Emotional Detox

 body image, Stress Eating  27 Responses »
Apr 102013
 

Recently I listened to this guided meditation and found myself relaxing just listening to it. I enjoy guided meditations a lot. While I’m not religious, I do follow a path that I believe in and meditation is a big part of that. It’s been way too long since I participated in my faith. I realized it was lacking in my life by the amount of stress I was experiencing.

While I am pretty open and honest on this blog, there are a lot of things I don’t address. I have to be vague once again, and I apologize, but I’ve been feeling an intense level of dissatisfaction with my current profession. I’ve thought about going back to school for a long time, completely changing my focus and direction, but I haven’t figured out what to change to….thus, no school yet.

I firmly believe that emotional health is just as important, if not more important than, physical health. How many of us have struggled with depression or anxiety and not FELT motivated to workout? {Raises Hand} Been there. I was there for a long time. I was depressed that I’d “always” be fat and nothing would ever change. It was a vicious cycle.

Depressed over weight –> eat to feel better –> beat self up for bingeing –> feel depressed. 

What I found was that exercising and eating healthy DID help and DID change things. I suddenly had more energy, more optimism, more happy feelings. Endorphins are an amazing thing. But what happens when those exercise endorphins don’t work as well anymore?

Spring Cleaning for the Soul

Spring is coming soon (thankfully) and with spring comes the “Cleaning” that I routinely want to do. I want to clean my house and get rid of STUFF. I want to clean my life and discard what doesn’t work anymore. I have clothes in my closet that don’t even fit me anymore, socks with holes in them, and people in my life who feed into the negative toxicity that I’ve been feeling lately.

Unresolved issues don’t go away and FOOD is not the answer. All too often I used food as a band-aid for hurt feelings or anger that I didn’t want to address when I did have the power to change my situation. That needs to change. It may be something I always struggle with, but I am conscious and aware of it and actively trying to change the patterns.

How Am I Doing It?

Keeping trigger foods out of the house so I don’t turn to comfort eating/bingeing in times of stress.

Look for things outside of what is causing me stress/unhappiness to make me happy. Sure I can’t necessarily change a current situation but I can look somewhere else for something that will make me happy.

Live in the moment. This one is really difficult for me because I’m a planner and I tend to think about the future instead of living in the moment.

Focus on fixing what I CAN fix. I am in control of what I eat, how much I exercise and how I spend my down time. If my environment is feeling overwhelming and cluttered, I can clean it. If my mind is feeling  cluttered with “nonsense” I can try unplugging; no TV, no computer, internet break. I’m already plotting a mini weekend where I disappear without some of those things for a mental break!

What about you? What are your thoughts on this?

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Season Changes

 Comfort Food, depression, fitness, food, Losing weight, Motivation, staying motivated, weight loss, Winter, winter blues  14 Responses »
Oct 182012
 

It’s getting darker. And colder. The leaves are changing and falling from the trees; pumpkin everything is around us; and it’s almost time to drag out those sweaters. The seasonal changes can be a challenge for some people. I know that I definitely notice a change with the seasons.

My fitness changes a fair amount with the time of year. During the late spring through early fall, I don’t go to the gym very much. My focus changes to cycling or hiking, or running outside. The weather is too nice to be stuck in a smelly, stuffy gym and I’m usually training for an event.

Once October comes around, it’s too dark and cold for me to bike to work anymore so I hang up my cycling clothes and stow my bike for weekend rides only. I also head back into the gym to resume consistent weight lifting and swimming.

I definitely suffer from Seasonal Affective Disorder. Some years it’s milder than others, it really just depends. Here in Portland, the constant gray and relentless rain can often last from December through May. That sucks. The rain is what gets me the worst. I try my best to avoid the winter blues. Exercise definitely helps!

And of course, there’s also the problems of the holidays. Surviving Halloween season is always a challenge, even years later. The temptations of Halloween and Christmas candies everywhere you turn is enough to derail anyone trying to lose weight! Did I mention Thanksgiving? PIE!! One of the things that has helped me keep off 100 pounds–year in and year out–even during the holidays is that I don’t quit what works. I keep exercising on a regular basis. While my activities may change with nasty weather, my consistent routine does not.

Lately I’ve been craving comfort foods: casseroles, mac n’ cheese, pasta, soup and grilled cheese sandwiches…basically carby things! I’ve been resisting thus far, or making a lighter version of the things I crave. I had a bowl of tomato soup with a piece of toast with cream cheese on it for dinner one night instead of the grilled cheese sandwich. It satisfied the craving (temporarily at least). Making “skinny” versions of the things I crave is what helps the most. One of the websites I’ve used a lot is SkinnyTaste. She has a ton of “lightened up” recipes for things like casseroles.

So do you struggle to stay on track during the darker months?

Is it harder to get up in the morning and get yourself to the gym?

Are you less motivated to workout after work when it’s dark and cold?

How do you change that? For me, what works is forcing myself to keep the normal fitness routine. It helps stave off the winter blues, it makes me feel better and keeps me healthy. I know how much better I will feel if I do it, so I do it!

It seems overly simplified, but it works. I wrote a post about how I track my food and exercise. Using something as simple as Google Calenders to track my and plan my workouts keeps me motivated, makes me feel accomplished and it makes it hard to BAIL on it. It’s on my calender. I’m going to do it!

This is not to say it’s always easy, but putter along taking the exercise and food one day at a time.

QUESTION: How do you deal with the changing seasons? What is the hardest struggle? Food or exercise?

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