My brother and I always talk about the “Switch.” It’s the moment you go from not caring, eating whatever you want, to actually planning healthy meals and moving. Neither one of us can ever figure out how the switch turns on and off. But it’s turned on and off for both of us most of our adult lives.
But it got me thinking. Why does the there have to be an on and off switch at all? Since the beginning of the year I haven’t obsessed about calories, I haven’t given myself a long list of things I have to do in order to get to the weight I want to be. My birthday is in March and for the last four years I’ve declared “this is my year! I’ll be at goal weight by my birthday for sure!”
I’ve suddenly realized that there doesn’t have to be an end goal to actually achieve it. It’s making each day the best you can and stringing enough of those days along that in the long run will show the results I am looking for.
I’ve stopped feeling guilty about food. Nothing is off limits to me. I can either choose to have it or not. And so far, that’s been so freeing to me. Remember how Tony found out about my secret? I’ve been a closet snacker for as long as I can remember. But the difference this time is I am telling myself I can have whatever I want . . . but I am choosing not to. That makes me smile just reading that last line. 
Yesterday for breakfast I had the last of my artisan bread and made a spinach/egg white scramble and put some mozzarella cheese on top and put it under the broiler at the office. This was surprisingly filling!
Knowing I was going to work out this weekend, I decided to do a fast workout – I am loving these workouts I am finding in Pinterest!
I am not going to lie, I had to look up Russian twists, superman and bird-dogs to see what those were! I like that you just don’t stop – this took me 15 minutes to do. Then I ran a mile on the treadmill.
But when I got back to work I was hangry – I had leftover pork marsala, but I added a sautéed zucchini to it, and had a tangerine on the side.
My boss is now paying me to make her lunch – she’s the Lean Cuisine Queen so I am happy to have her eat “real” food. She pays me $5 bucks a lunch, so she gave me $10 bucks for Thursday and Friday’s lunches.
I stopped by the store on the way home to “spin the 50% off meat wheel” but there wasn’t anything good. Rats. The regular store prices of meat are ridiculous at this store, so I texted Tony “are burgers and fries okay?” He said “perfect!”
So I give you my second indulgent meal of the week – bacon cheeseburger with fries. I ate 3/4 of this plate, and gave the rest to the dog – he was a happy camper!
I had no snacks last night either – I kept thinking about popcorn, but I kept asking myself if I was hungry, and I wasn’t, so I’ll take that NSV any day.
Here are some inspirational quotes that are helping me on week two:
Question of the Day: Do you feel guilty about eating certain foods??
There are only four football games this weekend – it’s getting close to Tony’s favorite day and worst day of the year – Superbowl Sunday! Then we have to wait months until the baseball season starts. Turns out we aren’t basketball fans or hockey fans!
Hope you have a great weekend – make it a great day!
I love potato chips, and always feel like a jerk after eating them. I am so glad your boss is eating real food now, those microwave meals are ok every once in a while but I’d cry if I had to eat them everyday! Keep on working day by day, that is what I am trying to do too.
i love your new mindset! i’ve found that over-thinking makes things worse with just about everything in life, including diets!
Guilt foods: pasta, french fries, mashed potatoes, chips-n-dip, burgers, nachos. Alas, I have lots of them!
I love your attitude towards the food because I think that’s how we should think about it. I don’t avoid certain foods and certainly don’t feel guilty when I eat them. The less heatlhy foods I just eat not as often as I used to and I eat less of them but I keep on eating them. I love food too much and want to eat everything I like and I think we can do that as long as we do it in moderation.
hey biz! i’ve missed you! i love this post, it’s takes so much pressure off coming to that point. i need to reach a better place with food myself. your blog looks awesome by the way!
I missed you too Teresa – thanks for stopping by! 😀
I do feel guilty for eating certain foods – especially in this pregnancy. I’ve been like, “am I gaining too much?”, “is this food okay with her?” etc. For the most part, I’ve just been going with the flow and eating what I feel like. I’m definitely ready for my more ‘self-controlled’ life and turning the switch back, but, to your point, just making better choices each day!
OK, love the buffalo Tabasco down the side of the site! And thanks for posting all these great workouts, need to incorporate more of these into my week.
So proud of your PR in the half over the weekend Jacky!!!!!
that last quote is fantastic – thank you for sharing it!
that is a cool lunch deal that you have worked out with your boss – win-win for you both!
thanks for sharing about your change in attitude, too…it was just my bday this week and i did look at it as a “new year’s” opportuniny (even though we just had one january 1st!) but i also think that any day is a good day to make resolutions – you are doing so well with your goals!
Too too funny, I recently posted about the switch on an infertility forum with the subject “the switch has been flipped” talking about how I always have to have that inner switch flip before I will do anything to lose weight. Thankfully it’s finally flipped. I like your attitude–I’ve read about allowing yourself anything and making a choice whether you want to eat it or not, and it is very empowering. Good job! And good job on the workout too!
BTW, I love your Tabasco background!
Food doesn’t really make me feel guilty but I think it should so I feel guilty for not feeling guilty. How’s that for a complex. haha
You are too funny V! 😀
Not having guilt over eating foods is a great attitude to have! It takes away the whole “good vs bad” foods, and then allows you to do what’s right for your body. I believe that’s what we call intuitive eating 🙂
I agree Marianne – not having to count every single calories these last two weeks has been so freeing! 😀
First of all…..that breakfast looks amazing. I’ve been following along with your lunches for awhile now and I cannot blame your boss for tossing off the Lean Cuisines and wanting your lunches instead. If you worked in the office with me, I would be begging you to make mine, as well. I do feel guilty sometimes…ok often… and that’s usually when I’m “out of control” snacking. There’s no way that I should be hungry when I do that either. It dawned on me Thursday when I pounded a big bottle of water that maybe I’m just thirsty when I eat like that. I am going to try to be more mindful of that going forward. You inspire me, Biz, to take those workouts that I’ve been diligently pinning and actually give them a try. That’s my goal for this week. I want to, also, say thanks for the comment you left me. I love that you gave tours at Frank Lloyd Wright homes. Oak Park is on my bucket list. David told me that someday we would go and tour the homes there. I can’t wait! 🙂
I hope you did your workout over the weekend – I’ll send you an email! 😀
I haven’t written much about my weight loss, but I really needed to read this today. I’ve been extremely hard on myself lately because I’ve reached another plateau over the last few weeks. We are having pizza and champagne tonight with some friends. I have been nervous about it all day, but after reading this I’ve decided to relax and just live in the moment. I made a salad and decided that I would just eat the salad while everyone else is enjoying the pizza. Talk about torture! I’m going to have a slice of pizza and not feel guilty about it. Thanks for the inspiration Biz.
Glad I could help Aimee – hope you enjoyed the pizza!
You are seriously so motivating! I love it. I need to do a better job of not associating certain foods with “bad” or feeling guilty. I’m getting there though, because really in the grand scheme of things, it’s not worth the mental/emotional stress. And I would suppose getting over that is the free-ing feeling you described!
You are doing so well Biz! Yes, that darn switch has bugged me most of my life as well. If we could only figure out the mental aspect of the weight loss game we would have it made. Proper nutrition and knowing what we should eat is the easy part.
You have a great attitude!
I did that workout last night. Good stuff!
Glad your cat Billy has found a new home 😀
” It’s making each day the best you can and stringing enough of those days along that in the long run will show the results I am looking for.”…..this is what I find myself doing this time around. Haven’t been calorie/meal stickler this time….burn out maybe? Have a good weekend!
Hope you had a great weekend John!
I don’t necessarily have foods that I feel guilty about eating, it’s more guilt over when I let it get out of control, as in the other night we ate at a Mexican place and I’m pretty sure I ate the E-N-T-I-R-E basket of chips (minus maybe two) all by my lonesome; that made me feel guilty. I knew better. Damn salt, crunch, and fabulous cilantro laced salsa!
On a totally different note I can’t believe that I just now started following you on PInterest. Shame on me!
Well, chips and salsa are my weakness too – I loves me some cilantro!!
Good for you Biz! It’s good to have whatever you want (as long as you can stop without having too much – that’s my challenge).
I feel guilty if I have too many sweets…they are my weakness!
It’s all about moderation, and you have it nailed! Glad your boss is paying you for lunch, lucky her!!
Go Seahawks!!!
I love that quote that the beginning is always the hardest…that is so true! Also – I am craving that burger right now, it looks amazing!
I don’t know whether I’d say I feel guilty but I do know that certain foods bring on cravings for sugar that are crazy! So there are things I don’t eat because I don’t have a moderation switch for them.
Very cool that your boss is paying you for meals (after getting so many for free…) – she’s so much better off with your food than the Lean Cuisines!
Loving your new attitude toward food. 🙂
I love your attitude towards food! I need to adopt that attitude! Dieting and watching calories always makes me miserable, but being able to choose sounds so much more freeing since you have the ability to enjoy food still! Your breakfast looks amazing as always!
Thanks 😀
yes! As Aerosmith said…lifes a journey not a destination!! That breakfast looks absolutely amazing. Go PATS!!
Wow! There’s a lot of eating maturity up there!
Yes, isn’t it easier when we do feel we have a choice. The fact that we can eat a treat whenever we want actually makes us *less* likely to eat it. I used to always have a small bar of dark chocolate in my purse and carried it everywhere with me. It was an “emergency” bar, but I never seemed to have an emergency, so I didn’t eat it until it was over 3 months old. 😀
🙂 Marion