Sunday, December 28, 2014

Be Spontaneous!


I talk so often about planning.  Planning your meals and snacks, planning your exercise, or planning your strategy for attack at a potluck. Most often planning absolutely helps you stick to your healthier habits, but it is a little harder this time of year.  Planning can be difficult with more traveling, events with friends and family, house guests, strange work schedules (what day is it again?), and anything extra that may pop up out of the usual day-to-day routine that is typically so easy to plan for.  It was during times like these just last week that I found being spontaneous can work in your healthy habit’s favor too.
Last Tuesday, I had spent my last good long day at work before a few days off for Christmas, arrived home, enjoyed dinner, changed into warm pajamas and was sitting under a heated blanket on the couch listening to the rain come down outside.  Does anything sound better?  Soon however, as I was perusing Facebook, I came across a post from one of my Zumba instructors that expressed looking forward to the time ahead with family and food, but that “tonight, we dance!”  Hmm, I had not planned to go to class that night because I rarely do go to later evening classes, I had accepted that I would have fewer workouts this week, and I had already settled in, but “what the heck! I am going to go!”
It was fun! “I am being spontaneous!”  I threw off the blanket, got in some feel good workout clothes and headed out the door.  I am SO glad that I did!  So many of the Zumba regulars were there and we all had a blast dancing for an hour.  All smiles and sweat!
During times when you’re not sure you can “plan in” a workout, take any opportunity that presents itself.  Downtime visiting family?  Nice weather?  Huh, maybe a good opportunity for a walk, jog, run, game of tag or maybe touch football?  Or maybe you need this strategy just to get started at all, no matter the time of year.  Prefer spontaneity over schedules and plans?  Set a goal to take advantage of any exercise opportunity you’re given – then do it.  You could checkout Groupon or something of the like and let the coupons decide your workout for you.  Try a bunch of different workout styles and locations at a discounted price.  It will keep things mixed up and never boring or uninspiring (ex. you may take hip-hop abs somewhere, then hot yoga, then Pure Barre, then cycling, then Zumba, then kick-boxing, then Cross-Fit…you get the idea).  Be spontaneous!
On a different note, I also practiced some spontaneity in my food choices last week.  Nothing in the fridge?  Or is there…?  I was searching for some lunch and could have easily said that “we don’t have anything” and gone out for something, but instead I made it happen.  Out of a leftover wok dinner (chicken, broccoli, and carrots), whole grain tortilla chips, black beans (from our black bean encrusted fish dish posted a while ago, but enjoyed again last week), salsa, sour cream, and a sprinkle of low fat cheese came a rocking plate of nachos.  I successfully turned nothing into a healthy and filling something.
On occasion it could be fun to step outside your food box, be okay with the fact that there isn’t something ready and raring to go at a moment’s notice, and avoid diet sabotage.  What can you create with what you have?  A few random ingredients and a good imagination and you could create a new fav.
So plan when you can, but when you can’t, take advantage of opportunities when they come.  The alternative may be resorting to doing nothing and feeling all out of sorts by the end of the “out of the ordinary” weeks of Christmas and New Year’s.  Be spontaneous this month! 
Merry Christmas and Happy New Years to all!

Sunday, December 14, 2014

Be Stubborn


This is a hard time of year to be sticking to the healthiest of eating habits, especially if they’re new behaviors.  When they’re new behaviors, they are not quite habits yet and it really takes some discipline to stick to them through the barrage of temptations, potlucks, and sweets of this beautiful season.
Someone wise once told me that we can never truly get rid of old habits, but that we can choose to put new positive habits in their place.  Does that mean those old habits always linger waiting to retake their place at the head of, well, your head?  For instance, have you ALWAYS had something sweet after your meals?  That is a good habit to address during a time when you’re watching out for extra sugar and pounds, but it will not be easy to say “no” to your mind’s desire to have that treat.  It will feel as if you NEED the sweet for your meal to be complete.  What new positive habit could you replace this with?  Perhaps you could take a short walk after your meal or make your post meal-time a time for devotion or thanks.  Truly once your brain is engaged outside of food, then that NEED for your treat wanes.  When faced with the temptation to practice our old bad habit, choosing that new replacement behavior takes lots of practice and repetition, but you can do it!  Be stubborn!
I’ve been told that I can be stubborn at times.  I believe I most often use my stubbornness for good…to stick to a plan or complete a commitment or to do my very best at something.  Other times it seems silly.  Just this week I stubbornly refused to put any of my bags down after returning from work and our Christmas party.  I was holding big bags and little bags, plus a box and a crock pot…up 3 flights of stairs (made it)…to the door (made it)…keys?  I was determined I would make it in without putting anything down.  Through some interesting contortions, I did.  Why?  For no other reason than because I decided I was going to and stubbornly stood by that decision.  What a silly example!  But sometimes it is that kind of silly stubbornness we need to stick to our plan to steer clear of sweets after meals, or maybe to forgo the extra helping at dinner, or maybe to skip the doughnuts that have become a weekend tradition.    
I used this idea again this morning when I talked myself down from jumping off my balanced breakfast cliff.  I had my usual big balanced breakfast, but oh I watched a fresh hot batch of doughnut holes being poured into a basket prior to church this morning.  I am not going to lie…I thought about it.  I thought about eating one, just one you know.  No big deal.  But, NO!  I am not hungry, they are not THAT good, and the sugar and calories are not worth it.  Plus, I know I wouldn’t feel so hot about it afterwards.  Today I stood by my decision not to eat when I’m not hungry or just because it’s there (an all too familiar situation recently).
Can you be silly stubborn beyond peer pressure, beyond your old habits, beyond your self-doubts, to stick to your healthier plan through a food filled season?!  This is where knowing what your goals are is important.  If you’ve only sort of thought about the fact that you would like to eat better or would like to lose some weight, it will be more difficult to stick to your plans and meet your loosely framed goals.  Set specific goals and write them down and/or share them with a friend.  It seems insignificant, but it makes a difference.  Your goals take on greater meaning when in ink and when you set yourself up for accountability.  From specific goals you can make plans and stubbornly stick to them.
I plan to keep control tomorrow too.  I enter into another food-focused day of Christmas celebrations at work, potluck style.  While everyone has been instructed to bring a heart healthy dish, there will still be a table of finger foods available to me ALL day.  I will take part, but plan to take along the main part of my normal homemade lunch and fill in the gaps with mostly fruits and veggies from our table.   A goal, a plan, and now I’ve told you – accountability.