This is a more personal, potentially embarrassing post. It might even be boring if you don't reside in my head. I probably won't post the link to this one on Facebook. But apparently I have regular followers now anyway (I know this because of the pageview counter I put up), so I know some people will still read it. And that's fine.
The past few weeks, as I mentioned a couple of posts ago, I have been working hard on ol' number one. The physical part of this includes working out almost everyday, sometimes twice a day, and trying to be very vigilant about my nutrition. One of the secrets to my success is my food journal. I've tried food journals once or twice in the past, but I didn't really do them right. I didn't want to be totally honest with myself, so I would eat things and think, "that didn't count" and not write certain things down. It was a selective food journal, if you will (in case you don't know, a food journal is just what sounds like; you write down everything you eat each day so you can see how much/what you're actually eating).
This time is different. I'm not sure why, other than the mental and psychological changes I've discussed before. Anyway, I've been completely, brutally honest with myself in this journal, which is now in its third week, even when I slip up and snack a little harder than I should. I still write everything down. This is helpful because it forces me to think about what I'm going to eat before I eat it. If I want to pig out, I think, "I'm going to have to write that down," which I don't want to do because it makes me feel disgusting, and I control myself. It also helps with emotional eating, like I can tell when I'm really hungry and when I'm emotionally hungry and all that jazz. I could go on, but I won't.
So. Back to the point of this post. This weekend, I will be traveling to Austin for the Austin City Limits (ACL) music festival. I'm very excited about this; I haven't had a chance to just get out and do something purely for fun in awhile. I've already planned for the fact that ACL means I won't be working out for 3 days; I didn't take a day off from exercising this past week to sort of make up for it, since I knew I'd be getting a bigger break (although I will do plenty of walking, sweating, dancing at the festival, I'm sure). And I know my eating schedule will be different. There will be food booths and we may be eating at weird times and going for hours without eating. I'm sure many beers will be consumed throughout the weekend.
I'm excited to go and have fun, but I don't want the whole weekend to throw me off track or undo all the work I've been doing. I'm going to try to be extra aware of all these things. The big question, though, is do I bring my food journal? Part of me thinks, yes, of course, because I can still keep tabs on everything I'm doing and not let it all go down the toilet. The other part of me thinks no, take a break, and just be careful. I've had problems in the past with being super into health and then getting really burned out and not caring anymore. I don't want that to happen either, so maybe I should just forget about it for a weekend. But then again, it is a slippery slope...
As I write this, I'm thinking I should bring the journal. Eat and drink what I want, and just make sure I write it down so I don't go overboard. That is, after all, the whole point of the journal.
But then do I include alcohol in the journal? I haven't been drinking since I started the journal, and ordinarily, I would include it (like if I had a margarita with dinner or something). But if I went out to a bar, I'm sure I wouldn't be whipping my journal out to record every drink. Of course I don't do that all that often anymore. I think I should write the drinks down (they are calories!) but just not one by one.
Decision (for now): Take the journal, use the journal, as it was intended, but don't be afraid to take a break and have some drinks and delicious Austin food. Just be careful.
This weekend will truly be a test. I've had much smaller events throw me off track in the past. But I'm ready for it.
No comments:
Post a Comment