Ate at McDonalds's, Apt is a Mess, Body/Space Not Exactly Temples

[indestructible]

I have been working on having good habits for many years - ie. curbing cravings and keeping my apartment clean. Being a right-brain, order and cleanliness did not come naturally. But after working on it, I became neat and was on a roll for a year or so with the cleaning. I have also been up and down inconsistently with my eating habits since I was a teenager. It is kind of a feast or famine mentality - with eating junk and fast food for a few weeks, then going to a healthy diet with lots of greens or fruit for a few months... then back to the junk again. Nevertheless, I am a size 8 now, where I was a 10 as a teen (although my ideal size is 6).

Recently, it has all come crashing down - with both the messiness and the eating. Does anyone who has had more consistency in their lives have advice on how to keep up good habits on those not-so-inspired days. Having a healthy body and clean space are important values to me. It is part of self-respect... but sometimes I just let my laziness/cravings get the better of me. I think the things that cause the getting off track are stress, lack of time, lack of focus and boredom with the regime.

Can anyone help?

[joshbickford]

Give yourself days off from time to time. Take a break, but don't make it a habit.

Think of yourself in the body, house and life that you want--and hold that image. In a strange way your mind will turn your habits for you.

[dor]

hi
what exactly do you crave? is it sugar or carbohydrates? there's some book called sugar busters that goes into it.

What about your diet? if you're comfortable with the change, it shouldn't feel like a diet - it should just feel natural, I think. i switched, for example to decaff tea and low sugar tecconi herbal coffee - i like it so much i don't even miss coffee - what exactly for example led you to eat at mcdonalds (i can easily avoid it since i got food poisioning there twice )

[alexb5784]

I think you should take it one day at a time. For example, if you eat McDo about 5 times per week, spend a week eating it for just four days.

It could be like this:

Week One: Have McDonald's 4 times per week
Week Two: Have McDonald's 3 times per week
Week Three: Have McDonald's 2 times per week
Week Four: Have McDonald's once per week

And while you are cutting down on the McDo, introduce healthy foods into your diet. Apparently you like fast foods, so to go cold turkey will not work. Just try to slow everything down and create new habits one day at a time.

You could do the same thing with cleaning your house:

Week One: Clean one day per week and then be messy
Week Two: Clean two days per week and then be messy
Week Three: Clean three days per week and then be messy
Week Four: Clean four days per week and then be messy. But by then you will be used to being a bit cleaner.

If that sounds too hard take it even slower. Turn "One Week" into "One Month". Yeah I know it sounds like a long time, but if your habits are really bad, you need to set goals you know you will achieve. It's important to feel good about yourself and you'll feel great when your achieve goals.

Think about it. Wouldn't you rather develop healthy eating habits and become neat in fours months or would you like to continue the way you're doing things now? For some people this method sounds Super Slow, but again it depends on how bad your orginal habits are.

It's like when people quit smoking;they quit one cigarette at a time.

[indestructible]

Thanks for the advice. I don't eat at McDonalds 4x a week - more like once a week - but would prefer it to be once a month (as a "break") - so this is good advice. I could use the slow plan for cleaning and reducing desserts after dinner though .

It seems like the key is to make the "rule" to be healthy and neat, but if it goes off track, not to give up on the plan entirely. Instead - consider it a small departure, and go back. To be honest - is pretty hard to go back to that plan after it has been tainted by a "slip" into the old ways... but transformation doesn't happen overnight I suppose.

I have seen the "Sugar Busters" book around - but now I want to buy it. My cravings are for both sugar and carbs and I have diabetes in my family. So - maybe my cravings have a different root than simply lack of self-control.

[dor]

Originally Posted by indestructible

Thanks for the advice. I don't eat at McDonalds 4x a week - more like once a week - but would prefer it to be once a month (as a "break") - so this is good advice. I could use the slow plan for cleaning and reducing desserts after dinner though .

It seems like the key is to make the "rule" to be healthy and neat, but if it goes off track, not to give up on the plan entirely. Instead - consider it a small departure, and go back. To be honest - is pretty hard to go back to that plan after it has been tainted by a "slip" into the old ways... but transformation doesn't happen overnight I suppose.

I have seen the "Sugar Busters" book around - but now I want to buy it. My cravings are for both sugar and carbs and I have diabetes in my family. So - maybe my cravings have a different root than simply lack of self-control.

Definitely sounds like it could be...I think some doctors recommend certain vitamins to help with it (b, i think)
However, i don't think you should think of a slip as 'tainting it' think that you have made a permanent shift in lifestyle -pardon the unsolicited advice...but it sounds like you still have the internal image as someone who eats that kind of stuff on a regular basis a healthy person- someone with a self image as a healthy person - wouldn't shift back to eating that way or look at one incident as the road back...i only say this because i made the shift to eating healthy foods -read a lot about it, had periods where i completely slipped into the old lifestyle (its so easy, living in the city with cheap fast food and no time for lunch!) but gradually , i made a permanent shift, and don't think about eating at mcdonalds anymore than i'd consder eating out of a garbage dump.