I don't know about you, but with the pandemic going on and not being able to socialize, see my boyfriend, or have a job, I was getting mentally exhausted without realizing it. It took breaking down and crying for thirty minutes on a Facetime call with my boyfriend to really understand the problem I was having. If you feel like you want to explode, have anxiety, or feel depressed, perhaps you are stressed because of the times we are living in today. You should do your best to get rid of distress though because it causes significant changes in your body- and not for the better.
Stress
Did you know: how you cope with stress can affect your fitness and nutrition goals.
When we are stressed, we want to be comforted. So we look for external things to take away the “pain” of stress… food, alcohol, smoking, etc.
These things cause a release of neurotransmitters in the brain that make you feel good (at least in the moment) and encourage you to repeat the behavior over and over again… looking for the same result. This is one cause of addiction. The pattern becomes wired in the brain, and eventually, the brain learns to depend on that substance to cope with stress. And it wants more and more of it.
While de-stressing is generally beneficial to your physical and mental health, relying too much on anything external to cope is ultimately not beneficial.
Healthy Ways to De-Stress
1. Mindful Breathing
Take note of your breath and purposely track the feeling of inhaling and exhaling. Notice the rise and fall of your chest and abdomen with each breath.
After a few breaths, take a slightly deeper breath. Try to really focus on your breathing and if you get distracted, just redirect your attention back to your breath.
Do this exercise for just five minutes. You can gradually increase the time each time you practice.
2. Progressive Muscle Relaxation
Starting with your feet, tense each muscle group, one at a time. Hold the tension until it is almost uncomfortable, and then release.
Then move up to your legs and tense each muscle group. Continue moving up your body to the top of your head.
Notice how your body feels as you release the tension contained in each muscle group. Take your time doing this.
"Just one more scoop of ice cream". "Just one more bite of lasagna". "I can have a taste of that cheesecake", she says as she scarfs down the entire slice. I was there this past weekend. We've all been there. I felt satisfied in the moment, eating comfort food galore, but afterward is what got me. After the satisfaction is gone, guilt hit.
For the past month I have worked out every single day (rest days once a week), following a YouTube workout plan by Heather Robertson. It gets my heart rate up and helps me break a sweat. I was doing so well, and my stomach was getting flatter. I was seeing results that I absolutely loved. Fast forward to this past weekend (three weeks in), and I start plateauing. Plateauing is a real thing and a hard one at that. Not seeing the results I was seeing sucks! And it definitely didn't help that I splurged on cheesecake, ice cream, steak, cheesy potatoes, and whatever else was nearby at Mom's house this past week. I always tell myself I will take "just one" bite, and then it turns into the entire serving if not more. My self-control and self-discipline with exercise have gotten immensely better, but with food, not so much. When I am home alone and shopping for myself, I am practically vegan, eating all things healthy and not fattening. However, when I visit the parent's house, I lose all sense of health and nutrition when I know I should do better. Perhaps I get upset at myself because I know I should do better. Perhaps it's because I'm losing the results I worked for, and now I have to start over. What it all comes down to is me feeling guilty about my weight and feeling like a slob about myself. But I'm not here to be a debby-downer. I'm here to promote positivity and help people, including myself, out of a slump. Well here's how to take action when you're feeling guilty and crush those negative thoughts:
1. Stop Where You Are At, and Re-adjust Your Thoughts
When you notice you're talking bad about yourself and feeding your mind negative thoughts, STOP. Open your eyes, look into the mirror, and recognize how beautiful you are. If you don't see it, tell yourself how beautiful you are anyway... because you are! Try it. Stop reading this right now, walk to the closest mirror/window, look at your reflection and repeat these words ten times: "I am beautiful",
"I am strong", "I love my body", "I may not be where I want to be yet, but I am working every day to get there. In the meantime, I look amazing". Do you feel better about yourself?
2. Start Over but Keep Going
When you realize you've gone over in your calorie limit and splurged too much, stop eating. Have the discipline to stop, and remind yourself why you need to. Don't eat for the rest of the day, admit you went over a bit and that's not ok, but know there's always tomorrow. The next day, start counting your calories/macros again as if you didn't splurge. If you eat 2500 calories one day, don't starve yourself the next and eat 800 to "even it out". You can't get even when it comes to cutting calories (at least not in a healthy manner). When you cut too much the next day, you starve yourself and your body wants more, causing you to eat more than you should. Just start over, and keep going with the same plan you had originally.
3. Know You Are Not Alone
You are definitely not the only person on this planet who has had this problem. There are other people who have gone through exactly what you are going through right now, and knowing you're not alone makes it a tad bit easier. Talk to someone about your feelings about being guilty. Get it off your chest, and hear someone out. Humans are social beings and stress is alleviated when you confide in someone you trust to help you through your negative emotions. Who knows? Maybe you'll find out that the person you talk to has their own guilty feelings.
4. Focus Your Attention Elsewhere
Crush those negative thoughts by focusing your attention elsewhere and keeping busy on an unrelated task. Write in a journal, do yard work, hang out with friends, read a book on a subject you've been wanting to learn. Do anything else besides wallowing in self-pity. Devon Patterson, an ENC Campus Director, once said in a sermon, "self-pity is the ego's way of dealing with pain without getting healed". Tell your ego to screw off, humble yourself, and walk towards the path of success! Sometimes you just have to let it go and walk away from yourself.
As a side note, these don't just pertain to when you splurge on a diet. That's only how I'm choosing to exemplify the topic. You can feel guilty after you lose a valuable item your great-grandfather gave you, after you lose a friend, or after you made the 100m dash in nine seconds instead of eight like you trained for. The motive might be different, but the emotion stays the same. Everyone has different times in their life when they experience guilt and shame. Everyone has different reasons behind it too. What's not different about it, is how it made you feel.
I hope this post resonated with you in some way and that you try some of the things I mentioned. If not, I hope you can share it with someone who needs it. Keep kicking, and you'll do great things.
- Kailey B
Behind every motivational post, healthy recipe, and physical check-in, there is a lack of. That goes for anyone on social media whether they choose to exploit themselves or not. I wanted to take the time and write out what I've been thinking and feeling in the past two weeks behind the scenes of social media, because I know I am not the only one who probably feels this way, and it helps me cope by writing. Maybe, you can take something away from this.
Lately I have been using a ton of leftovers and throwing them all together to create something I've never made before. Today I made a carb-infused egg white breakfast burrito.
To make it is very simple. All you need is:
INGREDIENTS
1/2 cup quinoa (cooked)
1/4 cup kale
1/4 cup chickpeas
1/4 cup egg whites
1 wheat tortilla
1 tsp olive oil
cheese of choice
DIRECTIONS
Heat the quinoa, kale, and chickpeas in a pan. Season with garlic powder, salt, pepper, and italian seasoning (or whatever you want- go crazy).
Cook the egg whites and mix them all together. Sprinkle cheese on top and let it melt
Drizzle olive oil on top
Scrape the ingredients onto a tortilla and roll.
There you have it! A breakfast burrito with a good amount of carbs, protein, and fat (but mainly carbs). If I had sauces in my home, I would definitely try this with salsa or pesto. I bet pesto would be AMAZING!
Comment, share, pin, or like this blog post if you want to make this!
- Kailey B
Although every day should be a day when you count your blessings and remind yourself what you're grateful for, yesterday was a day where I had no other option. The good Lord blessed me with so much love from the people in my life, and I had to document my birthday blessings.
Every year my birthday seems like just another ole' day for me- just a little extra special. Usually I expect gifts from my parents, but since I'm two states away and it's COVID season, I didn't expect anything to be given to me. My entire morning was my regular routine: get up, workout, eat, and work. I gave myself some play time in the afternoon and took a walk in the park since it was so nice out (80 degrees!). I couldn't pass that by. When I got home, my day started taking a turn of events. It started off with a strangers van pulling into my driveway and not getting out of the car. To my surprise, it wasn't as sketchy as I thought it would be. It was a woman delivering me flowers ๐ I was confused and thought maybe they were for my roommate at first, but then I realized this is the kind of stuff my mom would always do in college (order me flowers or a huge cookie). Sure enough, they were from my mom. ๐งก I almost teared up, but I'm the type of person to hold that stuff back, so that's what I did.
Ten minutes later while I'm on the phone, my roommate comes up with a cake in one hand and a goodie bag in the other, and it was the sweetest thing ever. My own roommate giving me a present?! I've never had a roommate do that for me before. She didn't have enough hands, so she went downstairs to make me a latte with her french press. She's so good at making coffee. SIDE NOTE: If anyone has a french press, make a cold brew latte with almond milk and then drizzle cinnamon on top. ๐
My boyfriend was supposed to stop by around 6 o'clock, but twenty minutes after my roommate gives me her gifts, he shows up (2.5 hours early) with hydrangeas and a gift bag! It was literally a back-to-back hit with gifts, and here I was expecting only a birthday card from my grandma and some chocolates from my boyfriend. Not pictured are the two candles and prosecco he got me. Candles, plants, wine, and coffee are the way to my heart, and I literally got all of those things.
To top it off, I made a list of things I'm grateful for on this day:
my family who supports me and thinks of me every day
my friends who constantly love me
the wonderful gifts I received
the sunshine and 80-degree weather
my strong, healthy body
I'm not posting this blog to impress anyone, to say "hey, look what I got", or to make anyone feel bad. I'm only posting these pictures to document this for my future self. But it's also not a bad thing to just remember that good things come when you least expect it. So keep trucking on, be thankful for what you have, imagine all good things will come, and they will.