"Make progress, or make excuses"

Some new challenges to overcome

I've been doing less than stellar. I didn't lose this week, didn't gain, but didn't lose. Having too many of those weeks. While I was stalled for no real reason I could discern before, this week was all my fault.

We haven't really had groceries, so eating out was happening quite a bit, even though it was relatively healthy, it's still most likely packed with sodium. I've also not been going to the gym as often as I should, honestly my pain has been flaring a bit and the fear of making it worse has kept me home. 

I'm 226 lbs and I want nothing more than to hit 224, I know it's a dumb number, heh, but it'll be more than halfway out of this decade, which I am SO looking forward to. This week I plan to hit the gym today, Thursday and Saturday. I'm trying to pace myself, since going so overboard the week before last set me back with my fibromyalgia pretty badly. 

I've decided to go back to physical therapy as well, I only have 6-8 more covered visits available, but that should be enough to give me the umph to get back to working 8 hour shifts every so often without suffering like crazy. I did work a 7 hour shift in shoes that weren't the most comfortable that I own and I didn't die, so I think I'm pretty close to where I need to be.

...and I just keep surprising myself

Life is good right now, I'm planning a vacation in March, I'm far less broke, I'm this person I never thought I would be. The other night joey and I went for a walk just for FUN at like 11 p.m, we saw 15 bunnies while we were out, that's a record. :) 

I never would have wanted to go for a walk for no real reason before, and I never would have actually craved going to the gym, or eating something healthy, I still can't get over who I am. Right now the only thing holding me back is time. I am managing my time and my meal schedules poorly. I plan to go to whole foods today and get some protein bars and some other snacky type foods, nuts, raisins, etc, that I can take with me when I go out, this way I can eat every few hours and not have to go so long between meals that when I get off work I don't want to come home and wait to cook food, so I just eat out instead. No more of that. 

I just have to say, I'm not going to do that anymore. For one, being hungry a bit longer won't kill me, I need to get back to being at peace with hunger. I need to stop eating when I'm full. When I go too long between meals I eat well past fullness lately. My eyes are bigger than my stomach. 

Today I'm going to cook some bulk foods so coming home and eating is quick and easy. I did this last week, it worked out pretty well, I ate out far less often, we didn't have much food to cook the bulk food with though so I only had a few days worth. Today I'm going to make chickpea walnut flax burgers and maybe post the recipe. I'm going to precook some tofu (unseasoned) so it's ready to be seasoned and heated on the stove when I get home, maybe a big batch of homemade mashed potatoes, some pasta, plain, so I can season with garlic and basil or put sauce on it, depending on the craving. I am thinking of baking some homemade bread too, cinnamon raisin and whole grain.

Our priorities say a lot about us

It's not impossible to be crazy busy and be health conscious. It's not. It's more of a struggle, but I'm trying to find ways to fit a healthy lifestyle into my crazy work schedule. The extra effort is worth it. Old Me would have given up by now, saying it's too difficult to work like this and eat healthy, but New Me says there's a way, and I'll find it and make it work. I'll just keep experimenting until everything starts to fall into place and gets easier. It's doable, there are plenty of busy healthy  people who don't give a second thought to their diet and exercise habits, they just do it, because it's a priority.

I guess we just have to ask ourselves what our priorities are. Mine is my health, mine is learning to balance my work time with my healthy lifestyle. Like they say, "Make progress, or make excuses." The first day I began this new journey I posted on my sparkpage that I was done making excuses and that this time, I chose progress. 

Progress. I'm for it.