Mental Block Busted!! ??

So as I wrap up my study on mental blocks for the last 6 weeks, I thought I’d try to put a pretty bow on everything I’ve been researching.  The cold facts are I have not really lost any weight.  However, the silver lining is I do feel like I am in a better head space.  I really am, I am not just saying that.  I think 6 weeks ago I was just in a constant state of stress and micromanaging my food seemed like one more thing that there was literally no room on my plate for.  I still have a lot of stress (my lesson on stress didn’t solve that) but I am trying to be ok with the fact that the list will always be there.  I will be conscious about prioritizing the list every day and just go with it. 

I don’t think anyone in my whole life has every accused me of being lazy (& who cares if they did!) so I am not sure where my obsession with the list and doing it all came from (maybe just natural type A tendencies).  No one can do it all.  So health has to be a top priority. 

So what has become very clear for me during these weeks:

• I cannot rely on willpower – that is a disaster.  I must set up systems or habits so I do not have to make decisions most of the time
• Continually work on my self-talk.  For health & confidence!
• It is not all or nothing!  If you slip up, get right back on the bandwagon (or horse or saddle or whatever your favorite expression is!)
• Start small or with whatever you can get really committed to!
• Focus on what you can add, not what you need to delete!
• Build out systems as much as possible to promote healthy living
• Plan for the week!
•  Appreciate Imperfect Progress
• Continually learn & apply things to my health!

So as I wrap up this 6 weeks, I want to comment that I have learned a lot (which is always important to me).  So my next focus will be on including the small changes every day.  Hopefully I’ll be ready for the massive action (to steal words from Tony Robbins) soon!  But I am ok now with the small incremental changes as I build up the foundation to my long term, life time health success!

Please share any mental blocks that you have overcome!

Life in the Green Room

Creating Another System! Systemizing Your Way to Success!

I have been obsessed with podcasts lately.  I have liked been listening to them for a few years, but the last 6 months or so I have just completely doubled down on my obsession.  This year I have read less real books than I can remember at any point in my adulthood.  (In a small defense we have had a ton of stuff going on!  We got engaged, we bought a house, we are trying to plan a wedding, I have been spending time on Life in the Green Room – I could go on, but most of you are even busier and make my list look silly!)  I was feeling really guilty about this for some time because I love reading and learning.  Then I realized I have supplemented my learning in a non-book way.  All of the podcasts (& they are all nerdy topics!) have been supplementing my learning!  I just need to reframe my education so books count as much as podcasts in my file o fax J  Ok – I’m now off my alternative learning model soap box!

There is a relevant podcast and topic in here I want to address!  One of my new favorite podcasts is ‘Happier’ with Gretchen Rubin & Elizabeth Craft.  It is fantastic.  I first learned about Gretchen Rubin a few years ago when I read (yes, a real book!) The Happiness Project with my book club.  She has made a career out of studying happiness and habits.  In her podcast right now they are discussing the 4 human tendencies.  (This is part of her new book Better than Before – I think).  It is all about understanding  your tendencies so you can set up a system (although she doesn’t call it a system) that will work for you.  Her point is not about trying to change yourself, but shifting your accountability model to match your tendency.  I took her survey and I am an ‘Obliger.’  In a nut shell, an obliger hold external dates and commitments the highest in priority and often lets internal commitments slip.  Her idea is to take things that are most important to you and find a way to have an external commitment.  (By the way, your spouse is most likely not an external commitment – too close to home! So you probably need to think of something else).  You can take the quiz on her site, if anyone is interested (I love it, but I know it is not everyone's cup of tea).

The podcast also covered another topic close to home (don’t worry – I’ll bring this all together soon).  It also talked about the sequencing of events.  Like once I meet the love of my life, then I’ll lose weight.  Or once I lose weight then I’ll be happy.  There are a million versions of this and they are all dangerous because I can confirm it doesn’t work like that.  I am 100% guilty of the first statement.  Once I have a significant other I’ll lose weight.  In fact, the opposite happened!  For some reason I thought the only reason I had unhealthy habits was because I was lonely, but the reality is they are habits!  They follow you, regardless of your state.  So it is best to start working on them now!

For my outer accountability on health, it is one of the reasons I am building Life in the Green Room.  I suspect I am not the only one who would like some external accountability for health!

For the last part of my Mental Block Challenge, I need to create one more system.  Last week I was hit over the head with the last system I need to create.  It is a system to eat better when Jackson is away.  Pre-Jackson my dinners would consist of whatever food items I had in the house.  And it was almost always one food item.  So I’d eat broccoli for dinner, or cereal, or chicken or popcorn or ice cream or whatever ONE food I happened to have.  Jackson does not tolerate this and since we’ve been living together we have really had more balanced meals (like protein & meat together!).  However, when Jackson travels I’m like a kid without their parents!  I revert back to old habits.  He has taken 2 work trips recently and both times I have had something ridiculous for dinner.  One night I had crackers and ice cream and on the second trip I think I had 2 Hawaiian rolls with cheese.  This is screaming for a system and some balance.

For my system, I will start easy; I am going to write on the white board what I will eat the whole week when he is gone, I'm also gonna post it to Life in the Green Room as my external accountability!  Even if I only stay at 80% of this, it’ll be a huge step in the right direction.  I know I took awhile to get to this system, but I wanted to share some of the context that helped me get here.

What Systems do you need to put in place?  Let me know!

Life in the Green Room

Implementing my ‘On the Road Again’ System: The Results are in!

So I was traveling last week and it was my first chance to implement one of my new systems.

Overall I would say it definitely helped!  I did not have an A+ eating week while I was traveling, but I also did not have a D.  I would say my average eating while on the road is about a D.  I normally feel no obligation to eat healthy and I eat whatever is put in front of me.  I have no idea how I got this way.  I have been traveling for work for the past 8 years and I pretty much have always chalked all of  my trips up to a lost cause.  This seems incredibly short sided!  (It is so easy to Monday Morning Quarterback).

Anyway, back to my trip.  I would give myself about a B.  I 100% made better choices than I would have without a system.  Here are some of the simple better choices I made!

• I ate an English muffin with peanut butter for breakfast each day instead of a muffin.  This one small this is so much healthier!  The calories may be equal (I have no idea) but for sure there is better nutrients in peanut butter than a giant blueberry muffin. 
• I ordered a grilled chicken sandwich for dinner and ate it open face so I only ate half the bun.  (We were at a bar that had almost no options that were not in the deep fryer so I felt really good about this)
• I had no sodas
• I ate a bag of pistachios I had brought vs. a bag of chips one day.  (Don’t tell anyone I took a bag of pistachios over the border)
• I didn’t finish my meal at dinner one night (attempted to stop eating when I was full!)
• I had tons of salad for lunch at the meetings

So I am pretty proud of these accomplishments!  I was not perfect; I still had a few snacks during the day.  One night in particular I ate a ton of bad foods for dinner.  This was driven from having not much lunch one day (they had salad (which I filled up on) & sandwiches, but they all had mayonnaise – which I hate – so by dinner I was starving!).  I should have eaten more pistachios or other snacks on this day, but…….. live & learn. 

I know for sure I would have had a much worse (my previously normal grade D performance) week of eating if I had not had a system in place!

I have another work trip in December so I will definitely be trying this again!  Maybe I’ll review and tweak before that session!  

Share any systems you have created that have been helpful for you!

Life in the Green Room