Breaking Up with Numbers

When I say, "breaking up," what I really mean is, "taking a break from..." I don't like numbers. They confuse and sometimes discourage me. The scale is a major number, though I am not taking a complete break from that. The real numbers that have been bothering me lately have been on My Fitness Pal. The calories. The minutes exercised. The number of steps. The burned calories. The macros... O, the macros. All this to say that I know I need them to lose, but I have been maintaining for a solid month by simply writing down what I am eating.

This month, I'm going back to the weights and measures, but still holding off on the calories. Probably until January. Without judgy red or over-achiever green numbers staring me in the face, it has been easier to work on other habits and not be distracted. For example, I have been more consistent with sitting and eating my food off of a plate, as opposed to grazing while cooking or impulsively bingeing on whatever passes me by.

This has been more empowering than having over 1000 days streaked in logging on to MFP. I never knew that I could track progress in such a different way. No, the scale has not gone down, I have been maintaining within a 1 pound range (207-208). Technically, you could say that the scale has gone up almost a pound, BUT if this were 5 years ago and I was tracking my progress by the scale, macros and calories - I would have binged up 5 pounds out of frustration and discouragement. I am mindfully working on my habits and my body is still in recovery from having our son.

With constant transitions and inconsistent sleep patterns, I am doing really well.

Comments

Goals, Expectations, and Hitting Refresh

These past few weeks have been difficult to get on a plan and to be self-controlled. I ha ve found myself over-indulging with food, slacking in my work, and losing focus on my goals. Then I realized this week that it is because I have too many of them; which actually translates, "I have no goals at all." Have you ever sat down, made a to-do list, stared at it with overwhelming stress and anxiety, promptly set the list aside and then did nothing? Well, that's what having too may goals is. My focus is scattered, I cannot see progress in anything, I am frustrated by the sinking feeling of defeat and then I simply give up. Earlier this week, I realized the foundation of my problem and hit the reset button. After sitting down and spending some cleansing time in prayer and Bible reading, I made the most cleansing decision I have practiced in weeks: I deleted everything from my Google calendar. As I clicked, "Are you sure you want to delete this calendar, this action c...

Dealing With Stress

Emotional eating is a definite struggle of mine. That feels kind of obvious to me, as if it is clearly a problem or else we would not be here, right? Anyway, recognizing it has been an imperative part of my journey. Stress bingeing has not been as much of an issue since I started, but when I dwell on the desire to binge, I have begun to recognize that something stressful is causing anxiety or frustration. It would be so easy for me to close my tracking app and head for the kitchen. Then I consider the journey that I have been on over the last six months. It has been so encouraging to see my progress. I know that there is no perfection to be attained and that I will (have) slipped up from time to time, but I also know that my choices will affect my mindset. Today, I chose not to thaw a box of chocolate chip cookies after pre-tracking my entire day. I chose to eat my evening snack before dinner after a cup of green grapes and will be content to have my tea on its own this evening. ...

Balance, Contentment, Motivation

It has been quite a while since Heather Robertson shared this point on the Half Size Me show, but it still rings true and continues to be a type of mantra for me: 1. Barely made it out of bed./2. Oh well, guess the day is just going to be "survive."/3. Workout done, kitchen cleaned, girls napping, ready to tackle the day! "Motivation does not cause our actions, motivation comes when we take action." It is quite difficult to balance life when you have such a heavy goal in weight loss (see what I did there?). Anyway... I began this journey on January 9 at 251 pounds. On June 9, when hubby and I took a short vacation, I had hit 187. It is almost August and I am maintaining between 183 and 185. My emotions have been all over the place with this: Okay, maintenance, this is new Let's up the calories a little bit while we increase movement Let's switch up the food Maybe I'll change my exercise Okay, now I'm a little frustrated Ins...

Healthy Living

Search This Blog