Finding Motivation : Getting Back on Track.

Summer is particularly bad for maintaining healthy eating. In my house, that is a fact!

True story, I tried very hard to be healthy this last holiday. However, there is also some kind of little voice in my head that says cheating is ok when on vacation. I can't seem to defeat this voice!

This last holiday was particularly bad. I knew I was eating junk when I was up two nights in a row with horrible stomach aches.  Cleaning up your diet will teach you in a nasty way which foods your body doesn't tolerate well any longer!

So, I set out in search of some advice to get back on track after the holidays. I'm feeling pretty tired these days, and unmotivated to do much in the way of change. I wanted to somehow motivate myself. I didn't come up with much that was too inspiring (lists on Google are actually REALLY LAME!), so I thought I would write my own top 4 and see if I can stick to them. I'm only writing 4 because I WANT TO BE SUCCESSFUL!

This list making part is important to me. If I go forth unorganized, I'm probably going to um, FAIL.

Here's what I have to say about this. I've heard a lot of people lately comment along the lines of no time, no motivation, not sure where to start with making any kind of healthy changes in your life. It BUGS ME when people refuse to change. It only bugs me, because I know it bugs them too. 
True story, the hardest step is the first.

My challenge, from this post stems from this quote. It rattles around in my head a lot: 

So. I think we should choose to be happy, and do things that make us happy. One day at a time!

So far, here are the goals I have.

Step 1: Do not buy junk (no matter what a bargain it is) while grocery shopping! Check. Done. Pretty much a fruit, veggie, meat, dairy shop.

Step 2: Meal plan. This will be tonight's plan. Permission to spend an hour on Pintrest? Granted! My goal with this is to make sure I am getting in two high protein meals every day. One of them is usually my Isagenix shake or bar. It saves me time during the day when I'm too busy to make something elaborate and I know I'm getting healthy organic nutrients. 
I'm really into these Asian noodle salads at the moment. I love salads because they are low cal, high in nutrients and can be made a million different ways!

Step 3: Make some healthy treats and portion individually so I am ready for cravings. I love these things wayy too much!

Recipe:

15 dates
1/2 cup almond butter
1/3 cup finely shredded unsweetened coconut (I get this from the bulk bins at Whole Foods)
2 T. cocoa
1 T. cinnamon
1 t. vanilla

You can also add nuts, other sweeteners instead of dates, oats, etc. They are very flexible!

Step 4: Come up with some ways to be active with my kids this week (doing this tonight also). We ALL feel better when our days are full of fun activities!

So far I have:

- Trip to a new park
- Last blackberry picking adventure
- Attempt to get in some speed work for my running at a local park (circle trail around a playground in the middle). This is probably a pipe dream but I'm going to try!
-Sign K up for swimming lessons (ok this just buys me free time but at least he will be active!)

I am really pondering the concept of not just having good ideas about things, but follow-through. I posted an earlier entry about finding motivation:

Motivation to Exercise: How do you find it?

I stand by the step-by-step piece described. But once you're in the middle of changing things, I think it's important to keep refocusing and reaching for small improvements. Keeps us feeling good!

I also want to point out that I'm not yet ready to say no beer and no wine. I do just fine with this in the winter, but according one of my last posts, I still have a little *work* to do before my beer fridge is ready to be unplugged (who am I kidding, it's not mine, it's my  husband's... and it will NEVER be unplugged!) for the winter.  Plus, it's good, right? Microbrew? No preservatives?

One last point. Something I think I could probably right a whole blog post about. It's about not succeeding with goals. I know it's really important to stick to them and take them seriously, but I am SO done with beating myself up when I screw up. Sad to say it took me until I was in my 30s to figure this out. True story, it actually makes for a more successful journey when you don't throw out the process for one small step in the wrong direction.

Anyway, tomorrow marks the start of a little more consciousness, so I'm enjoying this while I can!

My first official challenge: If you are thinking of making some changes... start with a small one. What do you want to improve?