Choosing to Eat Right

I have really been making an effort over the past couple of years to eat right and get plenty of exercise.  I do pretty good with the exercise since I have a scheduled time for it; 4:15 in the morning.  Not fun, but that way I'm sure to get it in every day.  I'm also signed up to do 10 5Ks this year, one a month starting in March, so I'm working on training for those.  I have a harder time making good choices about food.

I know what I should be eating, and how much I should be eating.  I've gotten pretty good about not stress eating any longer for the most part.  I still have my occasional day when everything is so overwhelming that I just want comfort food, but I generally recognize that craving and don't give in to it.  My biggest problem is when I'm tired, which is most of the time.  You can read about that here.  I know my body needs something (rest) which I can't give it most of the time.  So I try to compensate by giving it something else (food).  This is not healthy at all, but I'm having a hard time dealing with the compulsion to feed my exhaustion.

As a result, I've put some of my weight back on.  Not all of it, thank goodness, but enough that it's noticeable and it's causing some problems.  Back at the beginning of 2011 I lost about 35 pounds and got back down to my high school weight of 115 pounds.  It was very difficult to maintain, I could only ever go back to eating about 1500 calories a day and it's harder when you don't have a goal that you're working towards.  Also, several people told me I was too skinny.  So I don't actually know that I'm going to try to get back down to that weight.  But I do want to get back down to about 122 pounds.  I feel good at that weight and I can wear pretty much whatever I want to.  This morning the scale said 136 pounds, so I've got 14 pounds to lose again.  So I guess it's time to go back to weekly tracking and reporting, as that seemed to really help me focus before.

Now I just need to figure out how to mentally remind myself that eating when I'm tired doesn't help.  I also maybe need to figure out how to get more rest on a regular basis.  Of course I'm not willing to talk to the doctor about it until I've lost some weight since I know that will be one of the first suggestions.  I have hope that when my kids grow up and move out, I'll have more time on my hands and will perhaps be able to catch a 20 minute cat-nap when I need it, even if I don't ever get better rest overnight.  'Cause you know, hope springs eternal!

Image:  Creative Commons Photo "Needle felted cakes" by ZulfiaM