Thursday, July 14, 2011

Auto pilot, cruise control......call it what you want, but it's all good!

You know I thought a long while about what to call my blog. I wanted it to be about weight loss, but also my thoughts, feelings and how I see life. I'm a chatty person, in case you couldn't tell, and I love to gab and chat about all things going on. I didn't suspect that I would enjoy writing them down so much. Actually, it is really typing them down. The writing thing never worked so well for me. Probably because my pen could never go as fast as my thoughts. The keyboard keeps up so much better!

So my original blog was called " cruise control to my dreams". I wrote this whole long introduction about how the BFC was going to put me into cruise control to get to my dreams, one of them being weight loss. I had no followers and eventually I erased my posts and started anew again. This time I called it "MY ( emphasis on my) Cruise Control.

I realized that I had to take control of my life, and my eating, and that if I could just get into the automatic habit of doing the same thing over and over, day in and day out, it would be like a car on cruise control. You still have to drive it,  you can't go to sleep and forget about it, but your speed is set and now you need to guide the vehicle to where you are going. Sometimes you have to step on the brake, sometimes you have to reset your speed, but you can get right back to the cruise control when you want to.
Awhile back, there was a blogger named Helen. For some reason she made her blog private, but when it was public, she used to write what she ate everyday, and her exercise. For that she would write "cardio on autopilot".  I asked her in the comment section on day, what it meant and she explained to me her AM cardio routine.  It was something she did everyday, on autopilot. It was part of her routine.

Now I like to think I have an AM cardio routine on most days. When the planets are aligned, after I've had my morning coffee, checked my emails, watched a bit of the morning news, then maybe I will do my cardio. I said MAYBE. If I am to be honest, I don't do it more than I do do it.

I like the idea that your exercise and your meals can be put on autopilot. It helps you know exactly what you are going to do (walk, zumba, yoga) each day when you get up, and it also helps with meals, as you get to know exactly what to eat and how many sugar, carbs are in that meal. You automatically do the right thing before you have time to think about doing the wrong thing.

As you may have noticed, I'm not really good about blogging my meals. I do try to write them down or I use an app on my IPAD that keeps track. I need to get better and start posting them.  I really like to see what others are eating, and I do enjoy when they post what they ate each day. I notice repetition, and I think that's a good thing. Your body starts to know what it can expect each day. No surprises!

So I hope you all have a good weekend. Leaving for the shore early tomorrow morning. Be back Sunday. Talk to you all next week. Have a great weekend.

Thought for the day: If you fail to plan...you plan to fail!

4 comments:

  1. Oh, Pattie, I love this idea of getting to autopilot! I think you are right - this is all where we want to get to. I've always considered it 'not counting calories' but I have come to learn that it's much, much more than that. Your post sums it up perfectly. It's not about having to count calories or not, it's about being so comfortable with your eating and daily routine that you don't have to think about it much. Have a great weekend!

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  2. Auto pilot is a good thing for exercise. I have fallen out of the habit for Zumba because they were refinishing the gym. It has been open all of this week and I have not gone once:( Now I have to hit that darn auto pilot again! Have a wonderful weekend. I'm a chatty person too, I love to talk...I love to give my opinions...I have been called opinionated...who me???:)

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  3. I love your thought of the day and it applies to my life so well. I think planning is especially important to the bfc because the food that is the easiest and most convenient is full of sugar. Sometimes I wonder how we got to a place where sugar was in everything, I am assuming it is because it is addictive and cheap. Have a great day :)

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  4. I agree with Katie that I also assume sugar is in everything because it is addictive and cheap! Eating natural foods instead of processed is the best thing for us but sometimes it is much quicker and easier to go for the packaged stuff. Planning is the only way around that I think. When my kids were little and we were on a tighter budget I used to plan out my whole week before I went to the grocery store! I need to go back to that kind of planning!

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