This morning I woke up with grand plans to hit up a yoga class after school. But, I checked the schedule and there are NO Level 1 classes today. 🙁
I haven’t been to real yoga in a year. (I went to yoga at the gym two or three times in MD.) And yoga is hard for me – which is why I’ve been avoiding it. But, my muscles are super tight and I know I feel better when I walk out of class every time.
I love a certain yoga studio in Orange County and have been looking forward to getting back there too. But, I will have to wait until tomorrow for a Level 1 class. I considered going to a Level 1-2, but I want to like yoga not have it kill me.
Instead I did 8 min. Abs and a 3 mile run 🙂
Then I threw together a quick breakfast of an English Muffin – one side with PB and the other with Laughing Cow cheese and jam. Both were sprinkled with chia seeds.
I grabbed this yogurt from Target yesterday when I went looking for their Fall flavors. They weren’t there yet.
The other night Ben and I were talking about where I am with Intuitive Eating. I was doing really well for a while and felt really good about it. I wasn’t really writing about it because I was living my life and it was coming naturally 🙂
But, my super hectic schedule and resulting fatigue and stress has caused me to take some steps backwards.
I am not willing to track my food or calories because I already have enough to worry about. But, I do need to stay aware of when I am overeating, stress eating or snacking out of fatigue if I want to achieve my goals.
I’ve decided to keep track of successful IE days on this calendar. Every day I eat intuitively and don’t snack or overeat – I get a sticker. 
Ben always thinks in mathematical terms and basically suggested that if I can get x amount of stickers in x amount of days, or a sticker 80% of the time – I will be making progress no problem. I bought into that theory and decided to test it.
It’s about progress not perfection. I’m not going to get a sticker everyday and that’s okay as long as it’s more often than not – that’s good.
Outside of this, I am just going to be living my life and trying to fuel myself well. This is for observational purposes to help me reach goals without being preoccupied with it. I put a stick on the calendar at the end of the day and that’s it – 5 seconds. I won’t be talking about this again for a while because I am trying to just listen to my body. If you have questions feel free to ask though.
Today is the last day to vote for Challenge 3. Just saying.
“It’s about progress, not perfection”. ♥ ♥ ♥ this.
I love this sticker idea. I have officially given up dieting and counting (for my sanity), and I love the idea of IE, but have had trouble actually remembering to do it. Thanks for the idea!
I am a big fan of stickers on a calendar. Actually, I started doing it a few weeks ago, and it worked like a charm! Somehow, I got away from it, and now I’m thinking it’s time to break out the stickers again!
I do the same thing with my calendar. Well I did last month and I have so far this month. It’s teaching me a lot.
Awesome plan. You could even reward yourself each week you hit your goal, with a small thing (not food-related) like a 5 dollar gift for yourself or special time with your husband.
That is such a great plan! I just bought a weekly whiteboard to plan my dinners and workouts for the week. I have struggled with intuitive eating for many years as well…I might try to incorporate your calendar into my life. Any advice you have on the subject would be greatly appreciated. I’m in Newport Beach and would LOVE to meet with Evelyn Tribole, but I just can’t afford it right now…
Great idea! I think this is a safe way to note your progress without obsessing over numbers or calories. That could lead into some more issues, so if this works for you, GO FOR IT! 🙂
I love Ben’s suggestion (aren’t guys so mathematical??) but I love even more how much he supports you. I have the same support with Billy and it just freaking rocks.
I actually do the same thing, of sorts! It def helps when I look at them everyday and see how far I’m getting!
I go through periods of intuitive eating success and intuitive eating FAIL! I like reading about your successes and struggles, it really helps me. I’m loving this calendar concept too, I might try to do something similar in my planner. Good luck, you should get a reward for your first 80% goal!!
First off I want to say, great job on your progress. That is the hardest thing for me to learn in my eating journey is that our diets are in this gray area. We will have those ups and downs moments. I do like the sticker thing, however maybe you should get cool stickers like back in grade school. Just a suggestion. 🙂
I totally looked for cool stickers but couldn’t find any 🙁 Boo.
I know what you mean about not even having time/energy to count calories. It’s exhausting and depressing. I think your sticker idea is great! I may try that too. I think 80% is very appropriate and I know you can do it! I think it is so great that you have a loving husband that leans a listening ear and helps you out with something that is important to you. Don’t take him for granted! Love you!
Great idea from Ben! It’s so funny that you posted this today — last night I was checking out all these “habit” apps in the iPhone app store based on the same principal. Like, you set up a specific goal (like, minimum 20 minutes of running 4 times a week) and then track it as you do it, and it gives you feedback on your compliance rate. Because you don’t need to do it right 100% of the time to make progress. 80%-90% will still get you where you want to go. I want to write a post about it after I’ve tried them out… So I’m really interested in hearing how you like your new tracking method! You should have gotten smiley face stickers though. 😉 Hehe.
I love that idea! I think I am going to implement it as well!
I have been struggling with this as well, but I was curious as far your snacking goes…are you counting little nibbles here and there like when your prepping breakfast in the morning etc. ? What about if you eat a piece of chocolate? I mean would you give yourself a star for eating just one and not 10?
I think I probably already know the answers to these questions, but I was just curious about what your guidelines were for this project.
I have the book Intuitive Eating, but I think I need to go back and reread again and again.
Thanks Monica!
I’m not going to judge myself on the little things, like a handful of cereal when I’m making breakfast. But, if I go eat 5 handfuls after work or at night, then proceed to pour some in a bowl… that counts as not eating intuitively.
Hey! I actually did the same thing but rather than stickers I just used a marker to make an X. It was really cool to see them take over the calender. I totally forgot about that method so thanks for reminding me!
Good luck!
I think the calender is a great idea! I love the idea of seeing your progress over a longer period of time instead of each day. If you have a few not so good days then it doesn’t seem so bad in the grand scheme of a month. Good luck!
I seriously love the Fall Flavors at Target! Why aren’t they out yet?!?!? 🙂
I so need to get myself organized too. I think you just motivated me. Good luck girly!
what are these fall flavors??
Pumpkin! and some other one that I am not nearly as interested in 🙂
omg, i hope it’s better than stoneyfields pumpkin. total disappointment.
When I first started tracking my exercise I used star stickers on my calender for each day I worked out. It was really motivating! It may seem stupid that a sticker could motivate but it does.
This seems like a good idea! Your commitment to this is seriously impressive!