Hello friends!
They say that mindset is everything and I have to admit that this week it’s been more true than ever.
As you all know, I’m one of the Beta Testers for Kris Carr’s new version of her Crazy Sexy You Program. I just finished the first week and it’s really amazing what happens when I have rules to follow! I know EXACTLY what I’m going to eat for the next 21 days*, so eating anything else just isn’t an option. That’s one of the things I love about following programs with very clear guidelines. Not only does it leave out all the guess work, but it eliminates the internal battle.
The Battle Is Real
If food has ever been an issue for you, if you’ve struggled with food addictions, or unmet weight loss goals, then you probably know exactly what I’m talking about. You set a goal, you tell yourself you will eat healthy today, but the moment you feel weak you give in and break your promise. The battle is real.
How many times have I told myself I will only have one helping of dinner, but then the food is so good that I end up having 2. Oh my goodness, that’s definitely my weak spot. Over-eating at dinner. We all have something that we struggle with, and the battle is frustrating.
I’ve heard it said that when you turn a should into a must, that’s when you see success. That’s when promises are kept. And I can think back on so many situations in my life when this was true.
After 20 years of smoking and countless attempts at quitting, once I had kids everything changed. Well, actually only one thing changed: my ‘should’ turned into a ‘must’. I just had this belief that I couldn’t be a smoking mom (no judgement intended toward smoking moms out there, like I said, the battle is real).
Now that I have a crystal clear eating plan, AND I’ve committed to being a ‘good beta tester’, then I have really turned my healthy eating into a Must. At least for now. And it’s so nice not to have that battle. When the path is laid out in front of you it’s so much easier not to deviate from it every time you’re tempted.
So, what was the first week like?
Well, as a beta tester I can’t share any recipes with you, but I can tell you that I’ve eaten some amazing food this week. I’ve even taken some photos just to share here with you guys.
This was my favourite breakfast this week, Salt and Pepper Avo Toast with a delicious green juice called Green and Sassy.
And this one was a lot better than it looks, and definitely my favourite dinner, Lentil and Walnut Crumble Salad. Oh my deliciousness! I could eat this every day. And you’d think that a salad for dinner might leave you feeling like you need something else, but not at all. It was truly satisfying.
And do you know why portion control is not a problem on this plan, and why I’m not going for seconds at the dinner table? Because everything, and I mean everything is planned out for you, so the recipe makes exactly enough for tonight’s dinner and tomorrow’s lunch. So there is no way I am going to over-eat at dinner, because that would mean that I won’t have enough for lunch tomorrow. Brilliant. And what’s even better is that it also means that there is absolutely no waste on this plan. Being economical is one of my favourite things!
Detox
For anyone thinking of doing a program like this, it’s only right for me to talk about detoxing. With the elimination of sugar, coffee, meat, dairy, gluten, and all processed foods, most people will go through some detox symptoms during the first week or so. The last time I did this program I had a headache for a week and I was extremely tired….and even a little sad. But that goes away after the first few days or a week, so it’s important to just keep with it, for the benefits FAR outweigh the discomfort of the detox symptoms.
This time around, however, I haven’t suffered from these symptoms at all. And the reason for this is that I’ve actually kept a lot of these foods OUT of my diet. Since the first round of CSY (the Crazy Sexy You program) I actually didn’t end up going back to meat or alcohol, and coffee has been kept to a minimum. I did start eating dairy again, but there doesn’t seem to be any withdrawal symptoms from that. And sugar, oh SUGAR. Ugh.
Christmas did bring sugar back into my diet, and what an impact that had! After being off sugar for several months, once I started to indulge in some holiday treats, it was truly a slippery slope back into unhealthy eating. I talked in another post about how we give ourselves ‘Permission Slips‘, and slipping back into sugar is such a perfect example. Once I allowed myself one treat, it quickly became 2 treats, 3 treats, until a free-for-all was had.
But the reason I am not suffering any sugar withdrawal symptoms right now is that I gave it up again a couple weeks ago. It wasn’t easy, but it really had to be done.
Mindset Is Everything
Sugar is also another great example of ‘mindset is everything’. You see, I’ve discovered that I’m either ‘On Sugar’ or ‘Off Sugar’ (sorry, moderation doesn’t seem to work well with me and this highly addictive substance). So when I decide to cut sugar out of my diet, it’s like drawing a line in the sand. My mindset changes, I stop thinking of or considering eating refined sugar , and it’s so much easier to just say no.
Unfortunately the opposite also seems to happen. When I tell myself it’s ok to have refined sugar, then it seems I’m almost looking for it everywhere. I’m pretty sure that’s where the addictive qualities of sugar come in. Either way, change the mindset, change the behavior…change the outcome.
My Birthday!
One last thing I just can’t leave out is my birthday. It was my birthday yesterday, on day 7 of the 21 day program, and I have to say that I just realized that it was – hands down – the healthiest birthday I’ve had in my life! No, I did NOT go off the program, despite the obvious disappointment of my children.
We didn’t go without celebrating though. My birthday tradition is to go for all-you-can-eat sushi with family and we did exactly that – last week, before starting the program.
So that was my first week of testing the 21 day Kris Carr Program. It’s been so nice to be back on the program, and back into the right mindset again. I’m also enjoying the fact that I’m doing this with 250 amazing, like-minded people who are all sharing and encouraging one another in our Facebook Group.
If you are struggling to hold onto the right mindset, get out of a rut and achieve long overdue goals, instead of doing it alone, I would highly recommend finding a group of like-minded people on Facebook (search Facebook Groups). There are so many great groups of people doing great things together, and we can all use the support!
Till Next Time,
Keep Going 4Ward!
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