Zoom In... Zoom Out... It Is All About Perspective

Sometimes I think I've got it all figured out. That whole what to eat and how/how much to exercise thing. That whole energy balance equation. I think I do have it figured out on paper - and I have the calculations to prove it - but in practice, well, life just happens and things don't always go the way they were planned...

My life has been a bit chaotic lately. In terms of stress levels, I'm good. I'm a pro at handling stress these days. But in terms of roadblocks to living a healthy lifestyle, total chaos. I haven't been able to run for five weeks, and I wasn't able to work out at all for four of those weeks. I learned first-hand why it is important to lessen your energy in (calories) when forced to lessen your energy out (exercise). That plus moving into a new apartment, which means packing up the kitchen and relying mostly on take-out meals, resulted in a 7 pound weight gain.

Ouch!

Which, by the way, is exactly what I say now when trying to button my shorts!

So, life happens... plans go out the window... flexibility is so very important... as is acceptance of what is. Sure, I accept it; but I resolutely retain the right to hate my scale right now!

In a perfect world, I would have made more conscious choices about my meals over the past five weeks. Instead I saw it as a chance to imbibe a little... I do allow myself to imbibe a little now and then, I cherish this, I mean, c'mon, I love food, that's why I changed my life to study nutrition! I just usually make sure I get in more exercise when I allow myself those wonderful little treats. This time, however, I couldn't because I was injured.

And here's where I zoom in to focus on a seven pound weight gain and I beat myself up a little. It is entirely possible to eat out and eat healthy. It's all about making good choices. Nutrition information is available online and in restaurants and with just a little planning and a hint of thought about calories instead of the yumminess factor, there are many options for healthy take-out meals. Panera Bread is one of my most favorite places to grab a quick heathly bite and they are ahead of the game by posting calorie information on their menu boards. If I had just paid attention to these numbers, I could have easily stayed in my calorie range!

Zooming in, my weight is horrible! I gained weight! UGH!

But then I have to take a minute to zoom out and look at the big picture of my life in terms of my always-present struggle with my weight.

As I was unpacking my office a couple days ago, I came across my old Weight Watchers membership booklets. I have about five of them. One of them is my lifetime booklet and I love to open that one up and see my goal weight written down as my "starting weight," which is about 15 pounds less than I weigh now. Half of those 15 pounds are a result of the past month's accident/moving situations...but still, that's kind of a downer to see that I'm so far from that goal now... BUT... then I look at the other four booklets and I see starting weights that are 15-25 pounds heavier than where I am now.

Zooming out opens up a chance to reframe and that mental shift results in feeling that my weight right now is wonderful!

I am consistently maintaining a weight that is 15-25 pounds LESS than my previous maintenance range. My new struggle with my weight has shifted. I moved down that linear scale of pounds and my struggle now is a mere 15  pounds to goal weight where in my pre-heart attack life, my struggle was a whopping 40 pounds on this small 5'2" frame.

I can dig that.

So, yes, life happens and the best laid plans go out the window. Life is change; this is life. There is NEVER a time in life where everything is perfect. To quote Chuck Palahniuk in Fight Club, "A moment was the most you could ever expect from perfection."

The moral of my story is: don't cry and stress about how the world is working against you, instead step back and take a look at your life overall and find ways to praise your progress. Even if that progress is only that you had a healthy breakfast today, well, that's a start... just keep on taking it one meal at a time.

The End of The "Summer of Nothing"

Wow. Where does the time go? Has it really been eight months since I've posted?

What happened? Well, the spring semester started, I met and started dating a wonderful man, the spring semester ended, and then I commenced my "Summer of Nothing."

It seems I took that a bit too literally...

I'm back though.

I now hold a Bachelors of Science with a concentration in Nutrition & Dietetics (Summa Cum Laude even!).

I have presented one "Lunch 'n Learn" session on Healthy Eating.

I've landed a gig writing for Examiner.com, which should be checked out and followed (http://www.examiner.com/x-55925-Jacksonville-Nutrition-Examiner). The thing is that for Examiner, my assignment is to write about nutrition as it relates to Jacksonville, Florida. This is a huge challenge for me. I want to write about energy balance, protein requirements, and supplements - about nutrition in general. I'm having a hard time relating the recommendations for protein intake to a city... so I've come back to this blog in order to write about what I really want to write about.

Oh, and as far as my training goes... well, right now I am not able to run due to a car accident three weeks ago. My neck/shoulders are tweaked so I am relegated to the realm of low impact activities. I am jonesin' to run but I can't. I did complete another 5k in June and ran a horrible race, 36:00. There are good days running and bad days running and this was a bad day. It was ridiculously hot and I just didn't have it in me. At least now I KNOW I can beat that time in my next race, which will not be until it cools down.

Wow. My "Summer of Nothing" actually had quite a bit of somethings in it... and now, it's a mere 2 1/2 weeks until I start graduate school and my dietetic internship. Soon, there will be no time in my life for doing nothing... at least, not for the 15 months that I am completing the program.

My goal is to post here once a week. There may still be some posts about my working out/running and my personal nutrition goals; but mostly I want to shift the focus of this blog to nutrition in general.

I hope, dear readers, that you find my posts interesting, entertaining, and most of all, that you take away some tidbit about a healthy lifestyle that you can apply in your daily life.