1/4/2014

It's Saturday night at 8:47pm and I am happily in bed. I've been gearing up to commit to a lifestyle change. I had been calling it a 12 week plan or even a six month plan, but I'm finding that one of my problems is calling it a plan. In my brain, a plan sounds like a temporary thing, a commitment that you will put a lot of energy into for the duration of time that you are on it, and then after awhile you can take a deep breath and relax while you dive head first OFF your plan and eat everything you've wished you could have had for six months. 

But that's exactly the type of thinking that has failed me. 

That's the kind of strategy that has failed me. 

I'm looking forward to the process of changing my habits. I've yet to achieve my goal of seeing my belly muscles because I've taken on the behaviors of a serial dieter...on plan off plan on plan off plan. And things stay pretty much the same. 

 

In order to break this pattern, I am going to follow Martha Beck's advice and create small successes and build from there. 

The first week my goal will be to be in bed by 8pm every night. 

What I learned from a site called Lean Bodies Consulting is to pick the thing you keep struggling with and choose a week to conquer it. I suppose Chalene Johnson says the same thing with her PUSH goals. 

At any rate, I am very happy to report that tonight I got home much earlier than expected, so I plan on catching up on some sleep tonight. Tomorrow is a big food prep, laundry and "before" pics day. 

My big challenge is to RECOGNIZE AND REJECT my urges to sabotage or otherwise fail myself. I changed my habit of smoking by doing that. 

In order to do this, I must have a clear plan of what meals to eat at what time. And when I have an urge to eat something that is not on that plan, I can watch the urge. It should peak, drop, and disappear. 

The first week, I'm not going to go completely cold turkey clean. I'm building in treats. I'm not sure if that's the BEST thing to do, but I wanted to start with a week that I could easily meet with success. 

I've also got to figure out what my rewards will be for completing my first week successfully. 

And I suppose I should create rules for myself along the way, such as "I plan meals ahead of time". And along with that build an identity that says: this is who I am. 

Speaking of which, my motto is: Show Don't Tell. 

I learned from a friend that when you share your goals (especially difficult goals) with people, you get a reward when they praise you that is so similar to the feeling you might feel from ACTUALLY ACHIEVING your goal that it's enough. And your drive to accomplish the goal is significantly reduced, which is why lots of people do not follow thru. 

So I know that I'm blogging about my process and my journey, but only a few friends read this, and it's really for my own accountability.  All that said, I think it will be ok. Blogging has been a very effective way of holding myself accountable in the past and I'm looking forward to using it as a tool again. 

The idea is to SHOW people what I'm doing instead of telling them what I'm going to do. Some things will have to be kept under wraps. 

Finally, since it is 9:08pm, my parting thought is that I started to wonder if maybe I didn't really want to achieve this goal. Maybe I was doing it for external praise or recognition. And, while I think the external praise and recognition plays a role, no matter what happens I always come back to this. I want to master my fitness. I do not want to be a slave to my cravings. 

Day 1 starts Monday!

Hosted by Maybelle.