Yesterday: I maintained the integrity of my calorie budget, I remained refined sugar-free, I met my daily water goal, and I stayed well connected with exceptional support. Yesterday was the first day where I've hit 8 stars. Two things helped push it up--swimming (3 stars) and personally preparing all meals (1 star).
I've successfully hit my four exercise session goal two weeks in a row. I'm very happy about this!
This earning stars thing I'm doing is really making a difference for me. You know what it is? It's the gentle nudging out of complacency mode where my bare minimums become the line of least resistance. I can hang out at that line and be fairly well.
My line of least resistance has changed over the years, thank God. Hanging out at that line once meant doing zero good things for me. I've effectively redefined the line and now, at the line is where I find my non-negotiable things. In that place, I can get complacent in the patterns without too much awareness or mindfulness for what I'm missing. So, what does earning stars do for me?
Earning the stars creates an awareness-mindfulness, and serves as a good reminder that the things I do at that line of least resistance are certainly good things (no refined sugar, weighing, measuring, and logging my food, staying connected with support, doing my daily spiritual practice each morning, hitting a minimum water goal) and I'm grateful for the peace and calm of that embrace-but if I want to feel better, I can do more for me and my plan.
As I wrote on this blog the other day, the stars are helping create a willingness that exceeds my resistance. But it starts by creating a higher awareness/mindfulness that leans forward instead of leaning back on the line of least resistance.
It doesn't have to be stars. Whatever it is that encourages a measure of motivation, awareness, and mindfulness toward improving the daily practice, is great. The stars are simply the things I'm using. I like the simplistic mental connection to my childhood and early-elementary years when getting that gold star on a paper was a BIG deal. Perhaps it connects with my inner-child. Hey, whatever works, right?
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| Yesterday's swim and food plan helped hit the 8-star day! |
Kristin came over for dinner last night. I prepared lean sirloin kabobs with grilled red onions and red bell pepper, red skin potatoes prepared simply with a tablespoon of half&half and topped with precisely 7g (1/2 tablespoon) butter, and some green beans--plus cinnamon apples for dessert. The apples are super simple--three ingredients: Apple slices, ground cinnamon, and a tablespoon of water--baked until soft--oh my, they're fantastic. Kristin loved it and so did I!
I stayed up late last night working on a few things and watching a couple episodes of Comedians In Cars Getting Coffee on Netflix. My plan was to sleep in today, so when I woke at 7:45am, I refused to get up! I somehow willed myself back to sleep and shockingly slept another three hours. I'm certainly well rested!
I have an appointment with a broadcasting client at 1:30 this afternoon, then some personal project work at the studio. I'll be picking up mom for her Sunday outing later. Today will be different. We're going to carefully help her up the stairs to my apartment for a small SuperBowl party thing. Mom doesn't do stairs well, so we're going to take it nice and really slow. Amber, KL, and my granddaughter Raegan, plus Kristin, are all coming over for a little while.
Have an amazing Sunday!
Facebook post from seven years ago:
In many of my past weight loss attempts, it seemed to always be a struggle every single day and the evenings/nights were the worst. These attempts were very hard because upon starting, I would go to bed before Day 1 as an out of control food addict and emotional/compulsive eater and fully expect to wake up the next morning a completely different person who always ate normal portions and exercised regularly. The strongest struggle wasn't with the food and exercise. The main struggle was with me ignoring my truest self, trying to immediately be something I wasn't. For me, if a real lasting change was possible—I had to get honest with the person in the mirror. I also had to realize these changes would evolve naturally over the course of my transformation if I stayed true to myself. The question wasn't: Can I change on the outside? The most important question was always: Can I make real and lasting changes on the inside? Because if so--the outside would follow naturally.
Featured Tweets:
Saturday morning steak & eggs. 5.5oz petite sirloin, 2 whole eggs & 1 egg white, over medium, Ezekiel toast with 60g avocado, and 3.1oz gala apple slices. #foodplan #dailypractice #whatilike pic.twitter.com/FyEPGQjJ8v— Sean Anderson (@SeanAAnderson) February 2, 2019
— Sean Anderson (@SeanAAnderson) February 3, 2019
Thank you for reading and your continued support,
Practice, peace, and calm,
Sean
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