Why are Good Test Results Demotivating?
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Two weeks have flown by since I got the great news that my lo-co lifestyle changes are working to drive my cholesterol down. But instead of motivating me to stay on track, I’ve gone haywire.
Here’s what’s happened since I got the results:
- I have only cooked ONE lo-co dinner.
- We’ve eaten take-out Pizza, Chinese Food and Indian Food nearly every night.
- I have not made (or even ordered out) a single salad for lunch or dinner.
- Consuming Phish Food ice cream while prone on the sofa watching The Biggest Loser or some other TV show is still a nightly treat (though in truth, this habit has never wavered so I can’t blame the test results.)
- Twice in 2 weeks, I have had lunch at Wendy’s. Twice!
- Have not stepped foot on the elliptical even once.
- The only lo-co habit I’ve managed to keep is breakfast: oatmeal with almonds and apples. But even that’s been mixed: I dropped it for my old fave (bagel and lox) three days in a row when I kept ‘forgetting’ to make oatmeal overnight.
What is up with that?
How is it possible that good results have totally derailed my new lo-co ‘habits?’
Sure, some of this can be written off to an uptick in the craziness factor of our life right now. Work’s more insane than usual. Our son is in the midst of seemingly never-ending HS Baseball tryouts (it does not help when it SNOWS for 2 days of baseball tryouts!). And we are navigating the confusing world of ‘which Junior-Year courses should he take for the kind of colleges he may want to apply to’ (AKA please just shoot me now) and that deadline, is, oh, today.
Ugh.
But even with family life more stressful than usual, still I could have done far better than the pitiful record shows. There must be some kind of internal/subconscious rebelling going on. I mean, come on, I ate lunch at Wendy’s TWICE in 2 weeks. That is normally something I do every couple of months, max.
I do not understand how it’s possible that good test results have been demotivating. But since I am not about to get a psych degree, I guess what I should do is get my butt in gear and plan dinner for tonight.
Though we still have Chinese leftovers and it’d be wasteful to throw them out, right?
Same thing happened to me. I went on a Mediterranean style/ anti-inflammation diet to address chronic pain issues. I did great for 8 wks. I was feeling better, lost 5 lbs unintentionally and then gave in a little one weekend for my birthday and lost it after that. I’m trying to get back on track. One thing that’s helped me in sticking to the diet (lifestyle change) is that most of the recipes I use take only 5-20 minutes start to finish. You should check these 2 books out- healthy and low cholesterol recipes. The second one has some great nutritional info. 1) 28 Day Mediterranean Diet Plan. 2) The World’s Healthiest Foods. (www.WhFoods.org) Hope this helps! Hang in there!
Thanks TONS. So glad I’m not the only one…and I love Mediterranean, so that cookbook in particular looks great. I will definitely check them both out. Thanks so much -Karen