It is all about choices!

Today it is all about the choices we make that impact our success. Every day you CHOOSE to get up out of bed and start your day. We tell ourselves we HAVE to, but really we are still CHOOSING to do what is necessary or what we have committed ourselves to do. In the end it comes down to choices.  It is the same with diet. We tell ourselves we CAN'T have this or we HAVE to eat that...but really that is just a way to make swallowing the choices we make a bit easier. We act like we don't have a choice in the matter, but we are choosing to or not to.

Being on a diet is hard. We try to change everything we eat and suddenly try to force ourselves out of our comfort zone with new foods, completely avoiding foods we love and try to exercise every day when we never did to start with. It is all very funny really. We choose to make our diet and exercise regimen impossible to stick to and as miserable as possible. Are we trying to punish ourselves for the poor choices we made to get ourselves to this place we don't want to be? Are we punishing the fat for sticking to our bodies? We are choosing to make it as unpleasant as we can and we are in turn setting ourselves up for failure. You don't have to starve and you don't have to eat macrobiotic food. You don't have to eat cardboard or work out for 6 hours every day to be successful. If you do that to get to your goal, and you are seriously miserable doing it, do you honestly think you are going to choose to stick to it after you meet your goals? No.

So, how do you make choices you won't be miserable sticking to and still find success?

Well that is all about personal preference. For me, I like to eat. I don't want to starve myself to get to my goals because I know that I will just gain it back later when I  no longer eat that way. So I have to find healthy choices that allow me to have a lot on my plate but that won't pack on the pounds. Because I do the Weight Watchers Points Plus program, it is easier for me to look at it from that perspective. I get 31 points for a day. Every food has a points value, fresh fruit and veggies (non starchy ones) are 0 points so I can eat as much as I want of those. I try to keep my breakfast at 6 or under so that I still have plenty for the rest of my day. But WHAT you choose to eat can make just as much of a difference as how much you eat can. I like as much food on my plate as I can get on it for the amount of points I am consuming. It makes me feel like I'm not starving (because I'm not) and it keeps me from feeling like I need to eat again in an hour.

For example:

1 piece of Rudi's Gluten Free Cinnamon Raisin Bread = 2 pts+
1 Teaspoon of butter = 1 pts+
Total points+ for breakfast = 3 pts+

Yeah, only 3 pts+ and with black coffee or tea with no cream and sugar and you think sweet I was WAY under points for breakfast......but you will be hungry WAY too soon. There is no way you will make it to lunch..... I know I won't. So how do you make a CHOICE that is going to keep you full and put WAY more on your plate and in your belly?

Like this:

1 piece of Rudi's Gluten Free Cinnamon raisin Bread = 2 pts+
1 teaspoon cream cheese = 0 pts+
4 egg whites scrambled (cooked with just a tiny spray of Pam), seasoned with salt, pepper and red pepper flakes for a little spice = 1 pts+
1 apple (fresh) = 0 pts+
Total points+ for breakfast = 3 pts+

Which would you rather eat?

It is all about choices. You have to find what you like and then figure out how to get the most out of it. I do the same thing with all meals and with activity too. I know that I can burn calories doing just about anything.....as long as  I'm not just sitting still. So if I vacuum I count it. If I rake the leaves in the yard, I count it. If I spend a half hour scrubbing the showers and tubs, then I count it. I get my exercise wherever I can....I'm not going to go out and suddenly run a marathon. My back can't handle it and my body isn't ready to train for it yet. Someday I know I will walk/run/jog/crawl my way through a half marathon but I'm not going to just be able to get up and do it today. lol So I CHOOSE to find  something in my day that can be exercise and make it as beneficial as I can.

I am CHOOSING to change my life, my health, my habits, my self esteem and my weight. Each choice I make, every single second of every day affects my success...for better or not....that CHOICE is mine.

"No matter how slow you go, you are still lapping everyone on the couch."