doing everything right...

"i'm doing everything right and it's just not working...." -- if you are confident that you are doing everything right, than just keep doing what you are doing and it will happen.  don't get frustrated that the numbers aren't moving quickly enough for you.  maybe changing your focus off of the numbers and onto something else for the next 4 weeks might be a more valuable usage of time.

this is a long 8 week program for a reason.  we are tweeking and testing and trial and erroring our way through this.  i know i am.  we are taking things out and adding things in, not only to see what each addition or subtraction might do for our numbers, but also our energy, and our overall well being.

we all have a base knowledge of this stuff.  we've heard it for years, but the what's and why's of how we eat are often far deeper than that.  there is emotional eating, habitual eating, bored eating, garbage disposal eating.....i made that last one up....but you know what i mean.

the umbrella term that i mentioned before is "conscious eating".  that is all i've really asked you to do this entire month.  think about what you are eating before you eat it.  i've never wanted you to restrict anything, because in all honesty, i just don't think it works.  i think limiting calorie consumption is a poor way to diet and i never recommend it.  if you are hungry....eat.  i do.  so i would never tell anyone to do otherwise.

just be conscious about what you eat and when and why.  because, sometimes it isn't just diet and working out.  there are mental and emotional parts that go into all of this....and that's the part that can't be tested.  those are the numbers i can't spit out for you.  but here is your opportunity, with four more weeks to go, to better acquaint yourself with your food issues.  cuz most of us have them.

to go as far as saying i'm addicted to food, might be a little overboard when i've seen people on tv that need a crane to be lifted out of bed.  but, as i've told all of you and i will reiterate.....i do love my food.  and even though i'm a ridiculously high maintenance soy free vegan....don't think for a minute that i don't find a way to get all my 2500+ calories in a day.

i notice that if i make something really delicious and i'm worried that it won't save well....i ll eat it all.  or if i've brought something to work and i've reheated it and i'm not sure it will be good reheated again, i'll eat all of it.  i also notice that even if i'm not hungry but everyone else is eating....i'll eat.  sometimes if i've gone too long without eating, i'll snack while i'm making dinner and by the time dinner is served i'm not even hungry, but i'll eat it anyway.

i could go on, but i think you get the point.  i know i'm not any different than most people and you've all probably been guilty of at least a few of those things, but in all those instances i could have easily had the foresight to stop.  and, that is a goal for me in these 8 weeks.  to listen to my body more.

food intake has become so mental.  especially in the way it is marketed and even in the way that friends or family push it upon you to consume.  just listen to your body......eat when your hungry, stop when you're not.

any other diet or restrictive measures to me, just aren't practical in the long run.  if you're starving and working out a ton....you'll just burn out.  i want this to be a practical learning experience that you can sustain.  i would like for you to tweek what foods energize you and sustain satiation and which ones aren't worth the box they came in.

that said, in this experiment....the numbers might not drop right off the scale.  but look at the biggest losers who after the show fall right back into their old habits.  being psycho about it....just won't work.  you'll make yourself crazy and may inevitably limit yourself.

so if you're already doing everything right, try this one tip.  chill out, celebrate all that you are doing in the right direction, be positive that you are making changes with your body and your eating, and remind yourself what you'd be doing otherwise.

ps....dr wayne dyer talks about in several of his books the power of intentions.  in short, essentially, "you are what you think you are."

just a little food for thought.