Cabin Fever: Getting through the Cold and Dark to Become Light

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:

 

BistroMD is providing my meals for six months. I am blogging about the experience. If you would like to join me in the journey, check out www.bistromd.com