April is going to be a joy filled and busy month! To start the month, my husband’s birthday, then Easter Celebrations, a quick getaway mixed in for us to Niagara on the Lake, plus a 4 day work trip to Boston. I can already see the eating and drinking opportunities compiling. This past month I made leaps and bounds in terms of my nutrition with recognizing that my body does best with limiting certain foods (dairy, alcohol, and gluten) and I am adding them back in to see what triggers any inflammation or bloating. I will tell you right away after having wine this weekend that the bloat the next day is real. I don’t want to regress in my progress towards my goals, so how can I continue that success this month? Well, I have to plan.
Awareness is key.
The number one gift I am giving myself this month is awareness. Starting off the month knowing that last month I felt great with how I was eating and knowing that I have social events this month that are my biggest hurdle when it comes to nutrition is key. Last month, I easily stuck to my plan because I had minimal events. I purposefully tried that nutrition program that I did because I knew that I had a lighter month in terms of social events and could implement the habits into my typical daily and weekly routine. I lost 6 lbs in the first week and it stayed off and lost 1 inch on my hips and my waist. I am thrilled with these results and am back at my “comfort” weight aka when all of my clothes fit well. (Note that I’m using the scale as a tool for wellness, not as the “be all, end all” definition of success.). The few social events that I did have, I did go off plan. Once, with my husband on our date night, I was in the right mindset to enjoy the moment. The other one, I brought my own food to an event, but then gave in to the group when they prompted me to try a cream puff for dessert that was supposedly amazing. It was average in my opinion, and I regretted having it. I share this because it highlighted my own weakness in terms of saying no to something that I know isn’t supportive of my wellness goal, but I give in when trying to be polite or fit into social norms. I was thankful this month when I went to my brother’s house for a family celebration and they had some N/A Guinness. I was fine with water or seltzer, but it was nice just to have the option to have a glass of something while everyone else was also sipping. This month I am laying out in my planner all of the events for the month to bring awareness to my hurdles and coming up with a plan for each scenario.
Choosing to use my tools: Meal plan, movement, community
Now that I’ve mapped out what is happening when, I need to acknowledge the tools that I have available to me. These are the things that I know I can use this month to set myself up for success and if I choose (purposely saying it this way because it is MY CHOICE to use them or not) to use them I will continue to feel great in my body. Here are the top 3 tools that come to mind: Meal plan, Movement, and Community.
Meal “Plan” for a busy month
For meal planning, I don’t mean that I am going to meal prep for while I’m traveling. I will bring my shake mix and pre-workout so I can fuel my day as I do at home, but I will look at each day individually for things like:
- Will I be drinking alcohol? How many drinks am I going to have?
- Should I eat a protein-heavy breakfast because I won’t have lunch until later than I typically eat at home? (This helps me avoid snacking)
- Where will I be and at what times?
The gist of this exercise is setting my intention for my meals. I can plan for things like, having a glass of wine at the work happy hour if I choose to, but also knowing what supports my goals. Maybe I have to rethink my plan a little bit if the only option for lunch is pizza and I know pizza + a beer makes me bloated. So I skip the beer. It starts with intention.
Fueling for Movement
For movement, I am proud to say I have built in the daily habit of movement to be my norm now and one of my biggest driving forces in eating well is to support my daily movement practice. I am fueling my body for life and when I fuel poorly, my movement is impacted. This is a key tool I can tap into when contemplating dessert or an espresso martini at 8 pm when on a typical night, I’m winding down with the girls at home and eating stopped around 6:30. I feel like crap the next day when I indulge later at night and don’t want to move the next morning. That’s the truth.
I am not alone
And for community, I have found my people on the internet. I check in every day with a group of amazing women who are also setting wellness goals for themselves and going after their dreams. I do not get this support at home. I mean this in the kindest way to my husband, but he just doesn’t get the same energy boost from talking about wellness that I do. Now talk to him about nerdy tech stuff and he lights up, but I know that I need to continue to talk about wellness with women (specifically). I love learning from this group, celebrating with them, seeing progress, and also sharing in everyone’s hard. Knowing that we all have our own personal hurdles we are facing and seeing how they bravely overcome, pivot, whatever buzz word you want here, while still showing up for themselves is an incredible support tool for me to turn to. My goals are my own, and choosing to go after them is my own choice, but surrounding myself with others who are doing the same does matter for me. Chasing dreams can be lonely. I’ve done it with this group and also for a while left, because I got in my own way thinking social media was not true connection. But, it’s actually completely how I choose to deepen those connections. I will continue to check in with this group daily throughout the month.
Executing the plan
Now I just have to live my plans. This is sometimes the hardest part for me personally. I am an excellent planner for wellness, but I falter with short term rewards (in this scenario, enjoying more treats than my body wants) vs. keeping an eye on my long term goals (feeling great in my body). I have a great track record this year so far, so I am keeping that in mind going into this month that I can navigate hard things, and I look forward to sharing my success come May.