Reality Check Monday – Time to Check that Reality

One thing about a reality check is that it’s not a “done it once, checked it off my list” type of deal.

Reality has this aggravating way of changing. Of sneaking up behind you and whacking you in the head, catching you off guard sometimes. And sometimes, it turns out to be the same-old-same-old…but how do you know unless you check it? Well, the whacked-in-the-head aspect is pretty noticable. But sometimes you think you’re on the right course, that it’s the same-old-same-old, but you’ve unknowingly veered off course a bit. Last month, I shared with you my own struggles over the past several months. I laid out a plan to get back on track, and now it’s time for a reality check.

My plan seemed reasonable:

1. Pray daily. Pray for the strength to make good choices and resist temptation.
2. Quit telling myself “Just this once” – remember when I first started THM, regain that same determination and quit making excuses for off-plan choices.
3. Remember that my health depends on what I put in my body. I must make good, on-plan choices.
4. Plan my meals – and stick to the plan.
5. Exercise – that means doing TTap Basic Workout Plus because it works, and I can do a 15 minute workout!
6. Be accountable for every bite. Log every thing I eat or drink every day. Using my YouFood app (formerly TwoGrand) helps me stay accountable, but even then I can easily choose not to post something. Join a challenge group to help me stay motivated.
7. Choose a weight loss goal and reward for reaching it. When my clothes start getting loose again, buy a new outfit. A brand new outfit, not a thrift store one this time. On clearance though, since I won’t be wearing it long. Why not choose a number of pounds lost? Because the scale is just one representation of weight loss, and not always accurate. How my clothes fit is a better indicator, and I don’t want to be a slave to the scale and numbers.

So how did I do with my reasonable plan?

Pray daily Not so good, unfortunately. While I may have prayed daily, I didn’t start my day out praying for the strength to make good choices and resist temptation.

Quit telling myself “just this once” Another fail, although I did talk myself out of that “reasoning” many times. The goal was not at all, not one “once” – I did it before, surely I can do it again!

Make good, on-plan choices Successful…and yet, not. I did make good choices that were on plan. I also made bad, off-plan choices. But, at least I made more good than bad!

Plan meals and stick to the plan Started out pretty well, but then quickly fell apart. Planning is not my strong suit. These last couple of weeks I’ve not planned meals hardly at all…just winging it at the store, too.

Exercise Well, I didn’t specifically say every day (except the Sabbath) so…I didn’t. I did do the TTapp workout three times, at least. I meant well the rest of the days, but just didn’t make it happen.

Be accountable for every bite I started out well, but again…And today I munched on a few off-plan tortilla chips (but they were organic…lol) but didn’t log that in YouFood.

Choose a weight loss goal and reward for reaching it This one I did not do at all, aside from deciding I am not buying NEW clothes until I get to goal weight. I’m a thrift store shopper though, so I’ll buy clothes if I need them from there.

REALITY CHECK: Seems reasonable and actually reasonable may not be the same. My plan seemed reasonable, but my expectations were not.

In my defense…or just excuses?

You know what happened shortly after I wrote that original Reality Check Monday post? Major tech problems on my blog. I spent hours every day trying to fix stuff that I had no knowledge how to fix. Or work around them. I even ended up in tears one day, and I’ve never cried over blogging before…ever. It seemed like my blogging “career” was just over. It seemed impossible. Surely the entire universe was against me, because that is exactly how it felt. I would sit down every day, positive and determined that this would be the day that I Get The Blog Things Done.

I would end the day feeling like Sisyphus. That Greek mythology character that was sentenced to endlessly pushing a boulder up a hill for offending the gods.

Or, perhaps more accurately, Sisyphus at the bottom of the hill with that boulder hurtling down straight at him.

And sometimes I just wanted a cookie. And my blankie.

REALITY CHECK: Even when those exasperating frustrations occur during a day, I can’t let them be excuses for choosing to eat off-plan foods and not doing the things I need to do to be successful.

When life gives you lemons…

…squirt life back in the eye. I saw that in a meme once recently. It’s a snarky version of “make lemonade.” But the gist of it is make the best of the situation in which you find yourself. For me, that meant letting go of control. Accepting that I could not fix this problem and pray for help. And before long, help arrived from a most unexpected source. My cantankerous tech problems were resolved, but then I found myself up to my eyeballs in an unplanned total site overhaul. Plus trying to hone in my social media scheduling. And then there’s all the other things I need to do, like feed my family and make sure they have clean undies.

Many times, convenience won. And several times, I Just Want To Eat Something Comforting won too.

One step forward, two steps back, is still one step forward.

My reasonable plan fell apart because I let stress and aggravation get to me. But, even in spite of that, I still made more on-plan and good choices than I’ve made in the last several months. I have not weighed or measured myself, but my clothes feel a little less snug. Not run out and buy new pants because they’re falling off or anything, but I’ll take it.

REALITY CHECK:  I made progress! I made more good choices this past month than I have in the past several combined.

It’s good to acknowledge where you mess up, but you can’t dwell on that. You’ll never move forward that way. You need to see what you have done that is good! The overall picture for last month is that I made better choices as a whole, even if I didn’t stick to the plan exactly. Even if I took two steps back for that one step forward, I still had forward momentum. I’m not stuck, I just need to try harder.

What’s the plan for March?

I’m not making any actual changes to the plan. The change must come from within – I must be determined to stick to the plan no matter what comes my way. There may be some rocky days in the weeks ahead, who knows, but I can’t let them be an excuse for not doing what is best for my health.

How’s your Reality Check today? Did you set goals for last month…and meet them? I’d love to hear about them, please leave a comment below!