Pushing the Re-Start Button

I've started 6 different entries over the last couple of weeks on the same topic.  What's the topic? Making healthy choices. I've been wrestling with myself and my habits this month; my inner health nut has been trying to bust out of my lazy, sweet-tooth and convenience driven self. Why is it so hard? How do I start? What kinds of obstacles are in front of me? What am I doing to get past those challenges? Why do I sabotage myself. Why must garlic cheddar biscuits smell so delicious?

I have all the tools I need to succeed. Knowledge. Coaches. Videos.  A Club Membership. A sweet pair of Brooks running shoes. I even have time to do it. So what's the problem? Why is it so hard?

Ruts. That's the trouble. Rewarding myself for a job well done with a diet coke and some cookies. Celebrating small victories with a bowl of frozen yogurt. Escaping from stress by cruising through facebook and reading about everyone else's lives. I've gotten lazy and complacent. I started driving The Taz to school when walking or riding our bikes is faster. 

A small snack here, a little bowl of low-fat ice cream at night, driving instead of walking - they all add up. I wrote a blog a year ago about reaching my goal weight. One year and a bunch of lazy choices later, I am up 20 pounds. I had to do something. So I pushed the re-start button.

I've gone the approach of making small changes here and there until they add up to big changes. Cut out butter here. Ditch the ice cream there. Go low-fat when you can. But this time, I needed something different. I chose to do the AdvoCare 24 Day Challenge. In addition, I've paired it with using the Weight Watchers on-line tools to make sure I was getting the right amount of food in addition to the right kinds of food.  (It's important to note that no one is paying me to write about their programs.  This is just me, telling you, how I'm going about this "re-boot".)

The 24 Day Challenge starts of with a 10 day "cleanse".  It's not a fast. You still get to eat; but what you do eat is very "clean".  What's "clean"?  Fruits, vegetables, proteins.  If you can't wash it, don't eat it.  The first three days I felt like I was being deprived. I couldn't wait for the 10 days to be up so I could have even the simplest of things...like a piece of toast.  But at the end of the "cleanse" I found myself down 4 pounds and wanting to continue ridding my body of the junk that I put in it. (Except for the day that Troy made no-bake chocolate peanut butter cookies. Forget it, I ate three of them.)

I'm about half way through my 24 Day Challenge and have realized that the hardest part of the whole thing was breaking out of the ruts. Reaching for carrots instead of pretzels. Jogging behind The Taz as she bikes to school.  Being aware of, by tracking, all the food that I put in my body.

Are you trying to make changes this year? What are some of your Rut Breakers?  Sometimes, even my grocery shopping list is the problem. We buy the same thing from week to week. Which means we eat the same things week to week. In the next few days I'll try to post some of the delicious meals My Chef and I have been preparing to shake things up a bit.  I'd love to hear some of your ideas for healthy snacks and meals. Share in the comments, and I'll send you a recipe from the fabulous-almost-famous-not-yet-written cook book called Feeding the Handeland House of Hooligans.