I had decent weekend, and even went to the gym…again!  To my surprise, while I was lying across the bed being lazy, my Big Little Sister called and asked me to go to the gym with her. I quickly agreed to join her.  I pedaled on the elliptical for an hour and she did running intervals on the treadmill next to me.  After that hard workout, we were proud of our success, but we were both grossed out by our sweat soaked shirts.

Then, on Saturday night I went out with my old co-worker friend for my birthday, followed by church on Sunday.  I went to my family church to support my Little Sister on her last weekend in St. Louis.  I think I told y’all, but she’s going to college in New Orleans, majoring in Pre-Med.  She did a beautiful praise dance and we celebrated the Pastor’s 42nd Pastoral anniversary.  It was wonderful to see my family and my church family, but I was also reminded why I need a new church home.  You have to change the way you do things to get different results.  And…it’s just not a lot of change happening there.  Nonetheless, I got to see my Honey Bunny.  She looked at me in my eyes and with the seriousness of doctor speaking to a patient said, “Auntie, I NEED to go play today.”  I laughed and replied “you ‘Need’ to?”  And she shook her head and said “Yes.” with the same intensity.  Since it was such a severe concern, I told her I would take her to the playground after church, and she was thrilled.

Monday, I had a bad case of the lazies and scale anxiety that made me want to skip my Weight Watcher meeting.  Then I could hear my leader’s voice in my head asking me “What, was the word you used…commitment?”  Yes, I had committed to attending meetings.  And I realized, I don’t have to weigh-in.  I know what I did last week, I went to the gym twice, played in the park with my niece and walked on my lunch break.  That’s more intentional activity than I’ve done for a while.  I also ate too much b-day cake, days after my birthday was over.  I knew that number on the scale would screw up my head, so I didn’t weigh in.  I’m enjoying breaking my emotional connections to it.  Sometimes (not all), but sometimes, I don’t even think about it in the morning.  Nor does the “gaping hole” where it used to sit look as weird.  Without the distraction from that “number” I was able to focus in the meeting.  She talked about the empty calories in various drinks and changing your environment.  She said studies show that most of the time “willpower” fails.  But, changing your environment is a much more effective way to be successful.  She recommended using a smaller plate, versus loading up a big plate and then telling yourself to eat a small portion. That stuck in my mind, but for the most part I felt like I’d controlled my environment. I rarely keep high calorie food and snacks in my house and use a small plate when I remember.  I also don’t keep Snickers in my desk drawer at work, but instead green tea, slim fast, oatmeal and popcorn.

But, today, I listened to a podcast and the guy said you have to change your environment and examine the places you GO.  It hit me like a ton of bricks.  My home pantry is good, but where do I “go” when I leave work? I looked at my bank statement, Rally’s hamburger, McDonalds, Captain D’s, Taco Bell, Quick Trip for a slushy drink all in one week! The only reason that donut from the other day isn’t on there is because I paid cash. Yikes!  Well, duh.  I knew I ate fast food, because its… well, fast and it’s easier than cooking for one person.  But man, I would be fool to think I would make good choices by constantly putting myself in these environments.   Sure McDonalds has apples and yogurt, but that’s not what I order.  Instead of torturing myself into trying to use “willpower” and make a healthy choice, I think I should just avoid them.  Now realistically, I know I’m always on the go with my rental properties in the evening, but I still have the power to choose where I eat.  I can’t say I’m never going through the Mickey D’s drive thru again.  But, now that I’m more aware of places I go, I see more cooking ahead of time, frozen entrees and Subway in my future.  What things have done to change your home environment and that places you go?

2 Comments
  1. Hi Carli,
    Love your posts! Here are some of the changes I’ve made to help keep me going on the right track. When I eat fast food, I always go in and get the menu that tells the calories of each item, then I choose something that is less than 400 calories. I often keep these in my car so I can make a good choice even when driving through. I switch up the running with a jazzercise class that I meet up with my sister at (for accountability and cuz I love her) which has a great instructor that keeps the workouts fun and interesting. For an hour 2x a week I am pushed way harder than I would ever push myself and am proud when I make it to the end! Finding a new home church was an important change for me too, finding a church that had music and messages that lifted my spirit each week and help me to focus on what is really important and away from my own negative self talk has been a big step. When my teenage son had a bout of depression recently, a counsellor advised getting him out to walk each day would be a big help to him so we have all taken turns walking with him each day and getting time to just be with him and hear his thoughts has been a blessing. Keep up the good work, steady on my friend!

  2. Hi Carli, I love your blogs, and am on week 2 of your 5k podcasts. One idea I have for you, instead of buying all those frozen dinners that are high in sodium, and we all know what sodium does to us, try making your own frozen dinners. I found lots of sites on the web just by googling “make your own frozen dinners”. It’s a bit of work at first, but well worth the time.

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