Healthy Habits Can Be Easy To Keep When You Set The Intention
No Eating After Dinner Challenge: Day 3
As I eluded to yesterday, today was movie night with the fam.
Cue the pizza!
I actually love it since I’m the only one that is gluten free, I can choose whatever I want for my pie. The problem lies in after having the salty goodness of pizza, I usually want something sweet.
But I held off. Last week I was mindlessly shoving Oreos into my mouth as soon as the kids went to bed, tonight I was amazed by the power of intention.
My craving and need for a night time snack is so much less than when I’m being mindless about it. There is a reflexive reaction as soon as I turn on the tv my mind turns to mush and I lose all control of the decisions I make.
Sure, Abbey have another snack. Sure, Abbey double the amount you just grabbed. It’s all good because it is satisfying your immediate wants.
For someone with a history of negative body image, the next morning is usually a self pity party. I stand in my bathroom squeezing my belly and thinking about the consequences of my actions. Ok, so I said this challenge isn’t directly about weight loss but I would be lying if I said it didn’t matter. The past two mornings I have woken up feeling refreshed and not weighed down. My belly doesn’t feel bloated and I can actually see the difference it makes in not eating right before bed. No, I haven’t lost ten pounds or five inches around my waist but the inflammation is gone.
Over the years, my weight has fluctuated all over the place and there was a period of time I thought I had figured out the “secret sauce;” an equation that worked best for me. Then a big move happened and I had not created lasting good habits to keep me on track. One snack turned into five and then eating out became a way of life.
I had created a lot of good habits but all at once so my mind became overwhelmed with having to remember everything. After losing 60 pounds and maintaining it for about a year, things changed, I got lax about being mindful and thought I had a handle on my relationship with food.
Boy, was I wrong!
The weight started to creep back on and even though I was at my strongest physically, I was still uncomfortable in my skin. It was staring me right in the face when I saw myself in pictures and was shocked that I had let myself go again.
This exercise is in self control and intention. This is about shifting my mindset into understanding that it is better for me to rest my body after the last meal of the day instead letting my bored state of mind take over.
If we get all Freudian here, I still have an oral fixation that I never resolved and food is my vice!
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