The Rules

If you've been reading this blog for any length of time, you've noticed that I have a set of rules that I follow when I am "on track."

They include:

• No breakfast at fast food places.
• No eating out on weekdays.
• Three liters of water a day.
• No more than two diet cokes a day.
• Exercise 5-6 days a week.
• A daily calorie intake that concurs with my desire to lose weight (the actual number varied)

In the past, having these rules worked well for me. They gave me boundaries. When I stuck to them, I lost weight.

However, having these rules has drawn sharp lines in my life.  I'm either succeeding, when I'm following the rules, or failing, when not following the rules.  Success leads to feeling confident, in control, happy.  Failure, well, failure sucks.

How did my confidence and my happy become about whether I follow a few rules that I set for myself? Why did I draw these lines in the sand?

I realize I need to lose weight and that I set these rules to help me with that.  But they've become too all-important.  So now I'm going back to the drawing board to figure out what being healthy is all about.  And I'm thinking it's going to more than just a set of stupid rules that I find hard to follow.  I'll let you know when I figure it out.