Sorting Out the Mornings

I did not accomplish all that I intended over my recent staycation, but I got one big thing under control: my mornings. 

I had fallen into a lousy cycle of oversleeping, dressing hastily, eating garbage, and showing up substantially late to work every day. It set the wrong tone for the whole day, making me unnecessarily stressed, cranky, and uncomfortable.

Every day this week I woke up with enough time to prepare a green smoothie, pop it in the freezer while I showered and dressed, then take my time getting ready. Temperature, it seems, plays a critical role in how palatable these smoothies become, and drinking them slowly over my commute has been working out reasonably well.

Five days of green smoothies, being on time, and dressing carefully felt like a good start. My lunch choices were approaching  sensible, and almost every day I ate half the lunch portion at work and the other half for dinner, so the damage from poor choices was slightly mitigated.

I also started keeping a food diary, including a column with notes about the way I felt. I don't think it's a coincidence that the first week I got on track with smoothies, I had gastrointestinal pyrotechnics and discomfort most days. I am trying to tell myself it's just my system adjusting from carb-laden garbage to the nutritional assault of raw vegetables and yogurt, but yikes, I hope it gets sorted out soon.

I am also confronted by the not at all surprising discrepancy between the way I think I eat and the way I actually eat. There were an awful lot of handfuls of chocolate-covered things and chips and salsa for someone pretending at eating healthier. And when I am giving myself permission to indulge, I'm really going way off the deep end. It reads like I'm actively trying to gain weight, instead of the exact opposite.

So, I know the issues and I need to work on them. I flopped on exercise besides my daily 4-5 miles (way too hot this week), I ate with abandon on Friday and Saturday, but I made substantial progress on improving my morning routine. And I dutifully drank my green smoothies every day this week. It may be only a glimmer of improvement, but I'll take it.