For about the last week and a half, I’ve been trying to be more conscious about my health – specifically around what I’m eating and the amount of sleep that I’m getting at night. And some parts have been easier than others…
Sleep has always been a real struggle for me, even after I wrote about it a couple of months ago.
Ironically, last week I got several good nights of sleep in a row namely because our week got turned on end thanks to Sara having a multi-day training class at work and our other car not starting, resulting in me having to get up super early to drive her back and forth. There were days that I was in bed before 11pm, which sounds nuts but apparently that’s what it takes for me to get the 7-8 hours of sleep that I need when I have to get up before 8am the next day.
Regarding food, I’ve made some admittedly pretty big changes:
- Swapped out soda for my Diet Snapple, which still has caffeine but is only 5 calories a glass.
- Started actively tracking my water intake on my Fitbit, which has drastically increased the amount of water I’m drinking.
- Avoiding pretty much all junk food … no chips, crackers, candy, etc…
- No fast food. Sadly, this had gotten to be a big one and is probably, along with the soda, the driving factor in why I’ve gained weight lately.
- Eating more fruits and vegetables, and having them readily available for snacks.
- Making lighter meals like quesadillas, eggs, and rice-based dishes.
- Trying to avoid bread … mostly in the form of oversized sub sandwiches that fit a day’s worth of calories into one meal…
It was very noticeable the other night when David and I went out in search of a dinosaur toy that he’s been longing for because while I grabbed food at Target for him to eat, I kept passing more and more things that normally I would’ve grabbed to snack on along the way but now I’m actively trying to avoid!
Chips, a candy bar, a slushy, or maybe something quick from the drive-thru – I guess I could’ve grabbed some fruit or carrot sticks or something, but instead I just waited and made up a plate of rice once I got home.
In the mornings, instead of grabbing a breakfast sandwich or a couple of donuts, I’ve been having a banana and some other fruit, or maybe a little yogurt … although I’m not crazy about yogurt.
The other day I actually took an extra ten minutes and cooked up a chicken breast to have over some rice for my lunch where normally I would’ve made a run to Wawa or ordered pizza instead!
I don’t want to muse about the past and future too much because I’ve already done that before, but so far it’s seeming to go pretty ok. I’ve had a couple of days that really hit me with grogginess mid-afternoon – I think on the nights when I got less sleep – but I had a cup of tea and the caffeine boost helped push me through.
As an aside, unlike how I was binging on soda, I’m not drinking nearly the equivalent of tea, so at least for now I think that’s a worthy substitute.
My goal for the next three months is to lose a meager 10 pounds, which I figure should be reasonable without putting too much stress on myself. I haven’t really thought about “cheat days” yet because I don’t want to tempt my susceptible tastebuds this early in the game, but I think instead of using them to binge on my old habits I’d like to explore some new things – maybe making pizzas at home or even more complex recipes.
I watched a video the other day for someone making keto-friendly peanut butter cups that didn’t look too hard, so we’ll see.
Will share some updates as things worthwhile present themselves, but right now I’m just content with the changes I’m making and I think that’s good enough for me.