Overcoming Challenges

What has been your greatest struggle for your journey? What has been the hardest hurdle to pass and accomplish? Is this also your greatest victory?

This questions was posted in one of my communities and I thought I should post this here too. I need to post some of my posts from there here too so I have the whole picture when I look back on it. I've had to overcome quite a bit in my journey since February.

Bring lunch to work
First is bringing my lunch to work and not eating out as much. I've tried this numerous times before and I always faltered within a few weeks. All I needed back then was Jason being out of town for a few days and somehow that translated to me eating badly because I hate cooking for one. This time I was determined, and I just looked at it as an opportunity to cook what I liked and ensure leftovers for the next day or two.

Eating Out
Limiting how often we eat out is hard, because it also limits my ability to socialize. However, just bringing my lunch to work cuts down on eating out immensely, so I usually limit eating out to weekends and now we usually eat out an average of 3 times a week, which is a lot better than it used to be. I am also trying to order more seafood dishes whenever I eat out since it is so new to me and I find it harder to cook seafood at home with some variety. The list of seafood dishes I can make is pretty limited: baked or pan fried tilapia, shrimp, and crab.

More Fruits & Veggies
Another huge struggle has been eating more fruits and veggies. I've never really liked veggies much, but lately I've been trying new things so I can expand my options and is working out great. It just seemed so much easier to reach for that pre-made snack (granola bars, nabisco 100 calorie packs) but I finally realized that's just a crutch so I am cutting up fruit to have at the ready. This is really helping. The variety of fruits and vegetables I now eat on a regular basis has grown too.

Less Sweets: Chocolate & Ice Cream
Finally, my biggest struggle is probably sweets. I love chocolate and ice cream; when I started this I said I was not going to deny myself anything because it would just make me crave it more. Instead, I decide to just control it. This is why I bought those nabisco packs and oreo granola bars, etc. I figured, I won't be able to cut it out entirely, but at least I can try a healthier option. Well I am getting sick of that and going to try to limit even these now. I did not replenish my supply of any of these or ice cream the last time I went shopping. Instead, I stocked up on yogurt, fruits, and veggies.

Exercise
Surprisingly, exercising has not been the struggle I thought it would be. Once I got into the groove, I was working out regularly. Once I found running, its become part of my life.