This post is part of my ongoing “Get Fit” series, an effort to lose a little weight/tone up, and save money by reducing the number of meals I eat out.
Exercise
Since I’ve started inline speed skating again, I’ve really started to focus on making sure my legs, and core, get in top notch shape, especially now that the holidays are over.
I did a pretty good leg workout Sunday afternoon, and did an equally challenging cycle class last night. I’ve started trying to challenge myself in the cycle classes by staying out of the saddle (which means I was standing) for a good chunk of time. For example, I did so for 20 minutes of the 45 min class last night.
Sounds like things are going well right?
Wrong.
The Cravings
My issue with having extraordinary desires to eat unhealthy food still exists. I thought I was getting this under control, but the cravings are about to make me insane.
For example, right after getting home from last nights cycle class, all I could think about was ordering Domino’s. This is going to sound pathetic, but I’m going to say it anyway. I literally sat in a chair in my room for 45 minutes trying to either rationalize ordering pizza or talking myself out of doing so. That’s ludicrous!
Thankfully I opted to not order pizza, and instead had a protein smoothie and peanut butter crackers (saltines and peanut butter). But as I sit here and write this at around 5:30 am on Tuesday morning… I’m still craving pizza!
The Struggle
I like to think that I have an exceptional amount of will power (Ex. I’m 30 and never had a sip of alcohol), but if I’m struggling like this, I can only imagine how hard resisting food must be for other folks.
For now, I find myself fearing the feeling of getting hungry – simply because I know I’ll once again have to fight the urge to eat something that isn’t good for me.
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{ 3 comments… read them below or add one }
My 2 cents on your weight loss/get fit journey.
For me, the more raw, whole, organic foods I eat, the less I crave junk food. If I’m on a diet of local fruits & veggies, whole grains, unprocessed meats & fish (read: no store bought processed deli meats, frozen foods, canned goods etc) and I’m preparing everything myself, I don’t crave junk food at all. I crave fresh, natural foods.
This summer I embarked on a cleanse & natural foods diet for about a month. Afterwards, I found the smell, look & taste of fried food pretty awful. Stuck in a Calabash fish camp I attempted to order the healthiest thing on the menu, which ended up being entirely too processed for my new lifestyle. Actually spit the food out, and waited to go home to prepare my own fare.
It was kind of nice passing all those fast food restaurants & being able to say “ugghh fast food” instead of “damn i want some fries”
Clearly this lifestyle didn’t stick 100% and I’ve had to incorporate more processed, prepared foods into my lifestyle due to time, seasonality, etc. but I can say the more I eat junk, the more I crave it. The more I eat healthy, the more I crave healthy.
Good luck!!
Kat, great comment – thanks!
I really do think it’s a lifestyle shift, something that isn’t exactly easy to do. My goal at the moment is to keep it simple and try to stay away from fried food… and pizza!
Sitting down to eat a prepared meal at home is great, but there’s that little thing called “time” that seems to get in the way. Maybe something like a Dream Dinners would help me.
Ryan
It’s all about priorities…at some point something has to give: Career, volunteer, community, health, social life. Whatever you put at the top of your list you will be most successful in. Whatever falls to the bottom of the list can only expect to attain a marginal level of success….
With that said, try blocking out a chunk of time, on say Sunday afternoon to prepare several days worth of fresh, easy to fix weekday meals
It may set up your weekly eating for greater success.