Confessions of a Serial Monday Dieter
She hates being hungry…she likens being hungry to being cold, freezing in fact, and if there is anything she hates more than being hungry, it’s being cold. Both make her uncomfortable, irritated, and overall miserable. Nothing feels better than satisfying her hunger with something tasty; or getting rid of a chill like a hot bath. What does she hate more than being hungry or cold? Not being able to eat whatever she wants and not gain a pound. What makes that even harder to swallow is the fact that people like that exist – I know, I hate them too.
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Her confession? She is a serial “Monday Dieter”. What does that mean? Well, it means that the majority of her Mondays are labeled as the day that she is going to eat clean and continue to do so until she reaches her goal – unfortunately that goal seems to be perfection – that wouldn’t be so bad if her genetic make-up and goals weren’t in constant disagreement with each other. Could she achieve the perfect body if she wanted to? Possibly – but it might also require some plastic surgery - and discipline beyond what the average person seems to be able to maintain. Don’t get me wrong, I realize that the majority of those fitness models and bodybuilders in the magazines have good genes on their side, but let’s not take everything away from them, they still maintain a “lifestyle” that is difficult and sometimes nearly impossible for us “average” people…give up wine, dinners out and popcorn at the movies? Uh, how about Monday?!
We all know “her”, have either been her or know someone just like her. In fact, I can confess to being a serial Monday…so explain this to me: like most women, I am never satisfied and live in constant disapproval of my body – I realize this is not the image a fitness trainer wants to portray, but it’s an honest one – in the last month, I’ve put on a whopping 10 lbs! No, it’s not mystery, a little extra here, a little extra there, less running due to a foot injury and voilà, you have just won 10 lbs of fat without ever officially entering a contest!!!! Lock up the cupboards and staple this girl’s mouth shut, she’s out of control!!! Despite this dissatisfaction, I can’t seem to find the willpower to eat clean again. Sometimes we hit a period of our lives where it just becomes difficult – it’s called every excuse in the book; we’re all human, we all like to indulge and then at times (often too many times) we let our emotions get the best of us and eat them all up, all 10 lbs of them. Oddly enough, I was once able to do it – eat clean all the time that is. Ok, so without going into all the details of my life and the history of my body – after all, this is an article and not a novel – I can’t seem to figure out what is triggering this weakness, this inability to develop a plan, stick to it and achieve results? Now, as a trainer I know diets don’t work and I don’t “diet” – I simply try to eat clean which means eating 5-6 times a day, balancing each meal with lean protein, vegetables, and complex carbohydrates – Let me tell you something…it’s 8:51 PM right now and I am STARVING!! Have I mentioned how I hate being hungry?? Uh, wait a minute did I say “I”, I meant “she”...ok I meant me, I meant me! Ok, maybe I am not starving, maybe I am bored, or maybe I am simply not stuffed like a pig feeling like I need to loosen the button on my pants; who knows, maybe it’s just PMS…but whatever it is, it sure is hard to stop thinking about eating something right now.
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You all must be wondering if there is a point to this article. Well, yes and no. I thought I would just share my frustrations and plead guilty to being a “Serial Monday Dieter”, but at the same time I want to make it clear I do not advocate it. Essentially we want to find balance in our lives. We want to eat well and exercise to maintain a healthy and comfortable body weight, yet not deny ourselves of all the little pleasures we find in foods. Our emotional state is a huge contributor to our physical accomplishments – one of two things can happen depending on our mood…we either eat more as a result of depression, happiness, nervous etc…or…we eat much less…the key is to find our trigger and learn how to deal with it effectively. Examine your life, your “self”, your support groups (peers, family, co-workers) and try to pinpoint what may be contributing to your downfall. Being able to eat clean is just as tough as quitting smoking, and neither of the two will happen unless you are ready, 100% ready. So how do we break this cycle of Monday being the day that we change our lives for good and become totally in control over our food intake? I wish the answer was that easy…one thing we can do is stop naming Monday the day…it should simply be ANY day that we feel like it is time to get back on track, and whether that clean streak lasts 2 weeks, 2 days or 2 hours doesn’t matter, so long as we just right back on the wagon until we get it right.