Day 2: Distractions

Because I am working an event tonight, I planned to have the morning to myself and go into the office late. I also had planned to use the morning to my advantage...

Plan #1: Sleep in
I woke up around 7 or so with my boyfriend and spent the next hour (play) fighting with him to go back to sleep because he was so wide awake it was ridiculous. He wouldn't let me sleep so by 8 I was wide awake. At least I got an early start on my day

Plan #2: A hearty but healthy breakfast
Nope. I did have a hearty and healthy lunch though.....

Plan #3: Get some theater paperwork done
Did that, but it took me so freakin long.............may have been due to multitasking with my DVRed Glee

Plan #4: Workout and/or run
Well I didn't run...but I did workout. Sort of. After a phone call which took me longer than expected, I popped in The Biggest Loser workout DVD and because I was feeling pretty stiff and achy, I chose the beginner low-impact workout. I got about halfway into it when my phone rang again and by the time I got finished, I had lost my momentum to finish the workout (plus I was running late by that point).

So although I sort of got stuff done, I ended up having too many distractions to really do them efficiently. While I am glad I got to speak to my best friend who moved to Switzerland, my workout got shortened to practically nothing. And I know that trying to get stuff done with the TV on is always a mistake, but I wanted to catch up on it while having my coffee & it just extended itself. But all these distractions are definitely things that I will have to work on as I go along. Distractions always come up...figuring out those priorities (and sticking to them) is what I should be focusing on. Should I have answered the phone in the middle of my workout? No of course not...but I did--even after sacrificing another hour at work to be able to fit in the workout in the first place.

Another source of distractions which frequently appear in my life are the inevitable unplanned meals. Whether it is due to not having my meals all prepped and falling victim to cravings, being too busy to eat a meal and ending up eating whatever I find (and usually more than necessary), or having food temptations from friends and family--even if I've already eaten. Some of them are in my control (whether or not I use it) and some of them aren't, but finding an alternative is often difficult-especially when emotions, boredom or other people are involved.

Last night was another example of that...I had a pretty good meal day and aside from a stuffed artichoke which was leftover from Thanksgiving at my parents' house, all my meals were healthy & relatively low points. I even passed on the ice cream mom offered and had some fresh fruit! But then we got home & out came the giant tin (I mean Costco-sized) of Danish cookies while watching The Office. And against my better judgement, I ate them. Not even sure how many either. Just kept taking them.

And then I told my BF that we needed to put them away. I put the cover back on them and used them as a footrest. Somewhere in the cookie massacre, I realized what I was doing and stopped myself. But that distraction of the watching tv-mindless eating deadly combo was enough to put a damper on the good food day.

So again, these distractions are so easy to come by, and so hard not to let get in the way. Sometimes if I'm focused, I can just hop back on the wagon, but especially in the holiday season sometimes it's easy for them to just snowball into getting completely off track.

How do you handle distractions from your goal? How do you say "NO!" Do you pick & choose what you let get in your way? Do you fall victim to them? Or do you make sure that you stick to your priorities of both eating healthy and getting in your workouts?

Until next time.