I have to get back to cooking dinner at least twice a week. Around the time that I moved, I started cooking less and haven’t been able to get back into the habit or routine. Every so often I get what I think is a little jump start, but then it goes away again. I can’t blame it on work and getting home too tired to cook because I barely cooked the two months that I was off. It’s about discipline, a plan and routine. I know this about myself, yet it’s so hard to get back to it. If I go do my food shopping without a list then I buy tons of veggies, but nothing that then I can figure out how to make into a meal. I need to sit down and pick out my menu for the week and derive a shopping list off of that. This is how I got it to work before. It’s really not that big of a deal…I just need to make 2 complete meals a week. The leftovers then last me for the other nights a week that I eat at home.
The crazy thing is that when I was being much more disciplined about my home cooking and regularly going to yoga, I was feeling great. I was thinking to myself that there’s no reason to not continue with what I’m doing and maintain, but then it’s like one slip then takes you down the rest of the slope. I’m not eating everything in sight, but I haven’t been as conscious of portion control. I’ve never been a dieter. I don’t believe in diets. It’s more just about eating in moderation. I really can just take a couple of bites of the dessert or eat only 1/3 of the fries on the plate. And that works for me. I got off track and started eating more than I need to. It takes a little while for the weight gain to start showing, so I think I’m still in control and then one day I notice my pants are feeling tighter.
It’s not that I’m eating garbage necessarily and it’s not like I’ve gained all the weight back. It helps that I’m still exercising and so I’m fitter than I used to be. I just know I could be doing better. I don’t want to be stick thin and long ago I accepted that my body type doesn’t allow me to ever be a size 2 or even 6 most times. As long as I feel good and look good to myself I’m fine. I think I’ve just reached that point to where I know I could be healthier.
The traveling for work doesn’t help either as it takes me out of whatever routine I have going on. Not only does it make it harder to get in regular exercise, but it also means eating out for 3 meals a day 5 days a week. It’s tough. In the last 4 weeks, I’ve been out of town twice and am about to take another trip on Monday. The good news is that soon I won’t have to do that monthly travel anymore.
Putting all this out into the universe or this blog is my way of admitting that I’ve not only realized I’ve gotten off track but I’m committing getting back on track. So after this next trip to CA, I am going to plan my weekly menu and get right back into the habit of cooking myself balanced meals.