Monday, March 21

Maintenance - the Ultimate Panacea?








This is an excerpt from a recent email from Liz, after admitting that I'd had emotional couple of days and basically went a bit crazy with the food at my cousin's engagement party last weekend...


"Hi Kerry,

Now that you're getting closer to maintenance and adopting more skills to be able to stay at your 57kg for life, it's worth talking a bit more about emotional eating and what triggers it.

For every bout of eating that's not planned or alternatively, food that is eaten when you're not hungry, usually has its roots tied up in emotional eating. It's important to recognize that we're all emotional creatures and rather than to try to be hardcore and pretend it's not happening, it's probably better to realize that we are nearly 100% of the time, emotional before we are logical. In fact, we'll use logic to justify our emotions.

For example - "I bought the little black dress because it was on special, and who wouldn't take advantage of a special - it seems the perfect time to buy".

"I supersized my meal because heck, every little cent counts these days and I want to find value"

When we emotionally eat, there's usually always an "Activating" Event.
From this event stems a "Belief" and from your "A" and your "B", there is usually a consequence.

For example:

A - not do so well with your Wing Chun
B - feel inadequate and frustrated
C - eat to numb the frustration and take the edge off - feel shitty.

It's what happens between A and B that is the most important - learning to change our perception of the situation - it's clear from the rest of the email you're starting to do this anyway.

From here it may be learning about yourself and your own personal eating print, that frustration or feelings of inadequacy drive you towards food - so rather than letting an emotional situation hurt you twice, you need to take your frustrations out elsewhere - this is called a COUNTERING technique
- a behaviour used to replace a poor or destructive behaviour with a good healthy technique - and pivotal to your long term success. "

So basically, I'm back at MAINTENANCE stage. It's good to be here.

It's the ulimate goal and place to be, but as most of you probably know, it's also one of the most challenging places to be, because that means that you've reached this goal. Fu*k! What do I do now? I mean, now that I'm here, I can't just say..."well I'm looking good, let's go crazy and eat all the shit I want and do sweet f*#all!"

But in actual fact, that's what alot of us do. We've put in all those months of hard, consistent work, and we tell ourselves that going back to eating shit, just for a little while, is our reward. WTF? (sorry about the swearing...armying on the weekend tends to put me in a 'take-no-prisoners' kind of mood...and we swear alot).

I've been down this road before, and I've lost sight of my goals. And you know, that's okay. You're not going to be perfect all the time. But in order to make this a 'life-long' thing and to stay here, feeling awesome takes just as much work, but it takes a different mindset.

So, as you can tell, I still have my emotional struggles. That's just life. Just when you figure you've got your shit sorted, some other emotional trigger comes to the fore, and you're left scratching your head and asking yourself..."where did that just come from?"

Though I do admit that I've just got better at overcoming those little 'emotional episodes'. I still fall in that hole, but these days I'm in it for less time and the holes aren't as deep. I don't overindulge to the same extent and I can't eat the same volume of food, i.e. the degree of shit I put in my body is not as bad and I can't eat as much shit as I used to.

So anyway. I'm getting better each time I do this. That's always my goal...to be better each day. That's all I can ask of myself. I'm not perfect...I'm work in progress.

Now the pics.

Sometimes we can amaze ourselves at the progress we make. I caught a glimpse of my reflection in the shower door. The lighting is different in there and it really shows more muscular definition. It was hard though to photograph, as when you have a whitewash of light, the muscles have less definition. So I don't look as lean in these photos, but it gives a fairly good idea.

I'm very happy with my upper body. It's easier to lean out. It's my lower body that I find harder to lose body fat. That's just genetics. Though it won't stop me working toward my goals. So from here, I'll be concentrating a little more on gaining muscle and more definition in and around my glutes and quads. Of course, I still want to be fairly lean, so it's going to be challenging. But I'm relishing the challenge, and regardless of the results, I'll still feel good.

As far as my abs, well it's harder to see at the bottom of my abs, purely because I have excess skin. I have to accept that, and the only way to see more definition is to a) increase muscle size, and b) remove the excess skin.
Now the bottom two pics...

More photos of my front garden. We've had alot of rain lately and yesterday afternoon I got in some gardening time and planted some perennials and added some compost and fertliser to give the soil a much-needed lift. I find gardening very therapeutic and I'm always plotting and planning my next lot of plants to improve the look of my garden. I love cottage gardens, and I love the 'rambling' look.

Today is a rest day, and I'm just enjoying 'being' in the present and enjoying peace and quiet, as hubby is at work (the office for a change), and Phil is at school. I've been looking forward to today just to have to myself. To enjoy my garden, the lovely cool weather, and listening to the birds and watching them. And when I finish this post, it will be time to get stuck into some domestic activity, so I can relax and enjoy a nice, clean, warm and inviting home.

And tomorrow, it's back to the gym.

11 comments:

Raechelle said...

"I'm just enjoying 'being' in the present" Awesome!
love the shots of the garden too!

Fifi said...

looking great Kerry (and so is your garden!) xxx

ss2306 said...

From personal experience at the core of every "episode" is ALWAYS a feeling and although sometimes it's difficult to work out what those feelings are it's well worth the effort to understand them and manage/deal/reduce the effects they have on you. Calvin Banyan has a book titled "The Secret Language of Feelings." which is well worth a read. And yes, your beliefs rooted in your subconsious will activate the reaction. Tried EFT? I think you're a meditator already?

Love what you see and be proud of who you are. You look fantastic!

Love Shelley xxx

Kerry W said...

It takes a gardener to appreciate gardens, and the love of watching things grow and blossom, Raechelle. :)

Thanks Frankie. Good to hear from you. XOX

Thanks for dropping by Shelley. Do you always make such profound comments? :) I will write that book down on my book wishlist. And BTW...what does EFT stand for?

ss2306 said...

EFT = emotional freedom technique. http://www.eftdownunder.com/

Paul Martin said...

Hello Kerry! Thanks for linking my Tactical Arnis site to your blog. You have some great insights into fitness/life from a great perspective - the personal one. That's the best story to tell. Really good stuff. Oh, btw, most guys won't talk about eating habits as 'disorders' but we 'comfort' eat with the best of them too!

Paul Martin said...
This comment has been removed by a blog administrator.
KRISTIN said...

You are looking awesome Kerry - so glad to read about how wonderful you are feeling. I loved your last post too, so cool to see your perspective over the years and how far you have come, you're a champ and I'm so pleased about your rehab and how things are going xoxoxox

Kerry W said...

Hey Paul

Thanks for dropping by...and no worries about the link. I actually found you through Tom Gerace (Things Worth Believing In), and found your blog interesting and you've got some good variety and differing perspectives and angles. Yeah...comfort eating - just looking at the general population, it's not exclusive to men or women. :P

Thanks Kristin! Great to hear from you. I've missed your blogging and on FB. Hope your studies are going well and life is great for you. It's a pity that things have become so 'hectic', that catching up for a coffee, is even difficult to do these days. Maybe we'll catch up if I can get along to a comp. Thinking about getting along to the one, end of May (IFBB?) to have a look. Take care hey? :)

Jules said...

Hi Kerry
Are you still training at CrossFit Brisbane? Or focusing on your martial arts? I think I'm finally ready to give CF a go. Scared much but I need something to get me excited again.

I'm really struggling with emotional eating, and managing my emotions generally. I might check out EFT that Shelley suggested. Thanks.

Kerry W said...

Hey Jules

No, I'm not doing Crossfit. It was too much for my body, given my injuries and imbalances. Let us know how you go hey?

Best of luck finding the answers. I haven't read the book Shelley has recommended. It's not in our public library, so I'll have to buy it. But I've learnt and used similar techniques through my friend Peter Barr from ingenius coaching (link is on the RHS of my blog page) to help me. Peter is a master NLP (neuro-linguistic programming) practicioner, and I found this type of technique extremely helpful as a tool to 'reprogram' and change, alter my thought/emotional processes.

Anyway...let me know how you go Jules. :)

 

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