I’ve found myself a little down
these days. I think it’s a case of Cabin Fever.
I thrive on sunshine and
interaction but the weather around here has been somewhat brutal – from the
foot of snow that dumped down in our region to the frigid temperatures.
Now you know I’m an adventure girl.
I grew up in Vermont and Canada so I’m not afraid of snow. Even though I’ve
hiked Kilimanjaro in temperatures so cold that my water bottle froze solid, there is one thing that I don’t like to do in
the winter: Bundle up to work out.
But the worst thing about the
winter weather for me is isolation. I work from home most days so I don’t need
to go outside other than dropping my girls off at daycare and school. The truth
is, it gets lonely here.
All that plus a major let down on a
project I’ve been working on, meant I found myself munching a lot more often. Whether
I’m feeding abandonment issues of my past as a latchkey kid, emptiness from
being lonely or boredom of the walls of my home – I just found this month very,
very hard to stay on track.
In all honesty, I was glad to have
BistroMD here to keep me somewhat on the straight and narrow. But admittedly, I
was off the rails many days – nibbling on this and that (especially sugary
stuff that didn’t come in my weekly stash of food).
For example, instead of my snack of
fruit and low-fat cheese, I’d reach for something carb-y. And then, since my
stomach is like a bottomless pit when it comes to that stuff, I’d reach for it
again and again.
I’d hate to think what my weight
would be like if I didn’t have that reminder with every BistroMD meal to stay
on target. If I was on my own this month, I have a feeling there would have
been a lot of comfort foods simmering in my kitchen and instead of my weight
staying the same – it would be up.
So this month, I didn’t lose
anything. But more importantly, I didn’t gain anything. Since I’m doing this
publicly with monthly blogs, it offered me an opportunity to reflect instead of
struggling in the dark, cold days of winter and ultimately padding on more
pounds. It gave me a chance to figure out what was going wrong -- and fix it.
So, I vow to get back into it – to drop
all those added foods that crept in and to follow BistroMD exactly as prescribed.
Also, I vow to cure my Cabin Fever.
Earlier this month, I joined along with my online friend Megan Castran’s
Mile-A-Day challenge. It takes me about 20 minutes to walk a mile on my
treadmill. Of course, many days I go beyond it. But on those days when I am struggling to get
it all done, it is a relatively achievable goal – whether it is accomplished at
10 a.m. on a Sunday or 10 p.m. on a weeknight.
It is a fabulous reminder to keep moving forward – one mile at a time.
I leave you with a song -- "Carry On" by Fun that I just fell in love with. It is my theme for the month ahead:
