Tag Archives: Mental Health

Tid Bits Articles

Support Family?

May 6, 2010 – 2:00 PM

One of you my readers (thank you to whomever you are) – asked me if I needed a support group to help keep me on point.  The answer is YES!  The real key I think, with any goal – it doesn’t have to just be weight loss or having to do with your health…is to surround yourself with reminders that make your goals tough to ignore and impossible to forget!  In fact, I found it incredibly helpful to tell as many people as I could about my goal (hence this blog) – peer pressure at it’s best. Make it so that turning back (a.k.a. changing your “goal” or quitting when the going gets tough) is almost impossible.  You will find virtue and character in fulfilling that promise.

Besides making my goals public, I rely heavily on my family for support!

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Diet Diary

Day 75: Divorce plans

May 5, 2010 – 8:40 AM

What happens when your level of commitment starts to drop? For me, I start separating from the previous “goal” and eventually become divorced from it. When two people who got married because they were creating this perfect united life together stop thinking along those lines…the decision to have that goal come true is changed.  It is replaced by either indecision, or a decision to have an entirely new goal (usually involving other people).  Today I heard from a friend of mine who is going through a divorce and I realized how many times I have done this with different areas of my life…in order to have something really last, you must CONTINUE to want it, continue to create that goal and envision something constant.  When that goal starts to fade into oblivion, you will end up losing ground and eventually what you thought you “always wanted” will not be what you get.  Without you even realizing it – you replaced what you wanted, with something else.

It may seem awful to say this, but after talking to her – I realized WOW! I really have to have a consistent commitment and accept that I am working towards a better, healthier version of me . . . indefinitely!

One of my biggest barriers in the past was letting my “goals” change …frequently . . . very frequently… In fact, sometimes they would change so often dandruff would look stable by comparison! First, I wanted to have a sexy, thin body; then I would change that goal for something else, change it back, change it again, modify it…you get the idea. The end result, of course, was that nothing had really changed as far as my weight or overall health (and if it did, it wasn’t necessarily for the better) – but in the meantime, I had made myself COMPLETELY INSANE with all the waffling!! So anyway, I had this epiphany today and now I am looking at that ridiculous cycle and realizing that this cycle is all my own creation because I wouldn’t take the time to figure out what it was I was really looking for…shucks!

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Diet Diary

Boredom, a Type of Stress

April 30, 2010 – 2:00 PM

I don’t know one single person who would describe me as a person who would EVER find myself facing “boredom”…but when I really look at it, this really is one of my most hidden, lethal DIET KILLING “stresses” … Stress means having  anxiety, worrying about something, feeling dissatisfied, pretty much feeling anything other than contentment and enjoyment or  doing something  you consider “less than ideal”. For example: Watching a cartoon with my daughter because I’m too tired to do anything else –  but I want some sort of enjoyment after a long day dealing with other stresses, so instead of doing something I really want to do (like taking a nap!), I reach for something to eat to make it seem like what I am doing is enjoyable; i.e. – having fun and NOT feeling any stress. Of course, at this point in the day, I usually don’t feel much of anything because I’m totally BURNED OUT!!!

How messed up is this?!

The worst part is that as I’m eating something guaranteed to NOT be good for me, given the circumstances (I am craving something sweet, salty, loaded with carbs…about as far away from celery sticks as you can get) –I munch haphazardly, planning my next stress-induced event:  how to make-up for this diet doozy.

Next follows anxiety and guilt-filled thoughts of running on the treadmill, skipping dinner, doing 20 push-ups in the next thirty minutes, or taking the kids for walk.  But like a merry-go-round, they quickly spin into…yep, more stress.  I decided to munch to DE-STRESS, and now I have not only NOT de-stressed, I have added a brand new problem to worry about.  Nice diversion.  One thing IS for certain though…it is much easier to worry about what I can do tomorrow to make up for overeating today, than how I am going to solve the financial stress, tiredness, crying fits and “gotta-get-it-done-right-this-minute” deadlines…

That being said, confronting these facts has already seemed to make a difference.  I still have sweets in the house and they have still not been touched by me (hooray!)….and, I am once again running on little-to-no sleep. This time, however, it was thanks to Little baby, not Big Baby. :)

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Diet Diary

Day 70:Three Hidden Diet Killers

April 29, 2010 – 9:41 AM

It has been almost 6 months since resolving to really get (and KEEP) my body healthy and fit. Being the Adrenal Body Type, I know I have a weakness for accumulating unnecessary stress. Dealing with this in a way that doesn’t involve food has proven to be just about the only thing I CONTINUE to struggle with.
Yesterday was a prime example of that…(enough said). As the adage goes, “the first step is denial” – I must be doing pretty well to be acknowledging the fact that my number one weakness is STRESS. And yes, I have been in denial for quite some time. Stress has remained hidden from being a “Diet Killer” because in order for me to admit I have this as a weakness, I’ve had to admit I that I am not as good as I thought I was (kidding!)
These three things are my “Hidden Diet Killers” (and sure enough, they all relate to a type of STRESS!).
1. Financial stress (finishing our taxes, paying too many bills, arguing with the insurance company)
2. Physical stress (too tired, no energy, not eating enough and then getting starved!)
3. Role stress. I’ve worked at least two jobs since I was nine years old (no, child labor laws weren’t enforced where I grew up!). Yet here I find myself a stay-at-home mom part of the time and in the office workplace part of the time. Talk about a constant tug-of-war!! I am totally at home in a professional setting, but put me home alone with two small children and two big dogs & I am totally out of my element! Not that I don’t love my kids – quite the opposite – the problem is that I’ve spent so much of my life running ragged with adults that I’ve never learned to just sit back & enjoy the moment (which is an essential skill with little kids!). Often, this anxiety gets interpreted (by me) as atypical “boredom”. “Fun” and “exciting” to my three-year-old is usually neither “fun” nor “exciting” for me, so while she’s having fun, I stress about my perceived inadequacies and end up with – hand-to-mouth-disease :)
A few things to think about while I go to bed tonight….what do I do about this epiphany now?

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Diet Diary

Day 54: The Real Reason French are thin

March 13, 2010 – 6:18 PM

The few extra pounds from my vacation were totally worth it!

I am back on track with my more healthy ways and realize that one of the worst (hidden) diet killers is stress.

It’s taken a few weeks to get back into my hectic, stressful lifestyle – haunted by those lurking cravings (whenever my stress levels begin to surge – lately that is pretty often).  As long as I am armed with some healthy snack foods though, I am pretty safe.  But this brings an interesting question…Is the reason why the French stay thin because they “drink red wine”, or because they have a lot LESS STRESS than any other country in the world?  Think about it – France has something like 13 National Holidays and one of those is 3 weeks long during February (I was just reminded of this because we met a great French couple on the beach – and no, they were not nude!).  The French also have the highest consumption of anti-depressant medication (another interesting statistic).  So maybe zoning out, forgetting your problems and going on a lot of vacations is really, the best way to stay thin? :) lol

(Just kidding)  But I do have to agree with the vacation part.  Now, I just need to find a way to reduce more stress from my everyday life.  For me, stress equals binging…I start thinking it is more important to just get through the day (candy and chips are a way I “zone out”)…and well…we all know the rest of the story.  On to tomorrow!

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