Something is better than nothing and its mirror image

 Morning: 1 coffee without sugar

Exercise:  20  mins of leslie sansone 1 mile walk,

60 air cycling and 31 crunches

Breakfast:  3/4 cup puttu, ½ cup chicken curry, 1 coffee without sugar

Lunch: 1 cup veg noodles, ½ cup crab roast

1 coffee w/o sugar,  ½ cup papaya,  handful of unsalted peanuts and 10 raisins

dinner: 1/2 cup daal, 1 chapathi, 2 njali poovan plantains, 1 chick pea size masala ball

 Today, I got up feeling hungry and light headed. I wanted to exercise for 45 minutes and even had the video running but I felt very tired, almost dizzy.  So I opted for Sansone’s 20 min walk. I have to get my exercise in the morning, as I get busy in the evenings.  I knew that if I postponed my exercise to the evening, it would most likely not happen.  So I firmly told myself that something is better than nothing.  The 20 min walk is not as intensive as the 45 min one that I try to do six days a week.  Do note though that if (unlike me) you are a seasoned exerciser, even the 45 min one would not be intensive enough.  I know that in 2-3 months or less, I have to raise the intensity of my exercise, but that is another story.  I am glad that I got motivated to exercise, even if it was only for 20 minutes.

As regards food intake, the mirror image of “something is better than nothing” rule is the “there any many things between all or nothing” rule. I have written before about my bad habit of thinking “I have messed up by eating two vadas, might as well order in biriyani and icecream”.  For the longest time, this was the prime reason for my not losing weight – the all or nothing attitude. When I controlled my food intake, I would be very careful, allowing for no indulgences at all and then when I did not control my food intake, I would go to the other extreme, eating all kinds of crap. Depending on how often I ate crap and the quantity, I would either gain weight or not lose even a gram.  The term moderation did not exist in my dictionary. 

 What has shifted in the last week or so is jotting my food down including the amount with the help of measuring cups and spoons. This has set me on a journey towards overcoming the all or nothing attitude. It has made me a lot more accountable. I now keep track of even my unhealthy eats, so I know exactly how much I am eating. Even when I eat unhealthy stuff (like yesterday), I keep track of what I am eating.  I have become more mindful of what exactly I am feeding myself, which is a good start.  When I put down my unhealthy eats, I know that I have to make amends or at the very least not make the same mistake. If I had not written down last week that I had four fried chicken burger patties,  I would have no idea how much I ate,  just a sense of being upset and angry – feelings that have triggered over eating in the past.