Getting back on my diet after a lapse has proven to be more difficult than I thought it would be! Yesterday, I had a great day and felt like I was on my way, until dessert for the boys, after dinner. A bit of strawberry shortcake left uneaten by both of my sons proved too great of a challenge, when they handed me their plates. Despite a great start, I gobbled them down! Today I started my day making cheesecake in an Oreo crust for the first time ever! Can’t eat the darn thing until tomorrow, once it has thoroughly chilled! I guess it will be Friday until I can get on my way again. In the meantime, I ate a fistful of Riesen caramels covered in dark chocolate in the late afternoon.
So how do you re-establish your convictions and reset your new habits? I guess I can ask what has happened that is good? So far as a result of Mark Hyman’s detox diet, I have lost 30 pounds and I am no longer pre-diabetic for the first time in at least 5 years, if not 8. In addition, I am walking again regularly, for the first time in 3 to 4 years. My blood pressure is somewhat better as a result. These are good things. I would like to maintain these changes.
If I don’t get back on track, I will lose these benefits and I am not about to do that. I want to do better than this. I am recovering from back surgery and looking at total knee replacement set for January 27th, 2016 and I am scared to death. I wonder what would happen if I lost another 30 pounds. How would my knee feel? Can I postpone this surgery a bit or even longer? The thing is with replacement of a joint you have to worry about infection for the rest of your life. The parts wear out after about 15 years. So at my age, 55, I am clearly looking at a second replacement around the age of 70. What I’ve learned is that your weight and activity level have something to do with how quickly the unit wears out. So maybe if I stretch that extra weight loss from 30 to 60 pounds or 90 in all, perhaps I can use that new knee for a longer period of time. Anyway you cut it, I’ll need new replacement at some point and it would need to be before I was too frail. But it all begs the question, how would my knee feel with 60 additional pounds off my knee? I hear each pound of weight is a 1 pound X 3 of pressure on your knee. So a weight loss of 90 pounds is like 180 pounds of pressure off the knee! Not to mention the fact that I’d love to spare the second knee and that just might be possible.
Before I get too far afield, I want to mention that I am concerned that I am not learning enough about food choices on this diet. I really need a new life style or eating style. I think I need to understand what else will be brought into the regimen over time, before I can adequately assess whether or not this is an eating plan I can maintain over the long haul. I would like it to be with some modifications.
First of all, I have learned I have no gluten sensitivities, which is rare, so when I move toward maintenance I would like gluten to be in my diet. I would also like to be able to eat grains, like rice, so I can eat rice and beans as a great complete protein. Black beans and kidney beans present no problem for me so I think I should eat them regularly. I don’t want to be completely reliant on meat, fish and fowl. I want to learn how to increase my good cholesterol (HDL) through what I eat, on a daily basis. Finally, I want to have a greater variety of fruits that I can eat.
Next, I need to remind myself why I am going to all of this bother in the first place! I want to live a healthier and more vibrant life with my children and my pets. Heck, I’ve got things to do and places to go! I need to build a better body in order to accomplish my dreams! I want to travel and walk in the woods. These dreams can’t be realized unless I am willing to give up a few incidentals along the way!
What kinks are you trying to work through in your eating regimen? Are you willing to write out a list that you can work on?
Are you on your diet or have you had a lapse? If you’ve had a lapse like I’ve had, don’t beat yourself up. Figure out where you want to go and what’s most important to you. Maybe it’s time to write a mission statement for your life! Once you figure out what you’re really all about and whether the diet thing is really important to your success, then you can answer, “What do you need to do to gear up and re-double your efforts toward your new eating regimen, so you can realize your dreams?”
Happy writing!
Lisa J Lafave, PhD, MBA, ACC, BCC
CEO & Founder of Coaching Rocks, LLC
The Wellness Coach at Building Better Bodies Rocks
A Single Mom By Choice Raising Surrogacy Twin Boys
Written in My Little Brick in University Heights, OH
Leap Into Action!