Making the Adjustments

Weigh In: 277.2

Yeah, that pretty much sums up my dedication for the past few weeks.

I've intentionally spend the past few days talking about the mental side of this war within myself. I'm trying to spend more time working on the inside as it's very clear that I've completely either ignored or hid this issue within myself. I've learned a few things about myself, and what I need to focus on.

To me, it's purely about keeping myself honest. I've been lying to myself, and I've known it. The last week I've had little to no energy. I was really look down on myself because I knew I wasn't eating right, working out as STRONG as I could, and I wasn't reporting it. I was lying to you guys, but more importantly, I was lying to myself. I'll work much better towards that.

That being said, here's some of the specifics that I've learned from you guys lately, and some basic things that I'm going to apply.

1 - Eating MUCH more naturally. I'm not going to pretend to be able to completely eliminate EVERYTHING processed out of my diet. But this is going to be something I focus on and spend a lot of time thinking about. In fact, Erin and I went to the grocery store specifically tonight to get the following:

-Apples, bananas, broccoli, carrots and almonds.

You'll see a trend. I'm cutting out the obvious processed foods - the lean pockets, for example. I'm going to limit myself on the amount of diet pop I have. I don't like coffee or tea that much, but I want to start trying coffee. This is where it gets tricky - I want to start slowly eliminating things like Splenda out of my diet (not natural), but if I'm going to trade my diet pop in for coffee, black coffee just disgusts me. One step at a time, but this is how I'm starting off. I hated diet pop at the beginning and had a hard time switching from regular, and not I can't imagine myself drinking regular pop as it disgusts me - perhaps this mental switch will take me one more step.

2: I'm not going to eat past 8pm. That means no snacking, no desserts. Now - sometimes dinner might have to get stuck past 8pm if I don't see my house before that, but the common sense rule applies here. Try to eat dinner early, and just call it a night. There's no reason to eat past 8pm - so I won't do it.

3: Pre-planned snacks. As I mentioned above, I bought almonds and fruit today. Instead of a "fat free pudding cup" as a side dish, I'm getting carrots and broccoli. Need a mid-day snack to keep me going? 28 almonds are 170 calories - plenty to take the hunger away, and a great choice as a substitute.

So this is how I'm learning to walk on water. I said that I planned on getting out of the boat, and this is how it starts for me. I had a perfect day today, here's my menu:

Breakfast - 1 serving shredded wheat w/ 1 cup 1% milk
Snack - 1 orange
Lunch - turkey chili, 1 apple
Snack - 3 ounces of tuna in water
Dinner - Chicken parm (but no cheese) - homemade, it was a chicken breast with breadcrumbs and tomato sauce.

Recognizing what needs to be done is one thing - DOING it is another.

Today was a success. Tomorrow needs to be as well.