Routines

Routine--for better and for worse.  Routine can be good.  It allows you to rely on the tried and true.  It is safe and comfortable.  But it can be humdrum and boring and has a very bad effect on motivation.  So how do you keep a balance?  While it would be nice to come up with creative and interesting recipes everyday (and have the energy to cook them), who really has the time?  Yet I know that when I plan ahead I do well, and of course I am happy with the results.

So here is a good question...why, when I know something is good for me, do I do the opposite?  If I cook well, I eat well and reach my goals.  If I go to exercise regularly, only good comes from it.  So why do I consciously or subconsciously fight myself on these things?  Why do I knowingly sabotage myself? Have I not been down this road long enough times to have learned my lesson?  How do I motivate myself to prioritize the things that will benefit me?

This does not mean that I have fallen off the wagon.  Actually I am making nice progress.  I have lost 8 kilos since starting this journey almost 8 weeks ago (down 11 kilos from my all time high--which actually was an all time low!).  I have successfully refrained from eating all dairy products and diet soda is a fading memory.  I even have been able to stop taking cholesterol medication.  But I am in some kind of rut, not doing what I really need to do with the type of commitment really needed to do it.  I just feel that it is still such a struggle and I so badly want it not to be that way.

So goals for this week...PLAN AHEAD.  Plan to succeed. Plan to prioritize me. Plan to be positive. To change habits, it has to feel a bit forced at the beginning.  Somewhere along the way, the forced habit starts to become second nature--the good aspect of routine.