12WBT pre-season task #2 – Excuses

Todays daily food intake…

Finally, over a week after this pre-season task came out I have got it finished. It would seem that I have a lot of excuses that I use. For those that are interested, here are my list of excuses from when I first did 12WBT back in 2010. I haven’t read back over them yet, but I’m going to after I have posted this. Would be interested to see how many of them are still issues for me.

I know that I said I was going to blog more about Stamford Hill and our adventures yesterday, but I’m just zonked (I hate Friday nights, I’m always so damn tired). I’m planning on having a good blog session tomorrow, after I’ve done some quilting and gone for a long bike ride. Pictured will be posted I promise. But for now I leave you with my newest acquisition – I’m calling her Hettie… Hettie the Heart Rate Monitor. She’s a lot prettier than my last one (which is a blue Polar F7 – a mans HRM ick…) Following the gorgeousness that is Hettie, are my excuses.

INTERNAL EXCUSES – FOOD

1. It’s just one/one more biscuit.
   I know, that realistically it’s not going to be just one more biscuit, or that it’s just one biscuit. The truth is that I never stop at just one, so when I’m having one biscuit, I’m having many. And I don’t do any extra exercise to work that off, so it’s all pure calories sitting on my hips (and waist, and thighs and arms – you get the drift).

   My solution to this will be:
   When I’m confronted with someone offering me a biscuit, or reaching into the pantry myself to get a biscuit I will stop myself. If I am at home, I will have a glass of water, and if I find that in 10-15 minutes I still feel the need for something sweet and crunchy I will have an apple. If I am out, either at work or visiting someone, I will thank my host, explain to them that I’m watching what I eat and then have some water, from the bottle that I will be taking with me everywhere.

2. I will do extra exercise if I eat this.
   Will I really do extra exercise? Honestly? No. You know that exercising is hard work for you, and that it’s not something you enjoy, so the chances of you willingly doing any extra exercise that you have to do are pretty slim.

   My solution to this will be:
   Just. Say. NO. Really, just leave the food where it is and have some more water instead.

3. I don’t want to waste food.
   I waste food all the time. I am always throwing food out, because it’s gone off, or we haven’t eaten the leftovers. I can’t start using throwing food out as an excuse now, because it suits me.

   My solution to this will be:
   Throw the food out. I admit that I don’t like to waste food, but if it’s a choice between throwing out some food that is going to be bad for me, or make me overeat, then I think for my health now, and my future health then the best thing for me to do is to throw the food out now. So throw it out I shall.

4. A little bit more chicken/beef/meat in general won’t hurt me if it’s in my calorie limit.
   Bad habit of mine is eating big servings. And lots of meat. I love meat and quite often use the fact that I love meat to eat a lot of it. Sometimes just because it fits into my calorie limit I will eat more. Just because I haven’t gone over my calorie limit, doesn’t mean I’m not eating too much and I need to start realising this and eating smaller portions and get my eating under proper control.

   My solution to this will be:
   I will weigh out my meat before eating it and cook that amount only. If I don’t cook more, then I can’t eat it – because I don’t eat raw meat!

5. I just want it, so why not?
   I’m always having internal debates with myself in my head. In fact I talk to myself quite a lot. Sometimes I will go and reach for something, knowing that it’s bad for me and I’ll have a mini-argument with myself in my head ending with the devil sitting on my shoulder saying “well, she wants it, so why not”. Then I’ll eat it and berate myself for it later on. It’s a vicious cycle, and at that point the little devil that was sitting so happily on my shoulder chanting in my ear to “eat, eat, eat” will be nowhere to be seen (or heard).

   My solution to this will be:
   Instead of listening to the devil sitting on my shoulder, encouraging me do stupid things, I will actively listen to the angel on the other side, who whispers in my ear that I’m going to regret eating the bad thing. So instead of reaching for something bad, I will make sure that I have plenty of lovely, cold, fresh fruit in the fridge to eat instead. I will also ask Mick if he can take his bags of chips and put them in his garage (where I certainly do not go…) just to help me avoid temptation, at least in the beginning until I’m stronger and able to resist stupid devils on shoulders.

6. I’m too tired from exercising/life in general to cook a proper meal
   I struggle with including exercise into my life, because for me it is such an alien thing. I’ve always filled my life with other things, like sleeping, or quilting, or more sleeping. This time around I’m really, really trying so hard to make sure that I do my exercise every day, and that I at least try and enjoy doing it, so that it’s not such a chore. But because I still like my little sleep-in in the morning, I am doing all my exercise when I finish work. So by the time I get home from working and exercising the last thing I feel like doing is cooking a healthy dinner. Or cooking anything really.

   My solution to this will be:
   I’m going to schedule my exercise a little differently and three mornings a week I am going to get up an hour earlier to go for a morning shuffle (which by the end of the twelve weeks will hopefully have turned into a jog, maybe even a run). This will mean that when I get home from work I won’t be too tired and full of excuses not to make dinner. To combat the other couple of nights that I will be exercising after work, I am going to do a bit of a cook-up on the weekends of stir fry’s and lasagne that I can put in the freezer and quickly zap up in the microwave. Then I won’t have any excuses.

INTERNAL EXCUSES – EXERCISE

1. If I miss today I can make it up tomorrow
   Let’s be honest, who at one time or another hasn’t used this excuse, on something – and it doesn’t even have to be exercise. Hell, I use it all the bloody time. The bad thing is, I never do make it up. I have all the best intentions of making it up as I say it, but it just doesn’t happen, something else will creep up for me not to make the exercise up. I mean really, do I want to do an hour of exercise every day, or do I want to do two hours the next time? I’m pretty sure, an hour a time is much more palatable.

   I’m tired
   Okay, now admittedly, I do have a medical reason for being tired all the time. BUT, I use this as an excuse way too much, and I don’t regularly take my iron tablets, which helps to combat the fatigue. It’s a pretty lame excuse really.

   I’m unfit
   Hell yes you are. And who’s fault is that? It’s your own bloody fault. Because you keep using excuses like I’m tired or I’ll make it up tomorrow when you know that you won’t. Fitness isn’t going to magically appear in your life. You have to work at it. You know, like how you couldn’t crochet at all until you learnt how to do it and then practiced it. Now you crochet well. So, if you get out there and exercise, you will notice that your fitness will increase. Admit it, you’ve already noticed that your fitness has increased since you started swimming. Think back to when you first went to the pool. You could barely do one lap of breaststroke and you had to stop at the end of every 25m length. Now you can do at least 3 lengths of the pool without needing a break and all of those three lengths are done in breaststroke.

   My solution to these three excuses will be:
   Just. Freakin’. Do. It. I will stop saying I will make it up tomorrow, when I know I won’t. I will stop saying I am tired. I will stop saying that I’m unfit. I will come home from work and I will change into my workout clothes and I will just do my exercise. I won’t stop and think about other things that I could be doing, and I will not say to myself anymore that I’m tired or that I’ll make it up tomorrow. JFDI girl, J.F.D.I!!! Oh and I will start taking my iron tablets regularly.

2. I might fall and break another bone
   It’s been three years now since I broke my wrist. Every day I live with the pain in it and the lack of movement that I have in my wrist. But, in the three years since I broke it, I have yet to break anything else (except a rib at softball, but that’s a whole different story). I need to stop trying things because I’m scared. It’s no way to live my life.

   My solution to this will be:
   JFDI. If my wrist is in serious pain when I’m exercising, I will put my brace on and I will work other parts of my body. I will take tracks that aren’t full of loose stones or very uneven ground. If I do find myself on ground like this, I will be careful. Most of all, I will stop worrying and obsessing about falling over again.

3. It hurts too much
   That pain I feel after exercise can be all consuiming and make me want to drop down and die and never do exercise again. But I know, deep down, that if I do get out there and exercise then the first five minutes are going to be killer, but after that, when my body is warmed up and loosened up that it doesn’t hurt quite so much.

   My solution to this will be:
   Again with the JFDI. So many excuses that I have and pull out at various times, and these can all be fixed with the one simple solution of just getting out there and doing it. Stop thinking of the negative and start thinking of the positive. Think of the Shark Cage Diving and trip to Fiji at the end. Use these as a mantra if I have to, and JFDI!

4. My training partner has cancelled on me, so I may as well cancel too
   This is an oldie, but a goodie. If my training partner has pulled out of something, then that means I should too. So by using that as a premise, I should be right in saying that if my training partner was going to jump off a bridge, then I too should jump off a bridge. But I wouldn’t do that would I?

   My solution to this will be:
   Stop using other people’s excuses as your own. Don’t use the fact that someone has cancelled stop you from going out there and making your life and fitness better. Get your shoes on and go for a walk, get your bathers on and go for a swim. Do what you had planned to do and then remember to tell your exercise buddy that you did it and it was great, and what a great time they missed out on.

5. If I ignore the idea it will go away
   This is a really dangerous excuse for me, because it’s not even an excuse. It’s the total lack of even thinking about it. If I know that I have to do something I don’t want to do then I’ll just ignore it. I won’t make excuses for not doing something, I will just not do it and not give it a second thought. That way I can say to myself that I didn’t make any excuses for not doing something. But I still didn’t do it.

   My solution to this will be:
   I will start thinking about things. I will not just ignore the fact that I have to get out there and exercise. Then I won’t make it even worse by making an excuse not to do it. Hmm I see JFDI creeping in there again.

EXTERNAL EXCUSES (IN MY CONTROL) – FOOD

1. There’s no food in the fridge, so we’ll have takeaway
   There is always food in the fridge, it’s usually just the degree of healthiness that I need to worry about. One thing I can honestly say is that I have never ever let myself go hungry. I always have food in the fridge and in the pantry. If we have takeaway, I tend to make some of the not so best choices.

   My solution to this will be:
   Make sure that I have got my weekly food plan set up, and that I know what sort of snacks to get. We do the grocery shopping on Friday’s so I need to make sure that I have it all set up by then and ready to take with me on Friday night. That way I will have no excuses to say that I don’t have any food in the fridge. And if I make up some meals on the weekend then I won’t be able to say that I’m too tired to cook, because there will be healthy meals in the freezer. Perhaps invest in a few Weight Watchers meals for those days when it really is just all too hard. Because we all have those occasionally.

2. The line at Subway was too long, so I’ll have Noodle Bento instead
   This is such a stupid excuse. I don’t need to go to Subway for lunch, and if I do go there and the line is too long, then going to Noodle Bento is a bad idea.

   My solution to this will be:
   I live literally five minutes away from the centre of town, it’s not too much to go home and make a quick sandwich or wrap if the line at Subway is too long. Or better yet, if I know that I’m going to be doing errands at lunch time, make a sandwich in the morning and bring it with me so that I can eat at my desk when I get back from lunch. Win win situation then – save money and eat healthy.

3. It’s someone’s birthday at work and I have to help celebrate – it would be rude not to have cake to say happy birthday
   Helping someone celebrate their birthday doesn’t necessarily mean that you have to stuff your face with cake. What happened to being able to just say “happy birthday, I hope you have a smashing day” and leaving it at that. But, I know that this isn’t the case, and here at work there is always cake for someone’s birthday.

   My solution to this will be:
   If we are in a group situation and the cake is being passed around, then kindly explain that I am eating healthier now. If the cake is still stuffed under your face, take a slice, and have a few nibbles of it, and tell everyone you’ll eat the rest at your desk. If you choose not to eat the rest of the cake, then no one need ever know. Barring that, if you know it’s someone’s birthday and that there is going to be cake, then try and work it into your calorie limit. It’s not the most ideal solution, but it gives me a few different solutions to pick from.

4. It’s a special occasion, so I should be able to eat what I want
   Every bloody day of my life seems to have been a special occasion looking at my size now. I need to start understanding that I’m never again going to just be “able to eat what I want” there will always be consequences to stuffing my face with loaves of white bread smothered in cream cheese, or carrot cake full of frosting, or bags of crisps, or even those blocks of chocolate. I’m 107kg now, that’s all because I “ate what I wanted to”. Now I get to spend a shitload of time, working hard and putting myself through physical pain to get rid of this excess weight, while hoping to hell that I manage to lose the flab in my arms and I don’t get excess skin hanging off me.

   My solution to this will be:
   Ask yourself, do you want to undo the good work you’ve done so far by eating what you want? Do you want to go and work out for an extra hour to get rid of the calories in what you just ate. Do you want to spend the rest of your life as a fatty boombah? No, you don’t. So put the food down and go and eat an apple.

EXTERNAL EXCUSES (IN MY CONTROL) – EXERCISE

1. It’s too hot/cold or it’s raining
   Ahhh the blessed the weather isn’t right for me to exercise in excuse. Oh yeah this one is also an oldie but a goodie.

   My solution to this will be:
   If it’s too hot outside, then go into the living room, turn the air conditioner on and do a Zumba DVD. If the weather it too cold outside, then go into the living room, don’t turn the air conditioner on, and do a Zumba DVD. The workout will warm you up anyway, and think of the nice hot shower you can have afterwards.

2. I’ve hurt myself
   Occasionally I’m a bit of a clutz. I manage to hurt myself. And then I will use that as an excuse to sit on my butt and do nothing. That’s not going to help me get to my goal weight and go swimming with the sharks now is it?

   My solution to this will be:
   Depending on what areas of myself I have hurt, I will just modify my exercise. If I’ve hurt my top half, I will work on my lower half, if I’ve hurt my legs or knees, then I will go swimming and work my upper body. I will do exercise of some type, that will not impact on my injury.

EXTERNAL EXCUSES (OUT OF MY CONTROL) – FOOD

1. Have to go back to Adelaide, where I don’t have access to my own kitchen and my own food – I have to eat what I’m given
   Having moved to Port Lincoln not long ago, I am expecting to make a few trips back to Adelaide – on a regular basis – and I know that this issue is going to creep up. More than likely, I will be staying with my sister or father.

   My solution to this will be:
   Tell my sister and dad that I’m losing weight and eating healthy. Offer to cook dinner for them and prepare one of the tasty meals that I’ve got in my 12WBT repertoire. If I can’t cook for them, then just eat smaller portions of what I am served, and eat more vegetables than meat or anything else.

2. I have to work late/something unexpected has come up
   I’m not sure if this is really going to happen now that I’m living here in Lincoln, but in the past it has been an excuse and has happened. So if it does…

   My solution to this will be:
   Pull out one of those meals I prepared earlier. If we are out of prepared meals, then send Mick a message and ask if he can cook dinner for us. I know he will and he knows where all the recipes are and is supportive enough not to make a stupid full, creamy pasta dish. It’s a doable and easy fix this one.

EXTERNAL EXCUSES (OUT OF MY CONTROL) – EXERCISE

1. Have to go back to Adelaide, where I don’t have access to my normal exercise equipment, or route etc.
   Not the end of the world this one. Just because I don’t have access to my normal equipment or routes doesn’t mean I shouldn’t exercise.

   My solution to this will be:
   Make sure that I stay with my sister, because I know that she has a pool (heated) and an elliptical trainer, and because she loves you a lot, she will be happy to let you use her equipment. Otherwise, take a walk/shuffle somewhere new and enjoy the new experience. Just don’t not exercise because you’re not in familiar surroundings – remember, it wasn’t that long ago that Port Lincoln wasn’t a familiar surrounding.

2. I have to work late/something unexpected has come up
   Again not sure if this is going to be an issue here in Lincoln, but if it is…

   My solution to this will be:
   If I have to work late, then the chances are it won’t be very late. So I will ask Mick to prepare dinner and when I get home I will do an exercise DVD. Even if it’s just a quick Zumba express DVD, it’s still exercise.