Do It Different

Einstein said, "doing the same thing over and over again, and expecting different results," is insanity—and doing even more of the same old thing is even crazier. If you want different results, you need to think outside of the box and do things differently.

For me, this applies to the whole diet and exercise routine.  Doing the same cardio, the same resistance things keeps me in the same place.  And I want to be out of that place and on my way to losing pounds, and creating muscle that burns calories more efficiently.

One of the things I need to admit to myself is that life can't go back to the way it was.  My new way of eating has to be forever, a lifetime.  My biggest downfall:  tortilla chips.  If they're in the house, I'm wanting them.  Just that little bit of salty crunch is very satisfying.  But remember that old Lay's commercial where "no one can eat just one" ... well, that's so true for me.  I've done better, I can be happy, satisfied, with just one serving.  However, I'm convinced that even one helping is sabotaging my weekends, and by Monday when I hop on that scale, I'm so disappointed in myself. 


I read on one of my SparkPeople pages that when it comes to having trouble resisting that sweet tooth of yours, for example, (or tortilla chips) -- don’t waste time blaming yourself or trying to figure out what’s wrong with your willpower. Ask yourself what the payoff really is. Is it simple pleasure, emotional comfort, or relief from boredom or other unwanted feelings? Then ask yourself what you can do that would give you that same payoff, without the extra calories.  Focus on what you do right, and work on it from that angle.

But really, that lesson could apply to a lot of things in life.  If we're doing things for the wrong reasons, we need to face those reasons and start doing different things in order to achieve different results.  If we keep doing the same thing(s) over and over again, we can't expect different results.

It's time to do it different. Now.