threadwalker (![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
threadwalker) wrote2007-08-22 12:25 pm
threadwalker) wrote2007-08-22 12:25 pm
lunch time pondering: habits, motivation and ice cream "happens"
This has been a tough week for getting through my schedule and, therefore, stay on track on my healthy style. So far I'm meeting my personal health commitment though probably at the expense of having more to do this weekend.
Last weekend Da hubby reinjured something that will always be a chronic issue for him. This put the kabash on plans inside as well as outside the house on Sunday. Some yard work continues to nag - soon I will need a back-hoe. On top of that, this week da hubby is not getting home from work before 9 pm so I'm solo in the eve, which is intense. For the ugly schedule, scroll down (*). Leading into this week my weight was up, so that's been on my mind. A year ago all these would have sabotaged my healthy living efforts but instead I'm motivated, I'm eating well and I'm exercising.
My weekly work Weight Watcher's meeting was cancelled last week because our leader was sick. Friday I overcame being intimidated and I went to a meeting at a Weight Watcher center near home. The group leader was pretty neat. I felt coached and inspired, which is what it should be like when you find the right one. However, right after the weigh-in I was bummed because I was up 4 lb since the week before. The gain also means I was 1 lb over my goal weight. (I can be +2 lb over goal and keep my lifetime status, so in that regards I had dropped enough below my goal before my gain that I'm still in the 6 week maintenance phase leading up to becoming a Lifetime member. Therefore, I don't need to get back to goal and restart the 6 weeks). Even though I'm in "maintenance" and the rules allow me to gain up to 1 more lb before having to re-earn "goal" status, the weight gain has been in the back of my mind like a specter.
I was disappointed in the weight gain, but I knew exactly what happened: ice cream. Which kind? All kinds and all types; sorbet, sherbert, ice cream, slow-churn with no sugar, and low cal frozen yogurt. Probably the worse culprit was Ben and Jerry's who've released innocent looking single serving cups. Curses on Ben and Jerry and their 19 grams of fat in those single-serving cups (6 points!) Even though I curse them, I curse their tasty treats and I curse their clever packaging, it still comes back to me and what I put in my mouth and my body and the choices I make. In fact, starting last Sunday night and so far each night since then, the little voice in the back of my mind whispered to me that I'd exercised enough to have earned enough points for an ice cream treat as I arrived home. The presence of that voice was almost enough motivation in itself to keep my from indulging because I realized it was habit talking to me, not indulgence. To be utterly honest with myself, splurging everyday isn't a splurge, it's a lifestyle and I let my comfort level drift to where that became a habit by the end of a week.
Even though I was annoyed with myself for forming such an unhealthy habit and despite my disappointment at gaining weight, I think it was an excellent reminder that I have to pay attention to what I eat. I seem to be a "trial and error" learner who needs to be swatted with the errors in order to make the correct answers stick even harder. Even though it's okay to indulge on occasion, constant indulgence is not the lifestyle I want and apparently it can quickly become habit-forming.
The last few days have been personally rewarding because as I eradicate the new ice-cream habit, I can remember that in the old days I would have come to this conclusion and then I would have said "tomorrow is soon enough to start eating right again, but tonight I'll have a farewell icecream". More than the reversed weight-gain, I'm excited that I feel upbeat about eating right and I'm making good fitness choices. There was no farewell ice cream; healthy eating began right away.
As I was sitting in the meeting last Friday and grappling with gaining 4lb, I used the tools from WW to reframe, anchor, and remind myself of my goals and choices. I think it's okay to drift off course because the nature of any lifestyle is that there needs to be a margin for flexibility. And, frankly, sometimes ice cream happens. But I'm excited that I can be self-aware enough to see unhealthy habits form and then find within myself the motivation to erase them.
I think I'm going to go to the Friday meeting this week, as well. As an "at work" member, I'm allowed to go to as many meetings each week as I like although I only weigh-in at one. My reason for attending a second meeting is that in addition to excellent coaching and inspiration, I got a bunch of handwork done on my bodice during last Friday's meeting and my bodice has languished since then. Multi-tasking - yay!
* This weeks schedule goes like:
up at 5:30; catch 6:40 BART train. Leave work 5pm.
I pick up the kids at 6:20 and take them to swim lessons from 6:40 to 7:10.
Leave the pool and as we drive home, I pass the kids their meals that I pre-packed the night before.
Walk in door around 7:40. Kids shed wet stuff in laundry room, change into jammies and finish eating. I have a few routine "stash stuff here and there" tasks I have to do every night, which happens while they are changing.
Kids in bed with story at 8pm-ish.
F often calls on his way home, which is usually while I'm putting the kids to bed, so we all talk on speaker phone. Then, after the kids are in bed, I take speaker phone with me on my round of chores. That way we chat while I pack lunches for next day, throw wet stuff in drier, repack swim back-packs, and change into fitness clothes. I usually tidy for a bit after that and then I have about about 30-45 min cooling my heals waiting for him to get home.
between 9pm and 9:45, F gets home, we catch up a bit more and then I leave for gym around 9:45. I get home between 11pm and midnight, shower, and go to bed.
lather, rinse, repeat. haaha!
Tonight I'm aiming to be home by 11 pm so that I can make espresso custard. Tomorrow night I'm breaking from the routine to go to Cal Shakes and (if the recipe doesn't suck) I plan on springing custard on my co-attendees.
Last weekend Da hubby reinjured something that will always be a chronic issue for him. This put the kabash on plans inside as well as outside the house on Sunday. Some yard work continues to nag - soon I will need a back-hoe. On top of that, this week da hubby is not getting home from work before 9 pm so I'm solo in the eve, which is intense. For the ugly schedule, scroll down (*). Leading into this week my weight was up, so that's been on my mind. A year ago all these would have sabotaged my healthy living efforts but instead I'm motivated, I'm eating well and I'm exercising.
My weekly work Weight Watcher's meeting was cancelled last week because our leader was sick. Friday I overcame being intimidated and I went to a meeting at a Weight Watcher center near home. The group leader was pretty neat. I felt coached and inspired, which is what it should be like when you find the right one. However, right after the weigh-in I was bummed because I was up 4 lb since the week before. The gain also means I was 1 lb over my goal weight. (I can be +2 lb over goal and keep my lifetime status, so in that regards I had dropped enough below my goal before my gain that I'm still in the 6 week maintenance phase leading up to becoming a Lifetime member. Therefore, I don't need to get back to goal and restart the 6 weeks). Even though I'm in "maintenance" and the rules allow me to gain up to 1 more lb before having to re-earn "goal" status, the weight gain has been in the back of my mind like a specter.
I was disappointed in the weight gain, but I knew exactly what happened: ice cream. Which kind? All kinds and all types; sorbet, sherbert, ice cream, slow-churn with no sugar, and low cal frozen yogurt. Probably the worse culprit was Ben and Jerry's who've released innocent looking single serving cups. Curses on Ben and Jerry and their 19 grams of fat in those single-serving cups (6 points!) Even though I curse them, I curse their tasty treats and I curse their clever packaging, it still comes back to me and what I put in my mouth and my body and the choices I make. In fact, starting last Sunday night and so far each night since then, the little voice in the back of my mind whispered to me that I'd exercised enough to have earned enough points for an ice cream treat as I arrived home. The presence of that voice was almost enough motivation in itself to keep my from indulging because I realized it was habit talking to me, not indulgence. To be utterly honest with myself, splurging everyday isn't a splurge, it's a lifestyle and I let my comfort level drift to where that became a habit by the end of a week.
Even though I was annoyed with myself for forming such an unhealthy habit and despite my disappointment at gaining weight, I think it was an excellent reminder that I have to pay attention to what I eat. I seem to be a "trial and error" learner who needs to be swatted with the errors in order to make the correct answers stick even harder. Even though it's okay to indulge on occasion, constant indulgence is not the lifestyle I want and apparently it can quickly become habit-forming.
The last few days have been personally rewarding because as I eradicate the new ice-cream habit, I can remember that in the old days I would have come to this conclusion and then I would have said "tomorrow is soon enough to start eating right again, but tonight I'll have a farewell icecream". More than the reversed weight-gain, I'm excited that I feel upbeat about eating right and I'm making good fitness choices. There was no farewell ice cream; healthy eating began right away.
As I was sitting in the meeting last Friday and grappling with gaining 4lb, I used the tools from WW to reframe, anchor, and remind myself of my goals and choices. I think it's okay to drift off course because the nature of any lifestyle is that there needs to be a margin for flexibility. And, frankly, sometimes ice cream happens. But I'm excited that I can be self-aware enough to see unhealthy habits form and then find within myself the motivation to erase them.
I think I'm going to go to the Friday meeting this week, as well. As an "at work" member, I'm allowed to go to as many meetings each week as I like although I only weigh-in at one. My reason for attending a second meeting is that in addition to excellent coaching and inspiration, I got a bunch of handwork done on my bodice during last Friday's meeting and my bodice has languished since then. Multi-tasking - yay!
* This weeks schedule goes like:
up at 5:30; catch 6:40 BART train. Leave work 5pm.
I pick up the kids at 6:20 and take them to swim lessons from 6:40 to 7:10.
Leave the pool and as we drive home, I pass the kids their meals that I pre-packed the night before.
Walk in door around 7:40. Kids shed wet stuff in laundry room, change into jammies and finish eating. I have a few routine "stash stuff here and there" tasks I have to do every night, which happens while they are changing.
Kids in bed with story at 8pm-ish.
F often calls on his way home, which is usually while I'm putting the kids to bed, so we all talk on speaker phone. Then, after the kids are in bed, I take speaker phone with me on my round of chores. That way we chat while I pack lunches for next day, throw wet stuff in drier, repack swim back-packs, and change into fitness clothes. I usually tidy for a bit after that and then I have about about 30-45 min cooling my heals waiting for him to get home.
between 9pm and 9:45, F gets home, we catch up a bit more and then I leave for gym around 9:45. I get home between 11pm and midnight, shower, and go to bed.
lather, rinse, repeat. haaha!
Tonight I'm aiming to be home by 11 pm so that I can make espresso custard. Tomorrow night I'm breaking from the routine to go to Cal Shakes and (if the recipe doesn't suck) I plan on springing custard on my co-attendees.
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