My personal experience is this; in your quest to create a healthier lifestyle, you will fail every single time unless you remember this Golden Rule:  Know What You Know

Here are some personal examples so you can see what I mean.

Breaking Bread

I know that if I buy a loaf of freshly baked bread from Safeway, I will eat half the loaf.  With butter.  In a very short period of time.  Therefore, I don’t buy a loaf of freshly baked bread from Safeway, Panera or any patisserie, for that matter. (This is the reason I donated my bread machine – I ate my weight in freshly baked, odd shaped loaves.)

Now, I’m not a fan of deprivation so I instead I’ll buy a small roll from the bakery.  Sure I’ll slather that sucker with butter if it’s hot and fresh but the damage is minor compared to what could happen.

The Early Bird

I like to run outside.  But I don’t like to run in the heat and in the daylight hours, truth be told.  Unless it’s a trail where I’m not going to run by my neighbors driving their kids to school.  So if I don’t start my run in the dark or that early morning blue light, I won’t go.  Know what you know.

Because of that I get up before 5am so I have time to get a Real Housewives of Wherever and 3 cups of coffee under my belt before I venture outside.  If I sleep in to 6:00am, it’s that much harder for me to get out of the door.

The Third Whatever

I’ve shared my feelings about a third anything.  2 cookies are ok but once you take the 3rd you are going to have a 4th and probably a 10th.  2 glasses of wine usually is good but once you down that 3rd, a shot of Fireball is coming.  And 2 days of “rest” is acceptable but once you roll into that 3rd day, it gets exponentially harder to get your widening tush off the couch.

So because of this I rarely even take 2 days off in a row (know what you know) let alone 3.  Sometimes I have a hard time taking even a day off but that’s just because I’m much happier when in motion.  But I do recognize the power of rest so I force myself to take a break.

Ok, so let’s turn the tables.  Figure out what you know sends you into a rut, off the rails, or running from your exercise program.  Once you identify it you can find ways to overcome it.

Now go run!

Keli 🙂