Epic Fail

I was 2 weeks into establishing my first habit.  All was going well; my goal was to simply change into exercise clothes after work every day.  Not only had I managed to change into workout clothes every day, I also managed to get quite a bit of exercise as well.  Then it all came crashing down and turned into one epic failure…


After completing two weeks I found myself heading to Pittsburg for a bachelor party.  I had a great time, but I definitely came home on Sunday quite tired.  Monday morning was rough as I was still recovering from a weekend full of late nights and unhealthy eating.  When I got home, I realized that I had forgotten that one of my daughter’s was at soccer camp; I needed to go get her at 7PM.  I grabbed a quick bite for dinner, took a quick shower and then headed out the door.  About halfway there I realized that I had forgotten to change into my workout clothes.

From there things only got worse; over the course of the next couple days I got severely depressed.  I kept thinking that if I couldn’t succeed at this very simple goal, how could I possibly do anything that would be difficult?  My depression turned into poor eating, lousy performance at work, and basically turning myself into a vegetable on the couch in the evening.

The week has passed now and I’m feeling better, but I need to start over.  I’ve decided that if I want to build healthy habits, I’m going to need to start at the beginning.  I need to start each day right, I need to start each day with a win.  One of my struggles as of late has been just getting myself out of bed.  The alarm goes off at 5:45AM and I usually get up, turn it off, and lay back down for at least a half hour and sometimes more.  I don’t have to be at work until 8AM, but I like going in at 7AM so I don’t have to stay late in the evening.  Lately It’s been all I can do to get to work by 8AM. 

As I look back at this horrible week I had, it dawned on me that every morning started off terrible.  When I get up on time then there’s time to think about what I’m grateful for.  When I get up on time I get to work early and have a stress free hour to get ready for my day.  When I get up on time I give myself a chance to have a good day.

So my new habit to focus on for the next 21 days is to get up when my alarm goes off.  I will do it every work day; on weekends I do not set my alarm (that will be my reward for completing each week). 

So that’s my new hait to focus on, but at the same time I also need to get myself back on the healthy bandwagon.  I’ve been eating terrible since the bachelor party and I have gotten no exercise at all.  What’s truly sad is that there’s a walking trail where my daughter has soccer practice.  She had practice every day last week and I was there for at least 2 hours each night.  One would have thought I could use the opportunity to walk, but all I did was sit there and play on my phone.

That same daughter today told me she’s worried that I won’t live to see her 18^th birthday.  While I won’t pretend that it didn’t hurt to hear that, I will admit it has brought me a new level of motivation to accelerate my focus on becoming healthy.  Now mind you, I’ve come a long way, but I still have a long way to go as well.  It’s time to get back to business.  She practices twice week now for the foreseeable future and I plan to walk at least 30 minutes on those nights.  I also need to find other ways to stay active the rest of the week. 

I’m also going back to my healthy eating lifestyle; No processed sugar or carbs, lots of veggies, and plenty of water.  The first few days are always the hardest, but then I start to feel really good.  Once I get to that point I need to constantly remind myself just how bad I start feel when I stray in my eating.

Wish me luck as I reset.  Stay Strong!

 

Does Sugar Make Me Depressed?

I’m 45 years old and I can’t believe I’ve never noticed this before…

I’m starting to wonder if sugar (or carbohydrates in general) actually contributes to my depression.  Though I’ve never been diagnosed, I’m fairly confident that I have some level of depression.  When I was younger it never even dawned on me, but as I’ve gotten older I’ve been much more cognizant about how I feel.  Since the move to NC I’ve struggled a bit more and have actually considered talking to a doctor.  But then it goes away and all seems fine.

One other note; for quite some time I’ve been eating a fairly low carb diet.  I try to avoid sugar and all processed carbs like bread, rice, and pasta.  I’ve come to like this style of eating; I don’t go hard core low carb but at the same time I don’t waste time eating unnecessary carbs.

Anyway, this last weekend I was celebrating another great week and meeting my habit goal for the second straight week.  On Sunday we went on a 4.5 mile hike and afterward we stopped and I got a big orange slushy.  Later that night I also had a nice big bowl of ice cream.  Those two items were the only processed sugar I had over the last 2 weeks.

Monday came and I woke up miserable!  I was totally unproductive all day at work and my brain just felt really foggy.  I told my wife that I was severely depressed.  I got through the day and then on Tuesday morning I woke up still feeling depressed, but a little better.  By the end of the day I was back to my old self.

As I reflected on how I felt and how quickly I went from very bad to feeling much better It dawned on me that maybe my large quantity of sugar was what put me into a depressed state.  I started researching sugar and depression and found a surprising amount of articles linking the two.  Could sugar be making me depressed?  Is that why I go from high to low and back to high again so quickly? 

Of course there could be other factors, only time will tell, but it gives me a great idea for my next habit goal.  One more week to go on my current goal (changing into exercise clothes every day after work) and then we’ll see what I add next.

Stay Strong!