I don’t know about anyone else, but I tend to think of the
summer as a time to sit back, relax and enjoy the warm weather. This summer has
been anything but relaxing for myself. Professionally, I’ve taken on a pretty
busy workload at the office and recently started training a new intern.
Scholarly, I’m taking more classes than I have since high school. Personally,
I’m booked solid through September with baby showers, graduations, birthdays
and holidays. It’s an extremely chaotic time for me and my non-stop twitching
eye is indicating that I might be a little overwhelmed. To be honest, I’m
completely stressed out!
I don’t mind being busy; it beats boredom any day. My
problem is being so busy I don’t have time, energy or the planning ability to
be on Whole30. I love how I feel on Whole30 and I try to follow it during the
week as best I can, but on the weekends I’m an unorganized mess. In the winter,
I have the convenience of leaving my pre-made food in the car. In the summer,
it’s not safe or delicious when you leave your fruits, vegetables and
especially meat in your car.
I’m struggling with making better choices during this summer;
and I catch myself wishing away the summer heat just to avoid the temptations
of summer eating and drinking. I’ve noticed with my weight that it takes all
week to take off my weekend bad habits. I try to stick to vodka and soda water (Lacroix) with
fruit when I’m drinking. Though it’s not Whole30, my drink of choice is a
better option than most other alcohols.
All this stress is extremely challenging on one’s body.
Stress leads to lack of sleep, hormone imbalances, anxiety, and increased
snacking…. and all those things lead to weight gain…which then stresses me out
more! To break the vicious cycle it’s important to know why stress affects us
so negatively, and how to stop it from affecting us. Here is an article I found
on controlling and conquering our stressors: Why We Gain Weight When We’re Stressed—And How Not To
My plan moving forward for the summer is to continue to eat
Whole30 compliant foods as often as I can. I will work on meal planning and
prepping on Sundays, and only eat off-plan on special occasions. My personal
health goal is to not let the guilt of not doing Whole30 consume me. The
additional stress from that guilt is too much drain on my daily life, and it’s
only doing more harm than good.
Anyone else struggling with their healthy lifestyles this
summer? ~Nicci
