What’s in a name? (Part two)

I figure I have three choices I can make.

I’m talking about the “lighter” portion of this blog—the part where I try and both literally and metaphorically make myself lighter. Metaphorically speaking, it’s actually not that hard. It ties in well with the “cleaner” aspect of my journey, in terms of clearing out the clutter in my home, clearing out the cobwebs in my mind and letting go of worry. Lightening my load, so to speak, so that I can really focus on my long-term career goals and figure out what I want from life.

The literal aspects of lighter are tougher, and I think that’s a result of my mind as well. I’ll be honest here—yes, I struggle with my weight. My weight ballooned both times I was pregnant, and while I have managed to get back down to a “healthy” body mass index (BMI), it’s still an area of struggle.

When it comes to weight, I feel like I’ve been on a see-saw for the past few years. I’ve done cleanses, detoxes and “resets” and really taken control of my eating habits. But then stress sends me sliding right back into old habits—comfort food, eating out and loads of red wine. I say I’m only going to drink wine on Friday and Saturday nights, and suddenly it’s Tuesday and there I am with a glass in my hand because “I’m tired.” Or, “I’m stressed.”

The worst part of all this is that I KNOW what to do. Last fall, I took part in a group “reset” with Tread Powerfully. The picture below is the “value image” I created as part of that experience. I spent a few weeks really ensuring that I nourished my body properly and I felt 100 x better. But then my crazy schedule turned everything on its head. Ah, my old friend stress, what would I do without you?

What’s really important to me? These words tell the story.

So, here I am, at least 20 pounds heavier than I want to be. If one of my goals in the next few months is to make myself lighter, how am I going to achieve that?

Hence my three choices. One: I can choose not to do anything—keep eating and drinking whatever I want, and accept the weight I am at. Two: I can go to the other extreme and cut back my calories and eat nothing but veggies, sweet potato and chicken. Three: I can find a balance between the two.

I’m choosing balance. But still, I know myself, and I need a plan. I really don’t want to do another detox, cleanse or “reset” where I remove all traces of gluten, dairy, etc. from my diet. One thing I’ve learned is that I don’t have any real food sensitivities—I don’t NEED to be on a gluten-free or dairy-free diet. But I do need to stick to a clear focus.

I also hate counting calories, but I know that when I hold myself accountable for what I eat, I am much more careful. I debated lots of different ways to try and lose the weight… joining a program (like Weight Watchers or Herbal Magic or Dr. Bernstein), low-carb (Atkins/South Beach), paleo… but nothing felt right. Other than Weight Watchers, I know darn well things like Herbal Magic and Dr. Bernstein are crap. They give you weird supplements or injections and cut you back to 800 calories a day, NONE of which are healthy. (There is NO magic pill for weight loss – and don’t ever believe anyone who tries to tell you differently.) And Weight Watchers is a bit too much like calorie counting for my liking these days.

Ditto the “fad” diets. For me, cutting out a food only makes me want it more. I also don’t have the kind of life or family where I can just cut out whole food groups.

So where does that leave me? Well, given what I’ve already learned about nutrition, I am starting to form a pretty clear plan of how to lighten my wide load (get it?). I’ll talk more about nutrition in the coming weeks, but suffice it to say here’s a preliminary look at my plan:

• “Eat food. Not too much. Mostly from plants.” This rule, from Michael Pollan, is probably the most important one. In other words – cut out the processed foods and try and make as much as possible from scratch.
• The kitchen closes at 7 p.m. Yep, no eating after 7. Of course, there may be exceptions to this on special occasions, but “It’s Thursday and I’m tired” is NOT a special occasion.
• Write it down. When I keep track of what goes in my mouth, I keep “treats” to a minimum. Ditto wine. (I’m not giving up wine, but the old rule of weekends only is going back into effect. And, again, on special occasions—but “It’s Tuesday and I’m stressed” is also NOT a special occasion.)

That’s it—that simple. But it’s not easy. I wish I could say I was a person who always makes the right choices and never has a problem sticking to a healthy diet, but I’m not. I’m lazy and when I get tired or stressed, I seek out comfort food. I need this plan to help get me back on track. And if I can shed a few pounds, well, all the better.

I’ll be writing lots more about this soon, but at least I’ve gotten started. And I will be writing a lot more about fitness—you’ll notice my “plan” doesn’t involve upping my workouts, like a lot of weight loss blogs discuss. That’s because, quite frankly, I don’t need to up my workouts. I’m not going to pretend I’m not fit just for the sake of a blog or to make people feel better. I definitely plan to share what fitness means to me in an upcoming post, so stay tuned. For now, suffice it to say I don’t need a lot of help in the fitness area. I do it because I love it, plain and simple. Without it, I’d be a complete basket case.

Before I wrap this up, I just thought I’d share the finished front hall project. Okay, it’s not 100% finished—I would like to shampoo the area rug and touch-up the paint on the white chairs—but basically, it is ready to go. It’s so clean and fresh, I love it!

 

The feature wall, now featuring fewer fingerprints!

Instead of white, I chose to paint the kids’ shoe shelf the colour of dirt. Probably a smart move.

Back to normal!

Next week, I get to tackle another room. I’m thinking of doing my bedroom… I’d like to get a handle on the mess that is my clothing!! And, of course, I still need to define what I mean by “greener.” There’s always more to come!