Mind Games

One of the problems with joining the same diet program 26 times is that you have mind games you play with yourself. For instance, I am going to Austin for a work conference. I leave on Saturday morning and come back on Wednesday night. I can make a really early meeting. However, I have been eating over my points this week. That makes me want to use my trip as an excuse to skip weigh-in on Saturday. That would allow me to free up my eating for a few days and then buckle down right before weigh-in. It's a mind game of justification.

Instead, I am going to try to pinpoint what has happened this week. If this is truly a learning experience leading toward a lifestyle and not a diet, I need to take the good and the bad together to create a winning approach to health for me. This week, I have been eating too many points midday and then I end up going over at night. I refuse to ignore hunger signals or to forego dinner because I ate too many points early in the day so I end up over points. I probably would be fine if I had not taken off Saturday at the lake. Lesson learned. If you take a day off, you have to be more aware during the week or you have to be ok with being over for the week knowing that this is a long haul approach.

So, I am writing this here because I am committed to weighing in. No matter what it says, this week has been a good one because I learned something that I can apply and move forward.

Now I have Austin ahead of me. I emailed the person I am staying with and told her that I wanted to make healthier choices and exercise in Austin. It's gorgeous there. She told me to wear my workout clothes on the plane. We will get off, go for a walk and then have a healthy snack before naps. An early dinner at a cool sushi place will wrap-up Saturday. Sunday we'll go to church, exercise, and maybe cook at her home. The rest of the time will be conference time but I'm not worried about that because the food was SO healthy last time. Apparently Austin is a healthy city. Who knew?

I am a little worried about 'off time' at nice restaurants with eager vendors. I must choose my battles. My goal this week is going to move away from weight loss to exercise in a new place, exercising my 'choice muscle' by making the healthiest choice possible, and focusing on water. For some reason I never drink enough water at these things.

Ok, I confessed my mind game. Are there any you are playing with yourself today?