Time for Reflection.

It's been a while since I've posted here. To be honest, over the last couple of months, I've been slipping in following the Primal Blueprint.  I've still been trying to be good, but I've not been exercising, and have been taking the easy way out when it comes to food.

Today's post at Mark's Daily Apple, got me thinking about what I've achieved since discovering the Primal Blueprint, and what I had hoped to achieve.  As Mark suggested, I've decided to sit down, and write down exactly what went right for me, what didn't go right, and ways of building from what I've achieved so far.

So, to start off, my achievements since May:
- The realisation that my previous diet was not working, and needed to change for me to become healthier
- Obtaining the knowledge I needed about food and diet to allow me to eat healthier.
- Finding a fitness plan that I can fit into my lifestyle, which would not leave me dreading the thought of working out.
- Losing weight, without any of the struggles that I would normally go through.

All of these achievements come down to one thing: having a ready source of information and support, courtesy of Mark's Daily Apple, and the forums there.

Now, it's time to look at what didn't go so well.  Last year certainly had its share of ups and downs.  My initial success following the Primal Blueprint was tempered by slipping back into old, bad habits.  So, here's what went wrong:
- Not eating according to the Primal Blueprint
- Not persevering with exercising.

Several things went wrong last year to cause both of those problems.  My slip back to bad eating habits started innocently enough at work, one day, when I decided that after months of avoiding all chocolate, except for dark chocolate with 70% cocoa or greater, to have one of the fund raising chocolates at work.  It was like one little pebble rolling down a hill had started a land slide.

After that, I found it near impossible to continue to avoid the bad stuff.  The worst bit is, I knew I should be able to do it, after all, I'd been doing it for several months.  But, I found the second attempt so much harder than the first.

The one other reason I can see for slipping back into bad habits comes down to one thing: taking the easy way out.  There were plenty of times, after a crappy day at work, that we chose not to cook something healthy, and instead we got take away food.  The worst part was, each time we did this, I found it harder to go back to healthier eating choices.

I also did myself no favours by putting myself in situations where it was easy to eat the wrong kinds of food.  I play RPGs two or three times a month, and it's normal for these sessions to be fuelled by soft drink and junk food.  I've always tried to ensure I had plenty of healthy snacks available, but after 4 or 5 hours sat staring at the bag of M&Ms, it gets very hard to refuse them.

I guess one thing to bear in mind is that, all things considered, last year wasn't actually a bad year for me.  I found a healthier way of living, one which makes it easier for me to lose weight and get fit again.  So, the challenge now is to take all of this into consideration, and find a way to be more successful in the coming year.