Weekly Check-in: Arghh!

I am having the hardest time staying motivated! I am so frustrated because I can't seem to get 10,000 steps in a day. I'm getting close--I usually end up with about 8,000. I am overwhelmed with my schedule. I know I need to make time to exercise and eat better, but it's so hard! 

If I've only gone 6,847 steps so far today, why am I so exhausted?!

For example, one of my goals is to not eat after 9:00 p.m. But I have night classes Mondays and Wednesdays...And I'm hungry when I get home!!!!! I think being a student in general makes me hungrier than usual. When I am home studying, I always get the munchies.

And when I'm stressed, which seems to be more and more lately, I turn to junk food. For example, the day before last was crazy. I spent all day at school, then came home and had to hurry and get my family situated and rush off to a church responsibility. I came home late at night from that and had school deadlines to meet. My kids were not in bed, the dishes were not done, and there was no food in house to make the kids' lunches with for the next day. I wanted to scream! I wanted a chocolate bar and a coke! So when I ran to the grocery store, can you guess what I picked up? Oh yeah, a nice, Dove chocolate bar. So not only did I eat after 9:00 p.m., but I ate junk food!

Days are jammed packed with deadlines and rushing, rushing, rushing to meet them and take care of my family. This is not going to change, so I need to find some way to lose weight in spite of the insanity that is my life. Other people can do it. Other people have done it. I want to do it too!

How do I retrain myself to turn to something besides junk food for comfort?????

Okay, I'm calm now. In this day and age when we have a question or a problem, we turn to Google, right? This is what I found:

50 Ways to stay motivated to lose weight

Some great ideas here. Did you know the color blue is an appetite suppressant? Interesting. Some of my favorite ideas are:

• Limit but not eliminate (I like this one a ton. If we deprive ourselves of something, we only crave it more)
• Celebrate small victories (I am doing well at getting 4-5 servings of fruits & veggies a day--yay!)
• Be kind to yourself (Working on this...I have high expecations and I am not meeting them. It's frustrating!)
• Have an accountability partner (I'm in a "biggest loser" group with my family. We need to be better about holding each other accountable)
• Sleep on it (I love this idea. If my goal is on my mind when I go to bed and when I wake up, I'm more likely to think about it during the day when temptation hits!)
• Be your own cheerleader (This kind of goes with "Be kind to yourself")
• Get a theme song to keep you motivated (The site suggested "Spaceman" by the Killers. I need to listen to it. I'll pick a theme song and get back to you.)

Well, I'm feeling a little better. I can do this. I can do this. I can do this...