When Eating Clean Isn't What You Want To Do
I have a number of girls, mostly my younger girls going to school or just starting out in life, who struggle with all or nothing thinking. They want to get healthy, have recent memories of being fit and toned, and feel like they have to do everything single thing perfectly to lose weight. It's just not true. At PNP we do give you tools, exercise schedules, guidelines, and books on how to implement the lifestyle. We even give you forums for support, moderators who've been there and done that, and we have weekly chat sessions for Q and A. Pretty much, we give you all the reasons in the world to succeed but in the end it comes down to the meal by meal, gym by gym decisions our members make. Some girls totally get it and run with it. Others allow good ole fat girl thinking to creep in their heads.
As an example of the types of advice we give, here's a clip from my own posting to one of our girls who's having a hard time with eating clean. Her issues are that she's a very busy young girl just starting in her career. She cooks for one, is in a new city, overwhelmed by new responsibilities and a new job, and still studying to pass come certifications. She's got a load on her plate and was frustrated this week that she just couldn't find the motivation to eat right.
If you are time crunched, picky, and you don't like cooking for one don't let eating clean be what stops you from losing your fat. Go with the healthiest frozen dinners you can find. South Beach Diet makes the best, next would be Kashi, then LC and WW. A lot of times when I'm in a busy week I buy SBD dinners and pair each one with a fruit like an apple, cherries, or banana. Then I buy a few bags of lettuce and eat a green salad with the dinners. You can also get small cans of carrots, green beans, asparagus, and such and pop some of that with a dinner to get in veggies. Protein Bars and shakes are easy to carry. Snickers Low Carb Marathon bars are delicious, have a great amount of protein, AND THEY ARE CHEAP. Mine are always on sale at Publix for .99 each. That's barely a quarter more than anything you get in a vending machine and much better for you. SF/FF Lattes are great on the go protein fills. Stock your fridge with some ff/sf yogurts, cheese sticks, and the like and you have quick things to eat on the go when time crunched or to throw in your cooler to get in some calcium. Cabinets should have canned tuna or chicken and such that's portable. Wheat thins are a great cracker choice.
Again, most of this is not clean, but it ain't bad. I say when you won't or can't worry about clean you do the next best thing...calories while trying to stay relatively healthy. I think the key for you is to set some goals but get out of the mindset that this is overwhelming. It's not!!! You are so lucky to have this site. We've done, tasted, tried, and ate everything and are full of ideas and lists. Go through and choose the things YOU CAN do and get out of the stinking thinking of saying if I can't do it all I can't do any of it. That's your inner Fat Girl throwing a big hissy fit and convincing you to not put on the big girl panties. Tell her you bought em and by God you are wearing them. :)
This is so common for many of us. I don't know what it is that teaches women that we put ourselves last and that when things are perfect we have to make it the biggest mess we possibly can. Let's all vow to start breaking this ugly cycle. We certainly don't want our kids doing the same and if don't start learning how to roll with the punches of life we'll never be able to teach our kids to do it either.
Have a great weekend! I plan to and if my plans don't work out then I will not stress over it. :)
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Workout Journal: DOR
Food Journal:
B - Oatmeal with 1/2 serv of Fage and 1/2 banana
L - Chicken *** with SP and Green Beans
S - SBD Bar and milk
D - Egg Beater and Spinach Omelett, Green Pepper Strips, Cheesy Broc
S - Cottage Chz with SF/FF Pudding