I need to have the right foods, prepared, ready to eat, ready to take and go with me, if necessary. Keep meals interesting. Don’t throw in the towel if, regarding my ideal plan, I am less than perfect. Get right back on.track. Don’t punish myself by going off the deep end and making it worse. I deserve to live healthfully! Focus on other things…not be so food-focused. When I need ‘comfort foods’ make sure they are not temporary ‘comfort,’ or self-defeating, for there is nothing ‘comforting’ about THAT!
Past incidences:
Was still in holiday mood at the start of the challenge
Forgot to eat fruit on some days
Didn’t have my water bottle near me at all times
Forgot to think about the challenge (although I do check my email daily so I generally remember)
Other than holiday mood, my main problem is forgetting to do things. This can be solved by having more reminders to get myself into a new habit. If things don’t improve, I’ll consider that. Also got reminders for future yoga sessions!
Yesterday:
Fruit – I think it was banana, clementine and kiwi
Water – 900ml
For food we made vegetarian pho (Vietnamese soup) and had leftovers of bobotie. I love experiencing foreign cuisines :D
Top 2 pitfalls –
1. Feeling lazy or busy and skipping exercises
2. Having less-than-desired food choices at home
The common underlying theme is a focus on short-mid term goal (eg meeting work deadlines, delivering beyond expectations) at the expense of long-term goals (eg health, fitness, well-being).
Ways to address them –
1. Made a commitment for twice-weekly exercises no matter what happens
2. Stock up steady supply of fruits (and more fruits) plus wholemeal bread at home
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