Skipping Dessert … and taking the stairs

Just a couple of things to share with you.  First, I don’t recommend telling the whole world you’re going to write a blog post every day for the next 31 days.  Somewhere around day sixteen or seventeen it starts to wear on you a bit.  Not that it’s not rewarding, it is.  But there are lots of things that are rewarding I don’t recommend.

Second, and this is the more salient point, I’ve known for many a long year that my response to bad stress is to eat, compulsively and randomly.  Since I started on this path a few months ago, I’ve done a pretty good job of putting myself in a mindful, intentional space when I feel bad stress coming my way.  As a result I’ve managed to keep myself away from my trademark overeating in those situations.  Which is something to feel good about.  It’s definitely progress.

Turns out, however, that my go-to, subconscious response to good stress might be the same compulsive, random overeating.  Yeah, I know, this shouldn’t be a surprise, but it is.  By way of background, I should tell you I have a lot going on at the shop these days, all of it quite positive, but it’s still a lot of work.

This week I’ve managed to make some big steps toward a couple of big professional goals.  Yesterday evening I clicked the send button on a big piece of a (really) big project (which ended up bringing lots of positive results today, thanks for asking), and when I got home and we got all the Sprightly Daughters securely in bed, I headed straight for the kitchen … without thinking about it.

Now, you’re thinking, “yeah, so?”  Well, the “so” is that we’d already eaten a fairly substantial dinner.  I wasn’t hungry.  But the food reward code hidden deep in my brain triggered and I made what turned out to be a tasty pb&j (actually a pb and organic orange marmalade on whole wheat bread – plenty healthy under normal circumstances).  And I wolfed it (and a glass of milk) in a few seconds, just like the old days.  So the problem isn’t the “what,” it’s the “why” and the “how.”

It was after 9 PM and i’d already eaten dinner.  That’s not the path to weight loss, especially on the heels of my birthday weekend.

When I finished and sat in the recliner staring at the empty plate I realized I haven’t done that in months.  So it’s good that I haven’t been doing it, but it concerns me that’s my default.

Clearly more work to do.  And I will.

Thanks for reading, always.