The Challenge Challenge (Part B)

After last week's effort I was somewhat relieved that I didn't have to do another Challenge Challenge for a while. I was so unenthused by the experience that it took me almost a week to finally get around to blogging it.

I was thinking that the next one would be something simple and indulgent, like trying a new place for coffee every day, but I'd leave it for late October because I was done with challenging myself for now.

Thing is, while I thinking the aforementioned thoughts I was also in the process of making a few small changes to the way I do things. Maybe forcing myself to do yoga every day flipped the "be good to yourself" switch to the ON position, even though I wasn't enjoying the yoga itself.

One of the small changes I made was to eat stuff. I totally suck at food. I'll get to 4:00 pm and think, I feel a bit sick, what have I eaten? Oh crap, I haven't eaten anything. No, wait ... I had that piece of toast.

It's not really something most people can relate to, but I just don't like eating. And the bombardment of information about what to eat, what not to eat, when to eat and how to eat makes healthy eating an overwhelming and complicated chore too difficult to maintain.

"But darling, the talking snake said they were good for us. Isn't that right, Mr Whiskers?"

If you don't eat enough your body goes into panic mode and says, "I need energy, NOW!" so you reach for the sugar to get a quick fix. Then the sugar shuts down the hunger signals until the body needs more urgent energy. (I was excited to see over at Kymmie's blog that, quite by coincidence, she discovered similar things this week.)

I decided this week that I didn't have to have the perfect diet, just a better one. And in order for it to work it had to be very, very simple.

Very simple.

So I adapted the 5-a-day plan into a program I couldn't possibly get confused about. Rather than trying to get my five fruit and vegetables each day through careful meal planning, I just go to the supermarket, buy five things from the fresh food section, then eat them.

The ripple effect has been extraordinary.

This week I got hungry. Like, proper, healthy hungry. I'd wake up wanting breakfast. In between my five fruit and veg I'd whip up a plate of scrambled eggs. And when my foodie husband put dinner on the table I devoured it. (The meal, not the table.) I bought myself some chocolate out of habit, got half way through, then threw the rest away.

The only food rule I have at the moment is "eat five things." The rest is taking care of itself.

It wasn't until Wednesday night that I realised I'd challenged myself more this week than I had for the Challenge Challenge. I guess I didn't notice because I was thinking about long-term change and not aiming for a short-term experience. These little improvements will need developing and modifying over time, but for now I'm just going to keep it simple and constant until it sticks.

Oh, and I also rediscovered an awesome way to get fit, and it's not yoga. More on that later. There will be videos.


For more Kymmie, check out her excellent blog, and also marvel at how awesome I am for finally figuring out how to link my post to it and add her button: