MAY'S ACHIEVEMENT

At the completion of my accounting exam on 30 April I set myself the rather significant goal of having a binge free May. I have set this goal many times and have rarely achieved it – often just giving in to the feelings of stress, pressure and a desire for instant 5 minute feel good feelings. Often that act of giving in results in a ‘one bite is too many and a thousand are not enough**’ episode and the vicious cycle continues as I fall into an apathy based on ‘what’s the point, I never get anywhere anyway.’

On Thursday I achieved a binge free May. It was a tough month as you’ll remember I had the worst 2 days of my work life in there and I admit there were times when I ate more for lunch than I should have but when I finished my (big) lunch I stopped eating as opposed to just looking for more and more food. I also didn’t over stress about what I ate. Sometimes it was healthy. Sometimes it wasn’t. Weight wise there was no real change over the month but I didn’t expect there to be either.

In the scheme of things I’m counting May as a big success but looking forward there is room for improvement and that’s where I want to go in June. Mind you I’ve had a big struggle with motivation both for training and eating well.  With no specific fitness goal or event on the horizon, getting up to exercise at 5am is a bloody struggle. Same with the eating which flips from pretty good to ‘oops, overdone it again’. To complete the package, the headspace that goes with these is just as defeatist and counter-productive. Hello rut, I’m baaaaack.

But on Friday night I picked up my old copy of Fattitude by Craig Harper and started to casually read it again. I tell you, it should be my bible for life. Craig hits the nail on the head over and over and its like he’s speaking directly to me when delivering his tell-it-like-it-is messages. Only a few chapters in and there have been so many aha moments – timely reminders of why we fail, how we can succeed and what our attitude or thinking has to do with it all. I love that the book is not about the food you eat, or what training you do, its message is: right attitude + consistent actions = results. Simple really.

So I embark on June with a plan for small positive changes strung together on this journey of improvement. Number one goal is portion control – feeding the physical not the emotional hunger. Number two goal is to weight train consistently three times / week. Number three goal is to read a little of Fattitude every day. It helps to keep me focussed as I re-establish healthy habits. I’m honestly not fussed about dropping kilos as quickly as possible in time for my holiday or my birthday. Laying a strong foundation for the future is far more important.  And at the end of the day when I can honestly say I did my best eating and training wise, I feel pretty good within myself irrespective of the extra kilos – which can be (temporarily) taken care of by some Spanx.

Thanks for listening to me as I try to work through what works for me.

M

** I borrow this statement from my friend and previous trainer Liz.