losing weight is totally mental!

20^th April 2013

Peace is the result of retraining your mind to process life as it is, rather than as you think it should be.  Wayne W Dyer

What a beautiful morning it looks out there, I’ve just got up – late for me but I’m trying to rid myself of this cold so I took night nurse again to knock me out and guarantee sleep.

Wasn’t particularly productive yesterday, did do a meal plan for the week ahead although I don’t think I’ll be able to stick to it as I have to fancy what I’m going to eat, I have however made a list of potential meals for the next few weeks which will stop me over shopping in the supermarket when I go for the few things that I do need.  I also cooked a whole chicken in the slow cooker which came out delicious, I added a chopped onion, about 3 bulbs of garlic didn’t peel them so they were still sweet in their cases, and about 150ml of pale sherry, wow it was a bit like Nigellas 40 clove of garlic recipe without all the hassle and extras, will be enjoying some of it today with rice I think.

I also took mom to McDonalds for her lunch yesterday and met Lynne for a coffee, I did some major people watching, one kid ate approx 1,800 calories worth of food in less than ten minutes, it took another lad 3 minutes to eat a big mac, then he had another!  It’s okay for some kids to do that occasionally because they’ll burn it off, the lad with the two burgers had his scooter with him and he’ll be burning it off playing with his mates.  The woman I watched eating, big mac, large fries and chicken nuggets whilst talking on the phone is unlikely to burn off the calories she just ate in less than ten minutes, no attention was being paid to her food at all and if you think it takes twenty minutes for the brain to realise the stomachs full, it’s no wonder she had room for the chocolate muffin afterwards!  It is very difficult to eat slowly and relax in McDonalds, it isn’t designed for you to stay really is it being a ‘fast food’ restaurant.  I had a big mac and large fries and a carton of milk (I didn’t track nor count ProPoints at all yesterday, I was poorly and beyond caring) which added up to 1113 calories or 29pp however you prefer to think about these things – that’s a lot!  Especially as because of my cold, I wasn’t really tasting much and I didn’t burn it off with movement later because we went home to chill out!  It really is scary how little attention we pay to our food when we’re eating but how easily we can consume vast quantities of food without realising.  If you don’t at the moment, start trying to pay attention to your food, enjoy and taste the flavours, it’s amazing what you learn about your tastebuds, it really is.

So I’ve got a cold and I’ve used it as an excuse/reason to not bother with my tracking, any old excuse ay!  But seriously I talked in my blog the other day about ‘the ideal perfect diet world’ and there really isn’t on, I talk to so many people who have troubles, struggles, hard times and ‘stuff’ going on in their lives that at that time the last thing they’re thinking about is themselves and what they’re eating – eating is just something that gets done eventually and whatever is to hand.  It’s easy for me to say “Make time” but in reality, it isn’t that easy to do is it.  I hear great lines from people occasionally and they stick with me and one of the better ones was “When life’s hard, weight loss is hard”, and that is so true, it’s still doable but it’s not as easy.  Another line I heard the other day when I was chatting with a friend about there being so much more to weight loss than the food we eat, we were discussing how our emotions, moods and life situations come into play and she said, “losing weight is totally mental”, a line of genius because it’s so true and has two meanings depending on which way you want to read it.

Life is never going to be ‘easy’ all the time, and when you’re struggling for whatever reason, you can only do your best and cope as best as you are able to, don’t put pressure on yourself for not being perfect.  A bit of self love will do you much more good than chastising yourself over your inability to stay on track!  When I feel like this, I eat as well as I possibly can and give myself a break when I don’t manage to. 

It’s easy for someone in a good place to offer you advise and direction but until you are ready, all the advice in the world won’t make a blind bit of difference.

So wherever you are, however you feel today, do your best and give yourself a break ;-)

If you’re lucky, life continues regardless, so embrace each day with gratitude.  There are certain things you can’t change but you can change how you react to them.

BeYouTiful and take care of you. xx