Like most people, I put on a few pounds in the last month or so. My excuse, partly, is that I injured my knee, thus forcing a precipitate drop in exercise. But if I'm honest, I've also been enjoying those foods common to the Holiday Season that, while delicious, aren't necessarily so nutritously dense or low in calories as what I normally eat.
Like most people, I am now entering the Dieting Season.
But I don't like to diet. Moreover (if I may use such a lawyerly word), I don't think diets work. In fact, the times when I have been most successful at becoming slim are those times in which I have been happily engaged in something else. Not paying attention to my weight at all. Until, suddenly, my pants are too big and I take a look in the mirror to discover that someone has stolen my butt. (The key word there may be 'happily.' Or possibly it's 'engaged.' Usually, it was when I was involved in a theatrical adventure. Like when I went to Scotland in 2000 to participate in the Edinburgh Fringe Festival. At first I thought all the Scottish dryers has some miraculous device installed that allowed them to dry clothes without shrinking them. But no. I was the one that was shrinking.)
So, what to do? Well, ultimately, I need to feel engaged in whatever I'm doing - happily engaged, that is - so that I'm not concentrating on my dissatisfaction with my body, or what and when I'm next going to eat. But that's a long-term, big picture kind of thing. So I needed to come up with one or two small things I can do right now. Thing One, over the past couple of days, has been to add in more water. I've begun drinking several cups of hot water, in addition to tea or coffee. This time of year hot water seems to be absorbed better. Plus it feels good in this extremely cold weather we've been having here in the Northeast. More water means more toxins getting flushed (resulting in reduced bloating), plus less hunger.*
Thing Two is to begin to look around for new ways in which I can help support my family while supporting myself as well, both financially and personally. It started by stating, out loud and to other people, that this year I will find a job I truly enjoy, that I can do full time. Now, I'm creating a picture of how a job like that would look.
Baby steps. They move me forward, almost without my noticing. (I'm sensing a theme...)
What changes would you like to make this year?
*Fun Fact: Most of us are chronically dehydrated, which leads to false hunger pangs. Our bodies want to get our attention, I guess. 'I'm thirsty' hasn't worked, so they move on to 'I'm hungry' to see if that does the trick.
