When Temptation Knocks at the Door

Does it ever feel like the entire world is against you and that no matter what you tried, nothing worked?  Well, that described my day today.  It started out on a good note and finished on a bad note.  Through it all, I think I managed to stick to my plan.  It was somewhat of a stressful day in that almost nothing went according to schedule.  I arrived at work early, parked far away, and took the stairs from the parking garage to the lower level where my office is located.  I ate both breakfast and lunch at work and made healthy choices at both meals.  As the day progressed so did the level of my stress.

My phone would not stop ringing.  People stopped in to ask questions, emails kept coming and through it all, I had a project I was trying to finish.  On top of all of this, I spent about one and a half hours waiting in line on two separate occasions to resolve an issue simply because someone would not listen.  The irony is that the issue could have been resolved in 10 minutes had they listened.  It was no wonder that when quitting time came i could not leave. I had to remain at work for an additional two hours charting.  I was not a happy camper.  I was hangry.  You know hungry and angry at the same time.  Lunch had been 6 hours earlier and my stomach was rising up in protest letting me know that it was not happy about that fact.  I wanted to eat everything that was in my way but thankfully the only thing available was chocolate of which I am not a big fan (more on that one later) and peanuts which I did not want either.

I realized that I was dangerously close to buying french fries (one of my temptation foods) and knew that had I yielded to the temptation all the hard work for the day would have been in vain.  Before we go any further let me set the record straight.  I am not against french fries, nor any foods for that matter.   I believe that most foods can be part of a balanced diet if consumed in moderation.  But let’s be honest I love french fries and would eat them every day all day if I could but this is not healthy.   I had made healthy choices at breakfast and lunch and all that success would have been sacrificed if I had taken the trip to the cafeteria.  I wanted to get the fries and found many reasons why I should have them.  It was the battle of the century until I realized that I was literally sabotaging the weight loss plans/goals that i had made to improve my health.  How crazy was that?  Eventually reason won out and I gained the victory.  I chose to have yogurt instead of french fries.  One hundred calories versus 380 calories.  Score one for me.

This experience has taught me that stress is one of my triggers to eat.   They say to be warned is to be forearmed.  Now that I know that stress is one of my triggers I must make changes and develop strategies to handle my stress that does not involve food.  Things such as listening to music, burning candles, prayer, meditating, going for a walk, drinking water, and dancing are just some of the other ways to handle stress.  This is just one of my many triggers but it is one chink in a weakened armor that has been fixed.  I am ready to wage war a little safer knowing that a hole in my defense is mended.  Continue setting your goals and developing your plans.  Post a comment let me know what’s going on with you.  What struggles are you facing?  Continue the journey as we choose to live revived.