Pearl One
A Thriver asked, “is it okay that I’m trying to lose weight for a wedding? I can’t seem to get motivated otherwise.”
My thought is absolutely yes. I mean, whatever works. If “leapfrogging” towards a “baby goal” would help, I say go for it. I’ve often leaped from a wedding to a vacation and so forth.
But.
The problem arises when after the wedding you immediately fall off the Smart Eating Path and go food-bananas. Yes, I leapfrog, but I always remember the larger plan and that is to keep my prefrontal in charge of my show.
Here’s the idea:
The mental work is around how your prefrontal brain engages with your cavewoman.
If before the wedding the prefrontal white-knuckles the cavewoman into submission making it seem that the prefrontal “won” (by getting your body to a lower weight) the irate cavewoman will go berserk during the wedding reception itself (cake!) and possibly for weeks or even months after.
How to avoid the cavewoman’s meltdown? “Make space” for her before the wedding. Let her speak through your journal-writing and ask her strong questions like, “how can I make the next few weeks sane for you?” There are ways to to keep her happy without using food (think: a mani/pedi, a new dress, a new subscription to Spotify etc.).
And one way you can absolutely keep your cavewoman napping is having your “Brownies at Breakfast.” Write up smart eating plans for the day of the event and then write a second plan detailing how you’ll handle the first week after the wedding, the second week after and so on. Detailed planning is always our secret sauce.
The more you plan, the more chill your cavewoman. Planning includes making a list of your favorite smart food and having it on-hand in your kitchen for the day of and the week after the wedding.
Getting ahead of your cavewoman’s potential meltdown puts your prefrontal back in charge making smart choices that will last you a lifetime. ♥
Pearl Two
Remember “Ma” from the Golden Girls? For our generation, “Ma” was your standard-issue “grandma.” Turns out, the little old lady grandmas from yesteryear have morphed into Jane Fonda, Dolly Parton and just recently Joy Behar on The View (after having face work) who said, “This is what 80 looks like now” and immediately went back to the topic of the day.
So, what does this have to do with us?
My point is that times are changing and staying hopeful is important to maintain as we go forward. It’s okay to get a little excited that we’re in the middle of having an entirely new experience with food, health and weight loss. We know so much more today about how habits are established, how positive self-talk is like the wind at our back, and we’re learning how to better live in our food-on-steroids world.
Today we know that getting down to a specific goal weight is merely the beginning of our trek; that the real work begins as we transition into preserving our loss forever ♥
Pearl Three
Sequencing is taken directly from Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT). The purpose of sequences is to help us move from reacting to circumstances to responding. I encourage you to do a sequence a day in your journal. Powerful stuff.
I’m writing this sequence as if I was the person experiencing a problem with drinking.
Original Sequence
- Situation (something very concrete): I drank chardonnay last night. Two glasses.
- Automatic thought: So what? I’m human. Lots of people want to take the edge off.
- Feeling: A sense of false confidence. Defensive.
- Action: I stop going to AA.
- Results: Two glasses of chard turned into five.
New sequence
- Situation (something very concrete): I drank chardonnay last night. Two glasses.
- Chosen thought: I made the wrong move. But I won’t beat up on myself. I’m only human.
- Feeling: a little sad.
- Action: on calendar plan for next AA meeting.
- Result: I got myself to an AA meeting and I feel stronger and the AA magic begins it’s good work. ♥
Pearl Four
Because books love us and want us to be happy
This week I read the first few chapters of many books and while many of them were really good, they weren’t what I’d call book-dessert material. So for today’s book selection, I’ve reached into my past.
It was 2011 and my two boys were five days away from turning eight. We’d moved enough times that homeschooling seemed the smartest route to take and an enormous part of homeschooling involved a lot of read-alouds. We plowed through at least one or two masterpieces a week like Charlotte’s Web, Half Magic, The White Giraffe, The Saturdays and so many more. Kid-lit does not get the attention it deserves.
So, there I was in 2011 and a new book called The Help was just out. And, my favorite thing, at sentence one I was pulled into the story. To me, it was so good that I couldn’t stop reading. It made a serious dent in my homeschooling time with the kids. So once I was done with The Help, I made a hard and fast rule for myself that I could not read my adult books until I was relatively done with kid-lit. And they lived happily ever after. ♥
Pearl Five
People rarely succeed unless they have fun in what they are doing.” ♥
Dale Carnegie
I love this quote because it’s certainly true in my life. I will actually ride my indoor recumbant bike if I can scroll through Instagram.
Have a wonderful week!
♥, Wendy
You know the scoop: I’m an Amazon affiliate. If you buy from a link in my post, I’ll receive money, but the arrangement won’t cost you a dime.
Are you new to the Inspired Eater? Welcome!! This blog won’t make much sense until you first read the Aunt Bea post (and you’ll find Aunt Bea on this page to the right under my short bio). On your cell you’ll see it immediately following the first post. After you enter your email address, the Aunt Bea article will be sent to your email’s inbox. If it’s not there, you might check the spam folder. And always feel free to email me at Wendy@TheInspiredEater.com and I’ll get Aunt Bea right to you!!
I am not an expert, a doctor, a surgeon, a nurse or a nutritionist: the information within TheInspiredEater.com is based solely on my personal experience and is not intended to be used as a substitute for professional medical advice, diagnosis, or treatment. ♥
