Maybe it’s time I break up with 24 hours. I am finding no value in its measurement, no benefit to its description. Yes, I should break up with keeping track of things in 24 hour increments. Measuring my accomplishments, activities, completed to-dos, workouts and eats within each sun up to sun down only seems to cause me more worrisome than happiness.
Real Life 24 hour example: Wednesday, I had my sisters over for dinner. I had a busy day at work and didn’t get to eat as much as I’d like to have so by 6pm, I was starving and as a result, inhaling everything around me. I was grabbing handfuls of almonds. I was taking bites of chicken as I was preparing dinner. I was tasting dishes I’d made after I’d already tasted it 4 times earlier.
I had a salad with more toppings than lettuce followed by a rather large serving of a pasta dish followed by a second smaller serving of more pasta. I accompanied my “salad” and pasta meal with two small dinner rolls. I had an unusually small amount of water on Wednesday probably because around 1pm, I had a can of diet coke. As we finished up dinner, I grabbed a pumpkin cookie w/ cream cheese frosting (aka amazing.)
After everyone left, I noticed one small dinner roll left. So I ate it {because who would waste a dinner roll?} And then, as I was cleaning up, I decided to eat another pumpkin cookie {because the first one was amazing so the 2nd was sure to be just as amazing.} THEN, I realized I was thirsty so I did what some think would be logical — I grabbed a can of diet coke and CHUGGED. 3 minutes later, I tossed the empty can in the garbage and instantly felt sad.
24 hours of crazy, not-in-tune with my body eating. I was doing everything opposite of what I knew my body needed & craved.
I went to bed feeling frustrated, overwhlemed and like a failure.
Thursday, I woke up and saw my friend, Ann, had written a post. Not just ANY post but one that made my stomach flip-flop. (Read post HERE.) It was a post I had experienced many times before. One describing failure, frustration and a recap of moments most people never talk about. As I got ready for work, I thought about what I would say to Ann. “It is only one day, Ann” and “Pick yourself back up, Ann, this is your life” and “Ann, there will be ups and downs, you just have to keep fighting” and “This isn’t about being perfect, Ann, this is about balance.”
As I sat there thinking of what to say to Ann, I wondered – why would I say all this to Ann but not believe it myself? What would my Thursday would be like? Would it be a repeat of Wednesday? Would I go off the deep-end with my eating? Would I let my feelings of being overwhelmed with life dictate my eating?
And then it dawned on me – where did 24 hours come from and why did I care so much? Who’s to say I can’t break up with 24 hours and instead, look at 48 hours? {or 72 or 99 or 154 hours!} Surely life is about balancing – there is no “life is about balancing 24 hours.”
Real Life 48 hours example: I woke up on Thursday feeling hung over after feeding my body everything opposite from what it needed. I decided to break up with 24 hours and instead, work extra hard to balance out my 48 hours. I would eat protein, lotsa veggies, water and go with the thought that I ate my Wednesday & Thursday dessert on Thursday. For breakfast, I had 3 hard boiled eggs. And they were goooood. I had a monster fruit & chicken salad with A LOT of greens and probably about 3 servings of yum baby carrots. Dinner was…
A little bit of shredded pork, veggies,
some fruit and a scoop of beans for some fat 
I was a little hungry when I got home so had a hard boiled egg & water and then, it was time to call it a night.
And that was the end of my 48 hours of balance. I picked things back up and punched unhealthiness in the gut. I laughed in the face of frustration and let me being healthy win. I made CHOICES, not restrictions. I went to bed Thursday evening feeling happy about being balanced and proud that I have maintained my weight loss for over two years because the truth is, I’m balanced.
As often as I feel like I’m “losing control” or in a “downward spiral,” the reality is that in fact, I am balanced.
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Don’t forget, today is the last day to sign up for the giveaway! Also, I hope you can make it out to hear me talk tomorrow at the Twin Cities in Motion Health & Wellness expo – I’m on at 2pm! And finally, if you want to track my 10 mile running progress on Sunday, Click HERE, Add your cell #, carrier and hit go Search “Emmert.”
Until next week, have a great weekend friends!a
{ 11 comments… read them below or add one }
Very true, just about everything requires you to measure and track in terms of each day. Sometimes we do more the day before or the day after.
Obviously to be successful it doesn’t matter if you are perfect every day, the good just need to outweigh the bad right?
Good luck on the 10 miler! I’ll be cheering from WI!
Balance is the key, Jen! I’m so used to always feeling like I blew it when I give in to my emotional eating, but you are so right. It’s not about what we do in one day; it’s about the cumulative efforts.
Have a great weekend!
Thank you for your post and for posting the link to Ann’s blog. I really need to have that mentality of not thinking about the “day,” and just making the next choice healthy. But it’s so easy for mind games to let a person fall short. I do really like fruits and veggies, but when I’m stressed (which happens a lot!), I start craving junk food, and then it just spirals– even though I have healthy stuff at my house, I will still go out and buy something!
Jen,
I think this post shows that you really have changed into a fundamentally healthy person (not that anyone has any doubt about that!) I am at a similar point in my health journey to you and as I read this, I thought to myself about what “old Jo Anna” would have done in your situation. I would have felt guilty, but I also would have said, “well, I messed up, so I might as well eat more and start again on Monday.” I am so glad that we aren’t bound to hours or days of the week, but instead we get to live by individual decisions. With each bite, each step, we are making the decision, “Is this moving me closer or further away from where I want to be?” I am far away from the Twin Cities, but am sure your talk at the Expo will be amazing!!
Today i posted about my weight loss struggle. Lately, i feel scared because there has n’t been any. Almost everynight i went to bed proud. I thought how well i did. How healthy and light i have eaten. How much i worked out. ANd yet the scale did not agree. I am mostly scared becuase i think of how this made me act in the past. I did not stick to it. I could not get motivated. The one bad day after the other. I fear that i may have one bad day and never recover. Sometimes, i am surprised how much i get scared of my past behaviour.
This is great! My mom has this problem, she will eat one not-so-healthy thing (like a piece of birthday cake), and then it sends her into this spiral where she “screwed up”, so all of a sudden she eats everything she wants but doesn’t let herself all at once and in mass quantities and sets an arbitrary date to start again. Not a way to be, if you ask me. Good on ya for realizing that one not-so-healthy or too big meal doesn’t mean you fail at being healthy.
Loved the post!
I will be cheering you on from KANSAS! Cant wait for the text updates!
Mandy
Loved it! I am right there with you. I am wanted to lose but it isn’t happening. I basically have been stayed the same for over 8 months and it is frustrating (I do need to look at the postive side and realize I have lost 80 over the 2 plus years). Thanks for the post…i needed it! oh and good luck can’t wait to hear about your weekend activites.
Great post! Wonderful thought about how we measure and weigh time. We obsessively (well, some of us more than others, but you know what I mean) weigh our food and our bodies, but we never question our weight or calculation of time. My leader at Weight Watchers even said that one woman he knows starts tracking her “day” of food from 6 PM to 6 PM. Who said it had to be from 12 midnight to 12 midnight? It is how it works best for the individual. It is how it helps an individual function.
It is always great to read your posts and I hope to see you tomorrow at the RiverCentre!!
What a great perspective – I am definitely going to use this!
I love this post. It really resonated with me. I”m also going to break up with 24 hrs.
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