Plans or Distractions.... Not both

Hi,

It has been nearly a month since my last post. I just looked at the last one where I thought I was going to use a writing exercise to help me move on. That never happened. It never came together clearly. I can analyze a statement.... but no "statements" came, so I had nothing to rewrite.
 
What did happen is that my left knee and ankle went out again. I've been, with the help of my new chiropractor (Dr. Janice Strang) whom I really appreciate, getting them back into alignment. I am back to walking with almost no pain due to the therapy and with that I am well pleased. I do still have to be careful.

I finally found out, from her, what is causing the continual joint malfunction. She said it was because I was sitting with my legs too far apart. When I started to practice sitting with them closer I could feel the change as a relief in my hips. I also surmised that if the sitting was causing that much of a problem, perhaps I needed to see what adjusting the "splay" of my feet when I am walking would do. I started to practice walking with my feet pointed forward rather than splayed out to the sides like a dancer. Amazingly those two changes in posture are making a real difference.

Keeping up those two changes has been a challenge. When I point my feet straight forward, I feel like I'm walking "pigeon-toed" but when I check they are simply straight. When I catch myself with a "splay foot" I adjust it and walk in that awkward way. I trust that at some point it will become my new way of walking.

The bone in my lower leg has gone back into place. My knee cap has gone back into place and there is no longer a feel of "crunching" in my knee when I walk. My walk is almost normal (except for the pigeon-toe-feeling). I say "almost" because there are times when there is still some pain. Usually after doing my pool exercises too vigorously. But I am back in the pool exercising again now. So that is a plus.

As to my eating, I've pretty much stuck to veg and protein for a week or two and am no longer craving sweets which is amazing all on its own.

So I think I have stumbled upon a food related "principle."  I've noticed that the more carbs I eat the more carbs I want. The opposite is also true: the less carbs I eat, the less carbs I want. This is not really new to me, but I love watching it happen. The new principle is this: the body will adapt to what you do -- not to what you think. 

In the 5:2 group on facebook that I belong to I noticed many of the members posting about how just by doing fasting their eating habits on the other days have changed also. They no longer seem to require so much food. Not all of them have said this, but quite a few have. This is an example of the body adapting.

As I watched the kids version of "Supersize vs. Superskinny" one of the kids who had changed his eating habits said that he simply started to eat smaller meals and by the end of the first week he was happy with that. He had adapted to smaller meals.

I've begun to realize that if you want to change your lifestyle and maintain it, you just have to start -- do it for a time, and soon it becomes a habit. The body adapts.

I've often been afraid of eating smaller portions. That is a real challenge for me. What I am thinking is that, just like that little guy who had help from his mother, if I simply make a plan to cut down on the portions.... and then follow the plan.... my body will eventually adapt.

Each change is a new experience. I'm thinking I don't need to worry about the "stage fright" -- worrying and wondering if I will be able to do it. If I decide what I want to do, make a plan that works for me, and then follow the plan.... I should be able to make the kind of changes that will begin to allow me to lose weight.

I've not been fasting consistently and a couple of times when I tried it, I allowed a "feeling" to distract me from completing it.

I've never liked the word "discipline" because it is "hard." It always meant doing something that I did not want to do. So funny. It is not really what I thought it was.

Self Pity. I once had a friend tell me, point blank, that he did not like my "self pity." I was stunned but I thought about it and replied to him sincerely that I did not know how to NOT do that. He said nothing more and I had no idea what to do with that information. In the last couple of days I've prayed and asked God to search my heart again and he showed me that self pity is "beside the point." It actually is more of a distraction than anything else.

I watched an episode of "Extreme Makeover, Weight Loss Edition" and the young overweight woman demonstrated the same kind of self pity that I've done. The trainer had to really push her to what seemed to me to be the ultimate extreme, to get her past the self pity, and on to the "getting it done." It did not happen overnight, either.

If self pity is an ingrained habit, it needs the same kind of treatment as any other bad habit. When you recognize it, stop it. Replace it with adherence to the plan. A plan that is followed makes life easier than having a plan and not following it because of feelings, or distractions, or self pity.

The self guilt from not following the plan is more mind games that just keep getting repeated -- they turn into a super long distraction. What a waste of time. I could have been working towards the goal rather than licking my wounds and wallowing in self sympathy.

I'm afraid I have been doing that all my life. I think I'd like to do something else. Self pity is not fun anymore. I need to find another way to affirm my self and the best way that I can think of is to trust in God. Amen!

I fear writing here what the plan is... but if I don't that is just "more of the same." I know what the plan is, I just want to keep it to myself for a while. I know I need to fast twice a week. I'd like to consistently try 16:8 on my feast days. I'd like to exercise in some way every day while remembering to be careful of my injured limb. I'd like to keep eating veg and protein with some fruit sometimes. So I need to think and write the plan down. Then I need to follow it, without pity.

Definitions:

Pity: sympathetic sorrow for one suffering, distressed, or unhappy

Self-pity: a feeling of pity for yourself because you believe you have suffered more than is fair or reasonable

I think I learned to pity myself when I was very young. I had my reasons. In my mind it makes sense that I would have done that, given my circumstances at the time, but doing that now is only, as I said, a distraction. I would be better off with self discipline. With that I might actually accomplish a goal or two!

Onward!!

Be back soon,

Marcia