Day 571 What We Consistently See and Food Addiction Vs. Desire To Succeed

Day 571

What We Consistently See and Food Addiction Vs. Desire To Succeed

We have a natural tendency to get comfortable with what we see everyday. That's a pretty basic statement, and one that can run as deep as staying morbidly obese for years and years. What we see everyday, even if we don't like it, becomes easier to accept, it grows on us in a way until we just accept. A lighthearted example of this is the "to shave or not to shave" question from yesterday. Facebook friends overwhelmingly voted to shave, yet...the majority of blog readers said keep it! It was clearly opposite, and something that a couple of my co-workers noticed and commented about yesterday. The difference?

Facebook friends see a clean shaved profile picture everyday and I regularly feature current goatee pictures on this blog. We get comfortable over time with what we consistently see. I'm not trying to get too deep here, but it was an interesting observation into human nature. And one that can be applied in good and bad ways along this weight loss road. Consistency in what we're doing leads to comfortable acceptance, in other words...it's gets easier as long as we stay consistent!

A good start this morning included my non-weighted strength training exercises and a good breakfast. I prepared some scrambled eggs, enjoyed some yogurt, and had a banana less than an hour later. This routine has become very comfortable for me, and mornings where it doesn't go as planned---oh my, I have to remind myself that a little deviation every now and then isn't the end of the world, because it isn't. I've had so many weight loss attempts in the past end horribly, because I didn't do something perfect and just figured, oh well, I tried...maybe next time. It's absurd to think that way, because perfection hasn't been the rule or the goal here. A natural progression of good choices with a positive and consistent effort has been the goal, and we've been successful in that pursuit. And you know why those past attempts failed? It wasn't because I "messed up," that was just the excuse I would use. They failed because my addiction to food and inactivity was stronger than my desire to succeed. Anything I could tell myself that would make me feel better about failing again would let me off the hook, and I'd run back to my old ways at the line of least resistance. So much easier at that line, you know?

I didn't see the trail this evening and I didn't go to the YMCA for weight training. I really should have done one or the other, instead I took the evening "off." I allowed my social calendar to conflict with my workout plans and that's something I can't allow very often. I'm still on track to hit all of my workout goals this week, but really...Next week will include day specific goals! I feel so much better about myself when I'm out there or in there doing it. Choices, it's all about those choices we always talk about. I chose a nice evening with a date. I fully intended on hitting the trail afterward, but allowed the night to get away...and by 10pm I decided to get to bed for a decent night of rest. That was a good choice, the rest part.

Tomorrow morning I'll appreciate that rest when I dive into my very first spinning class. I'm really nervous about it---people that have had the class describe it as something horrific and wonderful at the same time. "It'll kill you, but you're going to feel great when it's over!" Maybe not "great" physically, but mentally---yeah, I'll feel accomplished. Good deal...wish me luck!

I'll be shaving the goatee this weekend. It'll be fun and really, to those that said to keep it---It'll grow back! And thank you for the vote of confidence...but I want to see my thinner face without...I may not like what I see, then I'll have to wait a couple of weeks for it's return. No big deal. Amber is coming home for the weekend, so as we shave---we'll do it in segments, taking pictures along the way. That will be fun.

Thank you for reading. Goodnight and...

Good Choices,
Sean


The clean shaven profile pic on facebook.


Yeah---with the hairy face.