Update

I wanted to write a post that was a little bit more about what's going on with me currently.

I am officially on Day 18 of sticking with my Bright Line Eating Plan. If you don't remember, that means not crossing the four bright lines: no sugar, no flour, no snacking, and eating reasonable portions at mealtimes. 

I am also doing intermittent fasting because it works really well for my super-slow metabolism. I have successfully not eaten before 11 am or after 7 pm (with the exception of one evening when I didn't get dinner done in time, so I ate it at 7:15ish) for the past 17 days. 

Victory!

I have been too chicken to get on the scale through all of this, though. I know I need to eventually, but I don't want to see the number that I think I must be hovering around. 

I can't really tell if I lost much weight yet. I do feel less bloated, but my pants aren't any looser I don't think. I also don't think I've had more energy from cutting flour and sugar from my diet. I wish I did! I still have cravings for sugary foods and bread, mostly, but they are fleeting, and I have been able to distract myself from all of them so far. 

I want to be more intentional about the way I structure my days. I want to use my time better and stop letting myself be so easily distracted by the tv and the internet. Today I wrote out specific goals I want to accomplish each week. A week is a small enough time period that you can't waste too much time, but long enough that if you have a bad day or something comes up, then all is not lost. 

So I will report back how that goes after my first week. Maybe I should do a small, manageable, weekly goal in every area of my life. I really do want to get better, but that reminds me of interesting article I just heard about in the New York Times. 

The article is called "It's Great to Suck at Something." The author, Karen Rinaldi, talks about how much she loves to surf, but that she will never be good at it. Rinaldi writes, "By taking off the pressure of having to excel at or master an activity, we allow ourselves to live in the moment. You might think this sounds simple enough, but living in the present is also something most of us suck at. If we accept our failures and persevere nonetheless, we might provide a respite from the imperative to succeed and instead find acceptance in trying. Failing is ok. Better still, isn't it a relief?" 

I don't consider myself an expert in any subject. I have moderate abilities in a few different areas, but I can't think of something that I absolutely love that I am completely terrible at. Still, it was interesting to read Rinaldi's perspective, and I do agree with her that we need to find acceptance in trying. 

So maybe it's ok that I suck at time management and I always run out of hours when I have so much more that I want to accomplish. Or maybe it's just that I suck at prioritizing my tasks. Or maybe I suck at balance or scheduling, because even if I do the highest priority task first, I spend way too much time at it and run out of time for everything I was supposed to do after that task. 

The point is is that I'm going to be ok with that. I am going to persevere, but if I fail trying to complete my goals for the week, that's ok. There's always a new week and another chance to try again.