Planning for Stress

It is usually at this point in my "diet" journey that I get discouraged.

Something comes up.

I go off plan.

I think, "Well, I am already off, I might as well go crazy today and start fresh tomorrow."

When tomorrow comes, same thing.

I give into the junk food, and the weight comes back on.

This weekend was crazy.  I am still feeling the stress from the weekend.  I feel like I have a big tension knot in my chest.

I did give in a little this weekend.  I had a cupcake.  I had some nachos.  I drank a lot of diet coke.

But there was a difference this weekend.  When I "feel off the wagon", (let's face it....falling off would be making an excuse....I jumped off of my own free will) I started to hear that voice telling myself that I already had a cupcake, I might as well have __________.  I started saying that I would start fresh tomorrow.  But like I said, this weekend was different.

Instead of listening to that voice, I made a different choice.  I made a gingerbread soft bake.

I did not go crazy and have the candy bar that my husband put in the fridge from my daughter's play this weekend.  I did not order something off the menu that was pizza or pasta or bread....I ordered the grilled steak salad.  Instead of having a bowl of icecream with everyone else, I made a MF brownie.

Yes, I skipped some MF meals.  Yes, I ate things off plan.  But I did not give up.  I did not give into that little voice and go crazy.  I stopped and made a different choice.

When I weighed in this morning, I found that my weight did not go up, but it did not go down either (at least not yet).  I know sometimes the bad choices show up a day or two later.  I know I am an emotional eater, and when I get really stressed, I tend to skip MF meals and get too hungry (then make bad choices).

I have identified this problem, and now I can anticipate when something big is coming up, I know what my behaviors are.  Now that I have named them, I can plan to do things differently next time.

When I have five million things to do, like I did this weekend, I can automatically put extra bars in my purse, so I always have something easy on hand to eat.

If I am home, I can grab a bar.  If I am in the car, I can have a bar.  Making my MF meals even simpler will make it easier to get all my MF meals in, so I do not get starving, and go for the cupcake.

I feel that next time, I can be stronger, because I was stronger this past weekend.  Sometimes you have to remember to focus on progress, not perfection.  Life is not perfect.  Mistakes are going to be made.

Did I make mistakes this weekend?  Yes.

Did I realize those mistakes and stop?  Yes.

Did I then make better choices?  Yes.

Did I make progress?  YES!!!

Just remember, one day at a time.