Renewmom: New Year, New Goals
Originally posted by renewmom at New Year, New Goals
I can't believe how long it's been since I posted here, but in a way it's not really a surprise. You see, I lost most of last year, sunk in a pit of depression and frenzied activity; focusing on the things that demanded attention while ignoring my own emotional needs and eating out of emotion instead. This was kicked off last spring by my simultaneously breaking my toe and winding up in a bit of friend drama that has still not been entirely resolved. The ensuing combination of forced inactivity and self-pity caused me to gain back the 15 pounds I'd lost via the Virgin Diet in the course of about 7 weeks. I had a brief turnaround over the summer, losing half of that weight, but then fell victim to the usual holiday dangers and surged back up again.
Over Christmas, I came down with a cold that forced me to hit pause. I realized that I can't keep doing this to myself; I can't keep sabotaging myself with negative thoughts. Instead, I need to take a new approach. Instead of focusing on a fixed goal, a certain amount of weight loss I want to achieve in 2015, I need to celebrate the small victories. I need to actively celebrate the small steps that will lead to better health and wellness: drinking more water, avoiding the foods that make me bloated and damage my digestive track, eating healthy foods (including lots of fruits and vegetables), getting enough sleep, avoiding nighttime snacking, and daily exercise. Therefore, I'm going to track achievements in those areas in a fairly regular way: if not daily, hopefully several times a week.
So today, although my weigh-in this morning was higher than it's been in about three years, I'm not going to focus on that. Instead, I'm going to note the following positive things: 1) My cold finally shows signs of abating, with my cough mostly under control, congestion mostly gone, and my voice still rough but returning to normal; 2) My engagement ring fits today! (In my most bloated stages, I could not wear it); 3) I got about 5 1/2 hours of sleep last night, which might not seem like much, but considering how restless I've been since getting sick, and the fact that I slept uninterrupted without taking Nyquil (until KFP woke me saying he'd had a nightmare), it's an achievement; 4) My hands are a little dry but not cracked and bleeding like they usually are by this time in the winter.
What I hope to focus on today: Drinking enough water and eating right. I'm going to start tracking my food again with the Loseit! app, not so much to track calories as to keep myself conscious of what I'm eating.
Hopefully, by refocusing on the positive, I'll avoid the sort of pit I fell into last year. Because bad things (like colds) will happen, but it's important not to let such setbacks completely derail me.
If you'd like, you're welcome to friend me at renewmom. For now, I'm probably going to crosspost most of those posts under a cut, but I will sometimes post things just on that blog, especially if I get busy and don't have time to crosspost that day.