Manic Monday ~ Unstoppable!
Well, over the week I did some spring cleaning. And as I began to clean the nooks and crannies, I was uncovering hidden Easter eggs that my kids missed. Not just one egg, but four eggs. It so happened that these four eggs were full of foil wrapped chocolate eggs. Most of our eggs this year were filled with coins instead of sugar, but for some reason the odds were against me when cleaning and I struck the jackpot. I am a chocolate lover. I was caught off guard. As those chocolate eggs lay in a mound in my counter I couldn't help but think about eating them. I usually am pretty disciplined during the week, but these things were calling my taste buds. Ugggg! I needed to get them out of site! So to clear my mind I stashed them in a ziplock bag and threw them up on a high shelf in a pantry cabinet. I was okay and resumed back to my duties. It wasn't long until I found myself reaching for that bag. Geez! How can those little eggs draw me to them? What power they have! Well, I came to my senses and indulged by eating three little chocolate eggs. Done!
That whole chaotic moment of fighting the temptation reminded me of a couple who were personal training clients of mine. I will name them "Cate and Steve" for security (hahaha) reasons. The story is true and happened several years ago a few days after Christmas. Cate came out of the locker room first and wanted to confess. Every time I meet with clients I dedicate the first several minutes to reviewing their past days and week of eating and exercise. So, naturally Cate knew that we would be going over how they were doing with their new eating and exercise plan. She wanted to make sure they were accountable and knew her husband would dismiss their off track moment of sabotage. So she told me how they had to get rid of all their holiday junk food that was leftover after their family gatherings. The last bowl of goodies was their favorite: M&M's. They ate their share and Steve had enough of the M&M's so he opened up their front door and threw them out into the snow. They were ready to eat healthy now that no temptations were in their sight. Getting through their first day of healthy eating was great until that night Steve was craving the "junk" food that he had ate while celebrating the Christmas season. With no junk food in the house, Steve got desperate. He put his coat and boots on and proceeded out the front door. Wondering what Steve was doing, Cate went to the living room window to peek outside. What she witnessed was a man going to great lengths to satisfy his craving. Steve was plucking those M&M's out of the snow! He was unstoppable.
Why is it that temptation seems so unstoppable? It's like a force! It is a force! We may think at times that we can't overcome temptation such as in those sabotaging foods that seem to ruin our goals. BUT, I have news for you.... We can overcome! It starts with our mental perceptions. We tend to live for the moment because it brings temporary pleasure. Did you catch that word, "temporary?" That's right, when I ate those chocolate eggs and Steve ate those snow covered M&M's, they only pleased our palettes for the duration our tastebuds made contact to those foods. I would guess about 3 minutes. And because it is temporary, we want to extend our pleasure time, so we eat more to fulfill that sensation. And we don't even think about the results? The results are that in just a few minutes of temporary pleasure, we can consume anywhere from 100-500+ calories of zero nutritional valued foods that do nothing for us but add pounds. And those pounds aren't that temporary! In fact, you would have to invest in an hour of heavy exercise (500 calories) to take about about 10 minutes of eating that large fry! It's time to think differently. It's time to think about your investments of time. Do you want to live the popular lifestyle of "a moment on the lips, a lifetime on the hips"? Or do you want to live a life that you "work smarter, not harder?"
Work smarter! Be unstoppable with healthy choices!
Have a GREAT week!
Rachel Zimmerman,
Certified Personal Trainer and Life Coach
ACE/NSCA
Wife, Mother, and Friend
