In an effort to get my body right, I’m still continuing with revisiting goals that are health-related. My ultimate goal is to shut down Procrastination Station one day, so it’s imperative that I free all of those goals that are being held hostage there. And today marks the restart of working to permanently close down the freight train, holding all the late night eating and drinking cargo.
Since my bedtime goal is 11:30p, this particular challenge only requires that I have 1.5 hours of non-snacking will power to be tried and tested. Surely I can handle that. And the 1.5 hours should go by pretty quickly because I will have to make sure that I’m using my time wisely in getting work accomplished before my head hits my pillow for the day. Structuring my nighttime routine to incorporate a decent bedtime will likely make it easier to prevent the overwhelming temptation to late late night snack. Check out the details that were outlined in the original day 14 of the 30-day challenge:
Task: To stop eating after 10p and only drink water after 10p.
Reason for Task: Okay, so this challenge may not seem like a challenge to most people, but it certainly is to me. Why… you might ask? Well, I’ve been an habitual night owl all of my adult life and guess what’s easy to do when you’re up at night? Eat and drink, of course. As a mom, I tend to find my time of peace and tranquility at nighttime. Nighttime is when I unwind from a day of doing for everyone else and finally take a minute or two or several hours to place all the attention on me. Unfortunately, stuffing my face tends to add into this equation. What to do?
Now, I haven’t exhausted the researching of all sources out there discussing the effects of late night eating and drinking, but I will tell you that the calories I tend to consume at night are not the most nutrient-packed. Let’s call it what it is. Snacking on chips, crackers, and assorted sweets and drinking lemonade and 100% fruit juice far exceeds my snacking on fruits and veggies and drinking water. So, in my particular situation, eating late is not in my best health interest. The time to make a change in my late night eating and drinking routine has come to a head and I think I’m finally up for the challenge.
Duration of Task: Today is the first day of this task and it will occur daily on a continuous basis.
Outcome: I picked the arbitrary time of 10p; because in knowing my schedule, it’s possible to have dinner later than the popular 6p hour on most nights. However, it’s safe to say that I would have eaten well before the 10p hour. So, in order to prevent sleeping on a bunch of calories packed with sugar and carbs, I’m choosing to cut them off early with hopes of avoiding their staying power, perhaps, before laying my head on my bed. I haven’t gotten to 10p just yet, but I will be successful in accomplishing the challenge for today. However, I can’t say that I’m totally going to ace this assignment every day. Life happens, so I may have to build some flexibility into this one from time to time.
Quote for the Day (mine): The older I get, the wiser I should become; and my lifestyle changes should reflect such wisdom.
For some reason, the task above doesn’t seem to be enough of a stretch goal for me, so I think I’ll sweeten the pot and add one more snacking no-no to the mix. I’ve decided to eliminate all snacking in between meals as well. So, whenever I want to get in some quality knick knack food items, then I’m going to have to work them into my breakfast, lunch, or dinner meals. But, snacking in between the meals is not allowed. These two goals of no late night and no in-between-meals eating and drinking (except for water) are examples of those incremental and doable lifestyle changes that may initially seem insignificant in their scope of influence; but if applied consistently, will lead to some life-changing and life-sustaining results.
degreesofmaternity.com 