My family was in town visiting me over Memorial Day, which is why you didn’t see much of me during that time. My parents are not the type to share when they are on vacation, so out of respect for them, I kept it on the DL here and didn’t share pics in my social media accounts either. 🙂 Now that everyone is safely back home, I’ll be sharing pics from the trip and some restaurant reviews on Thursday. But before I jump into June, I wanted to recap May because there were some good stuff I wanted to share with you.
A Crazy Busy Month for Me
My brother bought our parents and his family plane tickets to see me this May as Christmas presents, which was awesome and I was so excited for everyone to come visit me. And May also seemed soooooooooo far away in December, so I could just be giddy. And in January and February too. March was still far enough away that I could pretend there was still plenty of time to prepare. I stuck my head in the sand in April and did nothing. May rolled around and panic set in, but because I can be the ultimate procrastinator, I waited until the weekend before they arrived to do everything. I. Am. Exhausted. But happy.
A Sneak Peek
I’ll go more into the trip on Thursday but here’s one picture of my nephews and niece. We, of course, had to visit Disneyland.
Funny Cat Memes
Seriously, this is my happy place. I cannot be sad, mad or cranky when I look at a cat pictures or memes. The cartoon on the top right is the story of my life.
El Gato para Presidente
Ummmmm … my cat, Max, has decided to run for President. You can learn about his platform at my sister blog, Eat Laugh Purr. He would really appreciate your vote this November.
Goal Update
Getting healthy is my big goal this year and I’ll be honest: it’s going so-so. I’m not pleased by where I’m at and I’m also not completely frustrated. Why? Because I listening (my focus word this year) and really paying attention to my resistance. I’ve wanted to get healthy for years and never really have. There have pounds lost and regained and lost and regained. I want to end that vicious cycle but haven’t been able to do so. There is still a piece of me — a large piece of me — that keeps hoping for an easy solution. There really isn’t one and I am begrudgingly accepting this. It boils down to discipline, which I lack. It’s also something I’m committed to changing.
What I’m Eating
I’m trying to find a balance where I eat healthy and good-for-you food most of the time, while allowing the occasional indulgence. I have not mastered this but am learning what works and what doesn’t for me. A hungry Tanya will always make bad food choices, so I’m trying not to let myself get to that point where I gobble-up everything in sight. I’m good at meal planning but making meals takes time, which I don’t always have. So now I’ve added monthly/weekly meal prep in addition to meal planning because ready-made meals help me eat yummy and healthy food. I need to keep things simple and easy.
What I’m Reading
These are the posts I enjoyed the most this past month. Enjoy!
- Optimization Actually: My Definition of Tolerance. A must-read people.
- Jana Says: Interview with a Depressive
- TexErin in Sydneyland: Letter to Editor
- The Random Path: What If
- Budget and the Beach: Stacking the Decks in Your Favor
- Life According to Steph: Friday Fatassery on a Tuesday: Baked Cinnamon Sugar Donuts These look amazing and now I’m on the hunt for a donut pan. They also fit my get healthy plans because baked donuts, not fried. Baby steps, people. Baby steps.
That’s a wrap for May. Here’s hoping June treats you and me well!
Tanya
Discipline is a big problem for me, as well. I’ve noticed my willpower is strongest in the mornings and midday and weakest at night, so I try to plan one small indulgence for the evening (like dark chocolate or a FiberOne brownie) so I have something to look forward to. If I have that indulgence earlier, I’m still going to have something later, which screws it all up. And my worst triggers are not being hungry (though that definitely makes it harder), but emotions. Whenever I get upset, or irritated, or whatever, my brain immediately turns to food. It’s hard, but I’m working on finding “my big why” which is what Nerd Fitness calls it when you have one reason that’s important enough for you to remember when you’re not feeling strong.
It’s good you’ve noticed patterns with your willpower. I need to pay better attention and do the same as you. I am also an emotional eater, which is probably my greatest issue. I eat my feelings, good and bad. I need to find my “big why” too. It sounds like something that could possibly help me say “no”, which I rarely do when it comes to food.
discipline is hard to develop and it takes time. i took me a good 6 months (when i first started my journey) to develop the discipline to not eat all the things; now my kung-fu is strong and people can eat whatever they want and i won’t even bat an eye. but the key is baby steps – instead of cutting everything out at once, just do it a little at a time.
I am jealous that your kung-fu is so strong because mine is incredibly weak at this point. But I find strength in the fact that you did it and took your time to get it right. Sometimes my impatience only makes things worse. I need to chill, focus and take baby steps until my kung-fu is strong like yours. I can’t wait until the day it is and food no longer consumes my life.
The cartoon of the cat sleeping in the box instead of his cat bed, ha! That is totally my cat 🙂
Glad you were able to spend some time with you family and you got to go to Disneyland! Happiest place on earth, right?
Thanks for sharing my post and I hope June is an awesome month for you!
LOL! It’s Max too. He would, in fairness, use the cat bed too but he LOVES boxes and paper bags. I hope June is an awesome month fo you too!
I am working on the baby steps thing as well. It’s easy to control my eating when I am at work but once I get home it’s like I am an eating monster. I am starting to plan better and also to take a walk after meals. In the morning I walk to work, I take a quick walk around the stacks (I work in an academic library) after lunch and in the evening my partner and I take slightly more than leisurely walks around the neighborhood/campus. We’re working up to running a portion of the walks, but not killing ourselves if running isn’t going to happen that day.
Planning makes a huge difference for me, between meal planning and do some meal prep. If there is something yummy and healthy ready for me to eat, I will do better. But if left to my own devices (and starving), I won’t make the best choices! It sounds like the walks are really working for you. I try to take a walk every day to the store. Instead of buying everything I need once, I make multiple trips. For some this wouldn’t work, but for me it forces me to go to the store and move my body.
Baby steps is right!
I’ll vote for your cat at this point.
I’m happy you spent Memorial Day with your parents!
Max would be honored to have your vote. 🙂
I’m glad you got some awesome family time!! I would totally vote for your cat at this point. haha I feel like there should be a meme with the two choices and then your cat. Why settle for the lesser of two evils when you could vote for Max?!
Max will be thrilled to know he has so many votes! He would paw swear that he would make a great President! LOL! I’ll have to put a meme together with Max and the presumptive candidates. 🙂
Max for President!
I have no discipline with my diet right now. None at all. I know it needs to change, it should change, but I don’t change. UGH.
Thanks for sharing my post.
YAY! Another vote for Max! He will be so pleased by the news. 🙂
You sound just like me. I have no discipline with my diet either. I’ve been trying to change it for years without success, although it would also be more than fair to question how much effort I’ve put into changing it too. Bad Tanya!
i have been working on my health for years and it really is an ongoing struggle that i don’t think will ever end. i have been on both ends of the spectrum, its been a rollercoaster and i should know better than anyone that there is no easy solution, but like you i keep hoping one will pop up. i think it gets worse as we get a bit older because our bodies naturally start to slow down, and they don’t lose weight or adapt to new habits as easily as they did 5 or 10 years ago, and that can be discouraging. something that helped me (in baby steps!) is that i started saying i DO this or that, rather than i want or i am trying. i go to the gym often, i eat well – even if the case is i am trying to go to the gym regularly and i’m trying not to shove these oreos in my mouth and not succeeding. you know? like faking it till you make it. it doesn’t always work but it certainly helps.
i am always in the mood for cat memes! hilarious. and if i could vote i would totally vote for Max!
I’m not sure my get healthy fight will ever end either. It is something that I will likely always need to work on because I am an emotional eater. Somehow I need to find another outlet for my emotions beyond food. Plus, I also just love food. Some people eat to live but I live to eat. Argh. And yes, it doesn’t help the older I get, the harder it is to lose weight, although it still remains unfairly easy to gain pounds.
I’m telling Max you’re voting for him, even if you really can’t. LOL!