Change the Places you Go
I had decent weekend, and even went to the gym…again! To my surprise, while I was lying across the bed being lazy, my Big Little Sister called and asked me to go to the gym with her. I quickly agreed to join her. I pedaled on the elliptical for an hour and she did running intervals on the treadmill next to me. After that hard workout, we were proud of our success, but we were both grossed out by our sweat soaked shirts.
Then, on Saturday night I went out with my old co-worker friend for my birthday, followed by church on Sunday. I went to my family church to support my Little Sister on her last weekend in St. Louis. I think I told y’all, but she’s going to college in New Orleans, majoring in Pre-Med. She did a beautiful praise dance and we celebrated the Pastor’s 42nd Pastoral anniversary. It was wonderful to see my family and my church family, but I was also reminded why I need a new church home. You have to change the way you do things to get different results. And…it’s just not a lot of change happening there. Nonetheless, I got to see my Honey Bunny. She looked at me in my eyes and with the seriousness of doctor speaking to a patient said, “Auntie, I NEED to go play today.” I laughed and replied “you ‘Need’ to?” And she shook her head and said “Yes.” with the same intensity. Since it was such a severe concern, I told her I would take her to the playground after church, and she was thrilled.
Monday, I had a bad case of the lazies and scale anxiety that made me want to skip my Weight Watcher meeting. Then I could hear my leader’s voice in my head asking me “What, was the word you used…commitment?” Yes, I had committed to attending meetings. And I realized, I don’t have to weigh-in. I know what I did last week, I went to the gym twice, played in the park with my niece and walked on my lunch break. That’s more intentional activity than I’ve done for a while. I also ate too much b-day cake, days after my birthday was over. I knew that number on the scale would screw up my head, so I didn’t weigh in. I’m enjoying breaking my emotional connections to it. Sometimes (not all), but sometimes, I don’t even think about it in the morning. Nor does the “gaping hole” where it used to sit look as weird. Without the distraction from that “number” I was able to focus in the meeting. She talked about the empty calories in various drinks and changing your environment. She said studies show that most of the time “willpower” fails. But, changing your environment is a much more effective way to be successful. She recommended using a smaller plate, versus loading up a big plate and then telling yourself to eat a small portion. That stuck in my mind, but for the most part I felt like I’d controlled my environment. I rarely keep high calorie food and snacks in my house and use a small plate when I remember. I also don’t keep Snickers in my desk drawer at work, but instead green tea, slim fast, oatmeal and popcorn.
But, today, I listened to a podcast and the guy said you have to change your environment and examine the places you GO. It hit me like a ton of bricks. My home pantry is good, but where do I “go” when I leave work? I looked at my bank statement, Rally’s hamburger, McDonalds, Captain D’s, Taco Bell, Quick Trip for a slushy drink all in one week! The only reason that donut from the other day isn’t on there is because I paid cash. Yikes! Well, duh. I knew I ate fast food, because its… well, fast and it’s easier than cooking for one person. But man, I would be fool to think I would make good choices by constantly putting myself in these environments. Sure McDonalds has apples and yogurt, but that’s not what I order. Instead of torturing myself into trying to use “willpower” and make a healthy choice, I think I should just avoid them. Now realistically, I know I’m always on the go with my rental properties in the evening, but I still have the power to choose where I eat. I can’t say I’m never going through the Mickey D’s drive thru again. But, now that I’m more aware of places I go, I see more cooking ahead of time, frozen entrees and Subway in my future. What things have done to change your home environment and that places you go?
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: Satisfying your deepest desire with God, not Food,” there was a paragraph about the dreaded scale. The author said not to buy into what the scale says, and trust the effort you’re putting into getting healthy. She only lost 1 pound her first month. Not only are changes going on in my body, but there are changes going on in my spirit with my discipline, courage, and will power.
book. However, after meeting with a nutritionist, Lysa decided that she would eliminate all sugar from her diet, including bread, rice pasta etc. She did it, it works, and she loves it. This is not the plan for me, but it made me think more about what lifelong meal plan will work best for me. As much as I love Weight Watchers points plan, (or do I love it?)… realistically, I don’t want to count points or track everything I eat for life. I’ve even jokingly said that writing down every bite, feels like keeping a journal about when I go pee, it’s just annoying. Shouldn’t eating be more natural and less rigid? The 
is great in that you eat until satisfied with not tracking, but restricts so many carbs. So, I had a grand epiphany that I would do the 
