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