Give yourself a break...

With Easter being this weekend I felt like this was the best advice to give you guys. 

GIVE YOURSELF A BREAK.

I am not joking. Eat some chocolate, eat some cake. DO IT.

Last night Jordan and I were talking during dinner about health. This is a pretty typical conversation because I love learning more about being healthy and honestly my husband is a rock star about being fit and eating right. He is way more strict than I am, being that he eats a whole hell of a lot more salad than me daily. I mean he can eat 4-6 cups a day and doesn't mind it one bit. Salad in that quantity makes me gag. If I eat 2-3 cups I would be jumping up and down waving victory flags with flashing lights that read "I DID IT!". Mainly why I drink smoothies, but honestly that doesn't happen daily. 

Anyways back to the conversation. The night before was my last day of a 3 day cleanse I was trying. Guys, I am NOT a rule follower, I think when there are rules in front of me it makes me WANT to break them so let's just say the 3 day cleanse was somewhat of a fail. BUT not a complete fail, I did lose almost 3 lbs. The last night of the cleanse Jordans grandma came and we took the boys to Chick Fil-A to play and eat dinner. Chick Fil-A is hands down my favorite fast food place! My cleanse rules were to have salad at dinner with white meat. Well I got salad with some chicken on it, so that counted RIGHT? bahaha see how I bend those rules (PS the other nights of the cleanse I ate pork, you know why, it's kind of a white meat right? bahahah) Well I ate my salad mainly because it was pilled high with chicken and oranges on it. The boys as usual did not finish all their fries and nuggets, so of course I had to help them! 

I also decided it would be best if I helped them finish their cookies and cream shake. Yup my cleanse did not call for any of that. And you know what....I didn't care. I just laughed it off. Yeah I failed day 3 of my cleanse but you better believe I did that crap in style and sucked down every last bit of that marvelous cookies and cream shake! Did the world stop because I, Allie Darr just ate fast food with a milkshake, NO! It did not. The world kept spinning and rolling right along. And I my friends could careless. 

The following morning a box arrived in the mail from a friend that included some amazing Easter goodies for the boys and myself. There was a giant chocolate covered peep just for me! It shouldn't take you long to imagine what my breakfast consisted of. Yup. A chocolate covered peep. It was freaking divine. And for dinner last night Jordan's grandma had brought us a casserole to try (she wanted us to taste test before she made if for the priest next month, bless her soul) It was made of typical things we don't have for dinner, lots of carbs, but who am I to not eat that? Just because it does not fully fall into our guidelines does not mean I can't eat it. We enjoyed it, it was pretty darn good and guess what again, the world did not stop.

2 nights in a row I did not eat ideally. Guess what, I am still alive and fine. Back to that darn coversation Jordan and I were having as we were eating his grandma's calorie carb loaded high casserole in all it's glory! We were talking about giving yourself a break and how most women beat themselves up over EVERY single tiny choice they make about eating and exercise. Jordan and I are both firm believers that your diet can give a little bit, as well as your exercise. Stressing yourself out over missteps or hiccups is not good. Stress raises cortisol. Cortisol causes weight gain. Hence, STOP STRESSING. 

The whole game is all mental. Mark's Daily Apple just did a post about a group of women. They were given the same milkshake. One group was told it was a high calorie indulgent shake and the other group was told it was a low calorie diet shake. The group who drank the "high calorie" shake was fulfilled and felt much more full and the other group was still wanting more. Yet they drank the same exact shake. Your mind can make you feel so much about what you are eating. It can really wreak havoc on your diet. 

Please stop stressing about the whole process. Give yourself a break and don't over-think every single calorie. Some days I kick ass at the whole being healthy game, I eat well and workout and some days I fall off the wagon and eat something that isn't healthy or god forbid I don't get in a full workout. It is what it is. I am still in a better place than I was a mere 5 weeks ago. Guys, I have lost 10 lbs from changing my way of eating and exercising. 

I haven't been the poster-child of perfect eating and exercise all those weeks. And as you can see, I still had results. I encourage you guys to PLEASE stop over-thinking this whole thing. Stop stressing yourself out about every tiny choice. Give yourself a break. When you fall off the bandwagon just dust yourself off and keep chugging along. You can't take that hiccup back so just move on! Now don't take this the wrong way and eat horrible every meal, that my friends won't work! It's all in moderation baby!

This also rolls over into motherhood and being married. Things are not always rainbows and butterflies, some days I feel like the world's worst mother but I lay my head down on my pillow each night and know that I tried. I may not have succeeded in being the perfect mom or wife for that day, but it's okay. Tomorrow is a new day and I can fix things and change. As long as you are trying to better yourself you are doing a great job. You can't be the perfect wife, mother and health person every single moment of every single day.

Give yourself a break guys.

xoxo