New Habits (Kind of) and Cheat Days

“Do or do not... there is no try.” -Yoda

At the beginning of this year I took a long hard look at some things I wanted to change. First of all, there was the problem of being tired all the time. I decided that for I was going to be in bed by 11:00pm (when I don't work late). Secondly there was the issue of my extremely poor nutritional habits. I decided no sugar cereals in the morning, no junk food, no desserts, and no unhealthy snacks in the evening. Thirdly, there is the issue of never exercising. I decided to do my routine of push up/sit ups three times a week and running/jogging several times a week as a bare minimum.

So how successful have I been? Well, the exercising one has been the least successful. With the cold snap we've had here in Winnipeg, I haven't been motivated to do anything at all. We'll see if that starts up again now that it's tolerable outside. The sleeping thing has been better. Until last week I'd been adhering to that one fairly well. And the results were good: Instead of falling asleep in class all the time, I'm much more awake.

The best results of all have been with the eating thing (which I thought would be the most difficult). After two weeks of adhering to my altered diet (which was tough, no word of a lie), I now find that I have established a "habit" of eating healthier. What seems to make it work for me is that once a week I let myself have a "cheat day." On this day I can eat whatever I want and I don't feel guilty at all. Even with my cheat days I have lost about 7 pounds and actually feel better as well. Cheat day can be whatever day I want but usually it is Sundays which works out nice. Ironically when I get to my cheat day I no longer feel the need to pig out on the bad stuff (OK, there was one time) and instead just enjoy in moderation some of the "naughty" food that I usually withhold myself from.

Also, I think that for some reason I just decided to make the food change. I was motivated. There was no try, only do. Yoda was right.

May Light increase!