3 to go

So, I got really frustrated at FitDay yesterday. Yesterday, I had said that I was going to use FitDay to keep up with my meals, as another way to be accountable, and then have the link posted on my blog, so anyone at any given time could go and look and see how I was doing. Yesterday, I decided to go ahead and input my first weeks' meals in, so that all I had to do was change what was different or keep it the same, and that way I could look at what I had planned to see if it all seemed appropriate. WELL, after about 2 hours working on it yesterday, I got really frustrated. First of all, when you are searching for something, you can't just put in "green beans" and find green beans. You have to do beans, green, and then it gives you about 14 pages of beans to get through to find what you are looking for. Or bell peppers. Or chicken breast, for crying out loud!! It got to the point where I was adding everything in as a custom food, by clicking on Calorie King, looking up the nutritional facts, and the inputting them into FitDay. Well, I nearly got the week completed, but another thing that was frustrating me was that I have to input every single item every single day! I can't, for example, have a "template" or have a way to use a few of the same things if I'm eating the same breakfast or lunch or I have some of the staples that are the same in my diet on a daily basis. So, I gave up on FitDay, and decided that I will go back to some spreadsheets that I already had made up from about 2 years ago, when I was on the Dream Team, trying to do BFFM. This way, I can keep track of what I'm eating daily and weekly, I can customize the meals to me, and I can copy and paste the ones that are used over and over and over again. SO, the link for these is now in place of where my FitDay journal link was. There isn't anything there yet, except my spreadsheet; tonight, I will work on filling in as many of the meals as I regularly eat as I can, and then filling in next weeks' food choices.

I posted a question today on a few forums I'm active on, as well as a bulletin on MySpace, sort of getting people involved and interested and reading about my plans...I don't know if I just worded it wrong, or what, but people seemed to think I was asking advice. I'll post it here, and then I recap at the bottom...

Hey guys!! I have a question for all of you who care to help me out with it; if you've ever tried to stick to a diet, or workout, or meet a goal, maybe you can give me some insight. Like I said before, I've been working on my blog, which I am going to use as a tracking tool for this transformation contest I'm going to join on Monday. I'm trying to get everything ready between now and then that will help me ensure my success; I've got my meals planned out for the week and loosely planned for the month; I have my workouts planned out, I'm going to be documenting my food on fit day, and I have a spreadsheet that I'm keeping track of my weight, inch, and fat loss on. I'm trying to be fully prepared for this one; I want this one to be the one that I stick to.



So, my question is, what things happen or come up or are there that seem to hinder you from making your appropriate choices? Like, for food, what causes you to "cheat" or choose the less good of the choices? What about for those of you who exercise, what comes up or happens to cause you not to exercise that day?

The reason I'm asking is because I want to see if this is something that will come up for me, and I want to make a list of ways and strategies and techniques to avoid these pitfalls for me.

I already have a few that I'm going to be working on this weekend;
Things to do when I'm bored
Things to eat when I don't feel like cooking
Things to eat when I don't have time to cook.



I would love any more insight from anybody that will help me be fully prepared for this next 12 weeks to sticking to my plan and making my goal!

So, no. I wasn't asking "how can I stick to my program!!" I was asking, basically, what excuses do you use to get out of sticking to your program, so that I can customize my own way around that particular excuse. I got some great answers from one person, but everyone else is giving me advice.

Here are some of mine...alcohol and stress are my 2 biggies. I lose all ambition and start making excuse why its just one night. Which usually turns into 2-5 days depsite my best intentions and well, excuses.

More are I can start immediately back over, just a little, I don't have time, one bite is not going to hurt.
I gotta.....insert whatever excuse is the one for the moment........instead.
Fast food is easier (like the fast food restaurants don't have on plan/healthy choices!
I want it and deserve it, I had a hard day, worked so hard, am so tired....on and on.
I don't have time. I am too tired. I don't feel like cooking. It was a party, everyone else was havign fun and indulging, I felt left out.
I don't have time to plan. I don't wanna. I donlt have any will power.
There are millions that I can think of to justify my obsession with trying to lose weight.

I have gotten past these for the most part. Recognizing them is a biggie. Acting on them is another. I got tired of lieing to myself. Like my dad says, "If you are looking for an excuse, any one will do."

So, I definitely have plenty more work ahead of me; and I realize this can be a never ending process. I realize I can prepare myself to death, and just be sick of the whole thing before I even get started. I'm not trying to do that, I just want to identify any snags that may occur, because they have before, and try to work out a plan of action to get around those snags so that my journey may be a bit more smooth this time. I am not anticipating this to be a breeze; nor am I thinking that there WON'T be any snags. Just as long as I can take care of the ones I foresee, I won't have given up so early in the game. And maybe, I will have more confidence in myself when the other snags pop up.

I am trying my hand at positive self talk, really trying to pump myself up for this. I need a method for catching myself when I'm in the negative talk; I don't want to let that continue. I KNOW I can do this. I KNOW that I WILL do this. I KNOW that I will feel so fantastic and beautiful each and every day, BECAUSE I am doing this. I know that when this journey is over, that's not the end of the road for me; that's just the end of this particular trip. There are more to come, and this isn't a quick fix for anything. This is a way for me to get into the habit of doing what I should have been doing all along, and what I need to continue to do throughout my life; eat right, exercise, plan the moments and parts of the day I have control of, learn to let go of those that I don't, and accept what comes along.

I posted some pictures at the bottom of the blog if anyone is interested in seeing...3 more days before my official start picture will be posted...