Thinking back over the past 2 years has been frustrating for me. I am desperately trying to find the mindset I had in 2009 when I started working out and dieting. That year I made lots of progress. In 2010 I made little progress physically but made tons of progress mentally, emotionally, and spiritually. Thinking about it, I think it was a pretty good and very important trade off.
But I still need to backtrack…When I started in December of 2009 I was given a pretty strict diet. I remember things being bland and boring. I stuck to basically the same foods, which as I learned, is never very good.
When I switched trainers I also switched eating plans. Brent did a seminar at a friend’s shop one evening. I always thought “I know what I have to do; I just have to do it”. After the first seminar I attended I realized I may just be wrong about that. I attended another seminar he did a day or two later and realized just how wrong I was.
Brent recommended I start to follow the Zone diet. It seemed so complex in the beginning but once I got the hang of it, it was simple. I had a great list of foods that listed proteins, fats and what was considered favorable and what was not favorable carbs. It had all the measurements so I knew how much I needed to have. I would prepare meals on the weekends for the week. It was almost foolproof.
The Zone Diet worked well for me. I would recommend it to anyone to try. It taught me how to balance my proteins, fats and carbs. Balance…who would have thought I would have been able to balance anything? Well it worked great and the balance of those 3 elements balanced me. I never knew how much food had an effect on my hormones. It seemed within a week or so I felt different, I started to look different…it was crazy. I was stable, well sort of J my mood was stable, my highs and lows weren’t extreme. This, in and of itself, had a huge impact on me being the emotional eater that I am.
Following the Zone diet was great. BUT, it’s even better when you understand why you are doing what you’re doing. I’ve followed many diets throughout my life but I never understood them. I just ate what I was told to eat. I truly believe this is why I was never able to stick to a diet and if I did and had success with it, I was never able to maintain. The knowledge I gained from Brent’s seminars has made ALL the difference with my success.
Now that I had the Zone Diet down, we thought it was time I give the Paleo Diet a shot. Paleo is all clean, non-processed foods, no grains or dairy. WOW! That’s a tough one. Paleo has proven, by far, to be the best diet for me. I followed Paleo using the Zone methods. My hormones stayed in check, my complexion was almost flawless, I dropped weight, wasn’t swollen, no stomach problems, slept great. The changes were amazing! I looked great, felt great, and made great progress.
The biggest challenge with Paleo, for me has to be within the first 2 weeks…DETOX. My body had no clue what was happening to it when I did this. After about a week of detox I would go into this “stupid” stage. I couldn’t think clearly, it’s almost funny in a sense yet real scary when I realized that I feed such crap into my body. Even after all I know I still do it. I can’t make a bit of sense out of that.
After I would get through the detox period I would allow a cheat day…well a cheat day turned out to be too much, even just a cheat meal set me back. Once I cheated on this diet I would be haunted by cravings…well maybe I’m exaggerating a tiny bit, but that’s what it seemed like.
I try so hard to figure out why there is a way of eating that is so perfect for me yet I struggle to stick to it. Why is it that when we know something is good for us we ignore it or stray from it? It doesn’t make sense.
How much do you know about any diet you’ve been on? Do you take the time to research it or do you just follow what’s in black and white? Any diet will work if you follow it, but how is it affecting you, your hormones, and everything else? I’ve learned the long hard way. I took over 25 years for me to find the right person to educate me; now I know what I need to be successful.
Now it’s time to re-apply it. My New Year’s resolution this year was to bring stability and consistency into my life. I didn’t realize how difficult it would be, but it’s happening slowly but surely. When I begin to worry and feel anxiety coming on I breathe deeply and pray. When I feel the need to talk to someone specific I avoid them at times simply because I don’t want to burden them. When I’m feeling extremely insecure about someone or something, I step away so I don’t “cling” to them then end up pushing them away from me.
My biggest struggle is with change. I never realized how difficult change was for me until the end of 2010. Come to think of it I was always able to accept change and conform to it but for some reason, this time it was really hard to do and was so frustrating for me. This caused my insecurities to flare up which resulted in an unstable situation and when that happen, it seems like my consistency becomes extinct.
I know that if I keep this under control and consistently apply everything Brent taught me I WILL reach the goals I have set for myself for 2011.
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