What kind of potatoes do you want with that?

Pop quiz: What do two 10 lb bags of russet potatoes & 2 packages of bacon and I have in common?

Bad Habits Can Suck It!

You know, you grow up learning how to do things a certain way.  You watch those that you live with, learning how they doing things and you mimic them.  Those habits then become who you are when you finally leave the nest and live on your own. 

Now, some of those habits are wonderful…helpful even.  I can thank my mom for teaching me to always rinse my plates/bowls out when they are put in the sink (don’t faint, mom! It’s shocking that it sunk in…I know!) . My Aunt gave me the habit of ALWAYS hanging the bath mat over the edge of the tub when you are done showering.  See these habits are helpful, and let me look like less of a slob. 

Some habits…well, some habits suck!  They are the type of habits that ruin your health, your self-esteem, and your confidence. I refuse to lay blame with my upbringing for these types of issues.  Yes, I did learn a lot of them growing up, but now that I’m an adult I take full responsibility.  Being master of my own destiny and all that…I can’t say I’m in charge of who I am to be if I keep looking back to blame people from my past.

To be honest, I really felt like I had a handle on my bad habits.  I had not eaten anything from a drive-thru or a gas station.  I made sure that the only thing to pass my lips past 7 pm was water.  I didn't make a single joke about myself to make others laugh.  I didn't make any excuses to get out of exercising.  I have been well behaved and a different person lately…that was until Tuesday.

On Tuesday I drove up to Glacier for some time with my camera.  Like I have done in the past, I stopped at the gas station on the way out of town to fill up the gas tank.  I swear that was all I was going to do, but BAM next thing I know I've gone in the store and bought all sorts of junk food for the trip.  The old me used to do this all the time.  She would go and buy a bag of chips, a couple of candy bars, and a few bottles of water. But the new me is different.  I didn't even realize what I had done until I was in the car and 10 miles down the road!

At first, I was disappointed in myself and in the fact that I was doing something the old me would do.  I must have looked like a loon talking to myself…swearing that I would take them to Steven’s work so I wasn't tempted.  HA! I should have known better. What I should have done is stop and thrown it all away (except the water…we all need our water!).  Well, half way up Glacier I was stuck in construction and got bored.  Yep! I broke open the chips.

See, my BIGGEST bad habit is eating when I’m not hungry…just bored.  It’s such a simple thing but so damn hard to break myself of.  At home, I have been doing really well with avoiding the “I’m bored so let’s see what there is to munch on” feeling, but in that car I wasn’t able to face down the temptation. 

The good news is that I didn't give in to my second bad habit of making myself feel guilty.  In the past I would have let the fact that I ate when I was bored get to me.  I would put myself down, which would leave me feeling like “I am never going to lose any weight because I can’t make it a single day without screwing up!!”  Feeling like this would cause emotional eating, my third bad habit!   

Do you see where I’m going with this?  One bad habit would lead to another and another and another!  In the end I would be left feeling sick from over-eating, sad for how I was seeing myself, and feeling that there was no hope that anything would ever change. 

Yes, I stumbled and I could have done better BUT I looked at it for what it was…a mistake.  In that moment I realized that I’m going to slip up occasionally and that I need to learn from it and move on.  Realizing and accepting that it was a one-time mistake kept me from putting myself down, feeling bad, and comforting with food.  One bad habit resurfaced but THAT WAS ALL!

So now I know that I need to be uber-aware of my actions when I’m doing something familiar.  I can’t rely on auto-pilot and expect a different outcome until I have changed my habits for the better.