I have a confession to make. Between my crazy travel schedule in September and my crazy work schedule in October I managed to gain about 10-15 pounds. Seriously. As a result, I thought that some reflection was in order so we could reverse this trend. Here is what I came up with:
Why did this happen? - On the road I was eating out a lot = being over-served high fat meals (and eating them all) - When I did not have a healthy snack with me, I tended to grab whatever was convenient at the time, which was usually not very healthy - Lack of exercise and movement - no walking to work and little use of hotel gyms - Lack of sleep - burning the candle at both ends, watching TV at night to unwind What could I have done better? (and will start to do now) - When eating out: order the healthiest thing available on the menu, split the portion and have half of it boxed to go as soon as it comes to the table - When on the go: always have a healthy snack on hand (e.g., bar, piece of fruit, nuts) so I don’t find myself super hungry in the midst of unhealthy options - Exercise and movement: do a quick round of push-ups and sit-ups in the room - requires no equipment and very little time - Get more sleep: plan backwards from tomorrow’s wake-up time and do everything possible to get those 8 hours in bed (with lights and TV off!) So, this is what I have been consistently doing for the past week or so and I have lost approximately 5 pounds of the 10-15 that I have gained. I plan to keep it up until I am back to where I was and perhaps even a bit lighter. This experience has been interesting to me because it has shown me how closely my weight tracks with my behaviors related to eating, movement, and sleep. Again, I find this empowering because it shows me that I can affect change with what I do.Leo Tolstoy wrote
“Everyone thinks of changing the world, but no one thinks of changing himself.”
Changing oneself is not always easy, but it is very satisfying.
Have a great weekend folks, Larry