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Tuesday, April 7, 2009

More Of The Same

I have a bit of a dilemma.

When I first set out to improve my overall health and fitness several weeks ago, I did pretty well with eating sensibly. But I had no motivation whatsoever to exercise.

Now I'm doing 4 sets of Dance Dance Revolution (3 songs per set -- it's the game mode for those of you who are familiar with the game) every night -- sometimes more sets on the weekends. I even do a warmup, cool down, stretching before and after, and I'm gradually increasing the speed of the songs.

But I'm back to eating crap. All it takes is for me to think about eating a salad, and I think, "Ugh. Rabbit food." It's like there's a switch: if I turn it one way, I want to eat better. If I turn it the other way, I want to exercise more. How do I get both?

The good news is, I (usually) eat very well at work. We mostly eat with the kids -- and eat what they eat -- and their lunch always includes at least one fruit and one vegetable. And because they're toddlers, we often have leftovers of things like salad and canned fruit (which really comes in handy when the fruit of the day is something I don't like -- I'm pretty picky about fruit).

I have some issues with raiding the snack cabinet lately though. I think the more frequent meals and exercise are causing my metabolism to speed back up again. I'm always hungry. And -- especially at home -- I want to eat something fast, because I'm starving, so instead of cooking or preparing something nutritious, I grab junk food or bowl after bowl of cereal.

My subsequent remorse is twofold: I feel like I suck at the goal of overall health and beat myself up for straying; I also feel uncomfortable what with the different problems with digesting all that junk.

If anyone has any tips for self-motivation for simultaneous diet and exercise, I'd love to hear them.

5 comments:

Aaron

Preparation. You can always make a batch of food up in advance, so that when you get the urge to snack, you have that healthier alternative already there and ready.

The other issue, and this is one you'd need to get your hubby to help with/agree on, is just to eliminate the junk food from the house. You can't eat it if it's not there. And since most junk eating is born of convenience, it's not like you'd hop in the car to drive out and buy the junk.

Mel

Thanks for the advice!

I'll definitely have to try pre-making food for healthy snack options.

Thanks for commenting!

TALON

Hi, Mel.

For me exercise has to be fun and so I try to find fun equipment to incorporate into workouts - like an exercise ball and stretch bands. I shake up my workout routines and don't underestimate the fact that gardening, walking the dogs, housework, etc. are all great forms of exercise. Most of all, accept there will be days when the desire isn't there and don't beat yourself up. But if you can stick with it, even when it's like the last thing you'd ever want to do, you'll find that you actually start looking forward to it and the times you don't get to exercise will become annoying.

Aaron has great advice - it's easier to deal with the snack attacks if you have healthy things on hand. Oh, and the old "don't grocery shop when hungry" is one to remember, along with the "stay away from the inner aisles of the grocery stores" where most of the pre-packed, additive-laden stuff is.

Mel

Talon: So far, so good with fun exercise- I'm still doing DDR on a daily or every-other-daily basis. And I'm pretty proud of myself so far in the matter of sticking to it even when I don't want to. I'm already noticing an increase in my energy level, especially about half an hour to an hour later.

So far my healthy snacks are pretzel rods, cottage cheese, apples, and for a special once-in-awhile treat, Nature Valley granola bars. My husband doesn't like any of those things, so I don't worry about them being gone and not knowing about it. :)

Thanks for the advice and the comment!

TALON

You're welcome, Mel. Sounds like you're on the right track. It's really good when you start to feel the benefit and the extra energy REALLY comes in handy when you have your hands full with small children.

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