Lifestyle Notes

The hardest part of trying to make a healthy lifestyle my permanent lifestyle is how to recover from the crazy weekends.  After a weekend at home for my bridal shower and a weekend in the big apple for my bachelorette party – this girl’s diet/exercise regiment was on life support.  I was working out when I was at home, but long weekends away and trying to catch up on some sleep meant a 3 day break and a 4 day break – much different than the 6 days of exercise a week I was maintaining before.  And of course, being on the road meant that I wasn’t eating nearly as clean as I had been.

So what’s a girl to do?

Well for one, she should do the opposite of what she usually does when life happens.  I usually panic, freak out, assume I’m now 20 lbs heavier and a failure and then spend 4 days kicking myself in the butt before going hardcore again.  But now, now that I’m really trying to make health a lifestyle and not a diet, I’m doing something totally different.  This time I:

1. Took an extra rest day because my weekend left me with a completely empty tank and in desperate need of sleep.  So I slept in on Monday and enjoyed that extra sweet hour of sleep.
2. I didn’t force it on Monday.  I drank more water, but I also indulged my need for caffeine and a little more grease.  I actually think that I spent Sunday still quasi drunk – which is why my hangover was super delayed.  The joys of getting old – you cannot party like a rockstar.  At least I can’t. Then I laid around the house all night feeling like crap still.
3. Woke up today and worked out.  Nothing extreme.  Instead of Fire 55, which was on the schedule, I did Fire 45 which is one of my favorite workout DVDs ever.  Sometimes when you need motivation, don’t go for stupidly hardcore, go for something you actually want to do.
4. After my awesome sweat session, had my vitamins and a protein shake.  Packed a healthy day of food for work and headed out the door.  My body feels ready to get back on track today, so I’m giving it what it wants – clean healthy protein and whole grain carbs.  And some veggies because well – I need them

And while that sounds obvious – duh – that is NOT what I have ever done before.  I’ve never recovered this great from a weekend of doing nothing I’m supposed to do healthwise.  I’ve always done the freak out and wasted a week or two in shame.  Then turned it on SO hard core that it was not maintainable for the long run.  I know I’m not the only person who suffers from this kind of guilt because I have a lot of friends I talk to who do the same thing.

But the thing is, if being healthy is a lifestyle, you have to start learning to deal with the “life” part of it.  There will be parties, girls weekends, tired weekends, and days where you just want a freaking Chick-fil-A chicken sandwich.  And in order to be someone who maintains their diet – you can’t just say I’m never eating (enter food here) or i’m going to always exercise (enter days of week here) for the rest of my life.  Because that all or nothing mentality is how we set ourselves up for failure.  Instead of striving for perfection, we have to learn to strive for maintainable peace.

I’m not saying I have it done and I’m “cured” of my diet tendencies – is one ever?  But I am saying I’m damn proud that for once, I did the right thing.  And I’m hoping that I can remember how good it feels to not freak out over it so the next time life happens – I can do the right thing again.