THE LAST 10 POUNDS PODCAST – Episode 135
It’s Friday Fitness and Health! I don’t want to go too long without revisiting my goals in this area. Especially this time of year. It’s too easy to make choices that can lead me away from my goals. Let’s do this.
Story. Two nights ago, Bryant had an abscess in his tooth. So much pain, my friends. He couldn’t sleep. So I couldn’t sleep, either. It just works that way when you are sharing a bed.
I woke up in the morning and got Bry out to door to the dentist, before taking inventory of my own condition. My 11 year old son was washing the mirror in my bathroom when I went in for a first look. Ugh. I looked worse than I’d expected. I made a face at myself in the mirror, and Liam and I laughed. I said, “I look pretty crazy today, right?” Then I smiled at him. He paused. Then he answered warmly, “You don’t look crazy at all when you are smiling.”
I’d love to jump out of my body, and out of my mind, and see myself in my children’s eyes. Or my husband’s eyes. I wonder how much mercy we would offer ourselves if we were able to do that – to see ourselves through our loved ones’ eyes.
Sleep. It’s on my list of things to offer myself, because I love myself.
When I think about not only the love my children have for me, but the love I have for them, this work becomes a work of love. If my children were to tell me, Mom, I am hungry, I would go through some thought-work before passing them the piece of cake on the counter, right? Have they eaten a real meal recently? Are they thirsty? How late at night is it? How early in the morning is it? How big is the piece, and how many pieces have they already had? Is there another need that they are looking to meet?
I do this because I love them. I love them and I want to help them make healthy choices.
And I want the same for myself, because of my love for me. When my brain says, Rach, I’m hungry, the most loving thing to do for myself would be to ask myself those same questions, and honor my hunger or my need in the way most loving to me. Does that make sense?
Today I wanted to look back at that list from DAY #16 and reconsider the choices I’ve made in the past couple weeks.
Much of creating a more intentional life is mental self-care. But it is also physical self-care. In fact, in many ways, they go hand in hand.
Brenda, following the model, teaches how to use our thoughts to create our emotions, actions, and results. This is all familiar, right? Only, as a holistic nutritionist, Brenda focuses primarily on our physical results.
Let’s get started on today’s podcast: 7 tips for enjoying the holidays, as opposed to surviving the holidays. These are her steps, in her words:
- Find other means of winter-comfort. If food isn’t going to be it, what will be your other means of finding comfort on those cold, dark, winter days? Comfortable pajamas? Soft blanket? Lighting a candle that smells good? Tubs and bubbles?
- Things get really busy, really fast. Learn to say no. If you really don’t want to go to something, learn to say no. No explanation required. Put your needs first. Especially if you haven’t gotten enough rest lately.
- Enjoy the parties, gatherings, guests that you want to say yes to, but do not use them as a reason to overeat. Come to a point when you have zero interest in overeating – ever. I do not like who I am when I overeat. I am slower – physically and mentally. I am less social, because I’m self-conscious about my swollen belly. I don’t sleep as well. Don’t necessarily change what you eat, but WHY you eat.
- Give yourself a holiday treat once in a while. Be intentional. Take one thing. Enjoy it. Trust yourself.
- Manage expectations. Really notice if you are feeling disappointed or stressed. If things aren’t going the way you’d hoped, instead of eating, give yourself a good ol’ cry! Let yourself cry during the holidays, if you are feeling those feelings.
- Weigh yourself regularly. Notice if you are starting to avoid the scale. It’s like avoiding looking at your credit card statements when you know you’ve spent more than usual. But that is not helpful – that’s not useful to you! It is more useful to take a good honest look at it, and see what your choices are doing for you. Weigh yourself regularly. This is where I am at. Is what I am doing working for me? What step do I take from here?
- Make decisions and plan ahead. Today I will not have seconds. Today I will only have one dessert. etc etc. You decide what works for you.
How am I going to feel come January? We are only weeks away from 2020. Make a decision: Will you be closer to your goals, or further from it?
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