It’s a new week, the weather is nice and the sun is out! So I’m super motivated to take my dog on a long walk. For those of you who haven’t started their health journey or are struggling today, I think giving yourself the mental space to regroup can be helpful. A When life isn’t going your way, it can be your inner reality that needs attention. You tell yourself you’ll never look as good as the girl on your Instagram or that pro-athlete so you think ‘fuck it’ and have another Dorito. Other times you reward yourself for staying calm all week and then out of nowhere, with the flip of a switch end up going completely overboard. Kind of like I did last night. It’s important not to acknowledge these thoughts and just recognize they aren’t going anywhere.

That sounds grim but it’s the truth. We all have intrusive thoughts. What we can do is counteract their presence with positive ones. So you can say to yourself “I don’t need to compare myself to her or him I want to look like the happiest version of me,” or “I’m not a pro-athlete but I can still be healthy.” The stronger your thoughts the stronger your mind, especially when you know where you’re going.

I like to pretend it’s basic math. Try to see where I’m going with this analogy:
Breakfast: black coffee. 0 calories. Major breakthrough for me. I was always a snob about drinking my coffee with creamer and milk and please don’t judge sometimes even sugar. I thought people who drank their coffee without milk had black souls and no sense of humor. But once I deviated from my prescribed go-to, hereto my only option, I now believe it tastes good! I didn’t die by not using sugar or creamer, I had no difference in symptoms from the black coffee alternative, and close to 5 pm I’m still in a good mood.

I figure if I can handle being pregnant and birthing a child I can handle drinking my coffee black like a grown-up. Anyway I saved myself 150 calories.

For my Lunch problem:  an orange and a chicken salad. About 450 calories.

Snacks: rasberries and turkey (nothing fancy just the cold cuts)

And finally, for the dinner problem:  I’m making cilantro chicken, rice and salad. Then an apple around 8 pm. Calculating the cost of labor is like counting calories to me. I burn them while I breathe.

At the end of the day i’m still looking at 1300 calories.

If you’ve been following my blog for a while, you probably realized it’s not about mental health. 🥘 Here’s an excerpt from the next day.

Tuesday morning —

I‘be productive all day so don’t think I’ll have any problems with the follow through tonight. As we all know when dieting, days matter. My focus is just on getting through the day without overeating. Also, people have asked me why I work if I’m already well-off and the short answer is because I want to. But the longer answer is because I gained weight in my belly from three months of overeating and I like how my clothes fit when I don’t have that extra weight around my middle. 🥺 I also do realize I can weight train and get rid of it instead of calorie-cut, but for now this is what works with my lifestyle. I do want to delve into weight-training even though I’m obsessed with cardio.

To all the newbies keep reading and if you don’t reach your daily goal (not saying you won’t but we’re human and it happens!) journal about it and hold yourself accountable.

You have willpower and you can follow-through. Positive thinking leads to better results. Good luck everyone!