Month 2 October

Part 1 (mid-October): Setbacks can not stop me! They may have stalled things up, I’m back to my starting weight, but I am strong enough and smart enough to deal with them. I don’t want to list all the things that happened this month that made me feel like I needed to turn to comfort/unhealthy eating. That seems too much like making excuses. Instead, I will think of strategies for dealing with these setbacks if/when they occur again as well as what went well.

Strategies to keep up:

·       Exercise dates with friends (helps me get two very nurturing things done instead of one!)

·       Dragging myself to the gym when I don’t feel like it (always gives me a more positive mindset)

·       Counting my blessing (reduces my stress levels)

·       Keep tictacs in my purse to have when I think I need to stop for food when I’m running errands

·       Using my “I can do it” mantra

Attack plans:

Obstacle:	Plan of attack:
Stress	-start a list of blessing on my phone to look at, develop a mantra that reminds me of my why (I am worth it damn it!), get more sleep (set a reminder to go off half an hour before I should start getting ready for bed so I power through for the last half hour of my day)
Carbie holiday foods	-add cauliflower to mashed potatoes (thanks Coreen for that one), have enough for leftovers so I know that I can have the same food later, eat the holiday dinner mindfully and slowly
Too much to do/Burnout	-find something low priority to take off my list or out of my daybook, take a timeout (make plans with the cat then tell everyone I’m busy)
Forgetting to use a strategy like the ones here	-carve out a time to read over these strategies regularly (put it in my agenda twice a week)
Illness/injury	-see it as a chance to break my routine and do things differently even if it just means that I will appreciate my routines more when I can resume them,

Part 2 – Back to a total loss of 3 lbs and I am now addicted to tictacs. Something that I have to face is that when I am in the midst of a craving, I have not been willing to do what it takes to deal with it. This is a harsh truth to admit to since I pride myself on doing what I need to do. So, here I am now, back to realizing that when it comes to doing something for me and my happiness, I am not willing to do what it takes. Yet, when it comes to my family and my job, I do it! What am I so afraid of? I think that I am afraid to deal with the full weight of my emotions.