It's about progress, not perfection

Posted by Melissa Baumgart
This weekend was a gorge-fest.  Filled with my own not so healthy version of "Let your food be your medicine" to help with some unexpected anxiety that came up and the inevitable "Oh-my-god-I-better-get-in-all-the-carbs-I-can" situation I found myself in since Paleo starts today. I had mashed potatoes, bread and butter, macaroni and cheese, a cookie, bites of pastries, cheese and crackers.  And HANDFULS of Sweet-Tart jelly beans.  Really, anything I could get my hands on. 

This weekend, Seattle. 

So, Amy and I were going to do our last weigh-in today.  But I just don't feel like it is telling of most of my month in March.  I worked really hard almost all month, and in all (aside from this psat weekend) I had lost a total of six pounds.  Eight pounds since starting Weight Watcher's the couple weeks before March.  So, in my bloated state this morning, as I type through a fog of post-carb induced coma, I don't think the two pounds I added on this weekend are real.  They are going to drop away as soon as I get moving and eat healthy.  I can gain a couple of pounds so easily.

Reading over what I have written thus far, I wonder how much of the inner chatter of self degradation I have dropped.   Why do I need to justify the number on the scale?  Why did I turn to food as a means of comfort?  Why do I look toward a new healthful way of eating and stuff my face with what I think I will miss?  This is a process and I am learning.

Maybe I am not always perfectly on my game.  Maybe I make mistakes.  The point, this time, is to not throw in the towel after one week or one weekend.  To wake up on a foggy Monday morning and start over again.  Put on my running shoes, plan out my Paleo month, and be proud of the progress I made during March as a whole.

Stay tuned for the "Rules of Paleo" for GLWT coming later today.