Fat Tuesday

Marti Gras decorations
Marti Gras decorations

Mardi Gras, French for Fat Tuesday, is a giant party where people tend to indulge their vices, or as I like to think of it: the pigging out most people do before starting a diet.

Fat Tuesday is followed by Ash Wednesday, which, in the Catholic tradition, marks the first day of Lent, the 40 days preceding Easter. Lent is a time of sacrifice, fasting and discipline, or as I like to think of it: being on a diet.

Then on Easter Sunday, everyone goes to church, hunts for Easter eggs, eats chocolate bunnies, and life goes back to “normal.”

“Normal,” with respect to eating, should be synonymous with living a “healthy lifestyle,” which requires enough self-discipline to eat your vegetables, but with the occasional indulgences for things like birthdays and special events. It’s mostly being content to live in Lent (minus the fasting) with the sporadic allowance for a Fat Tuesday cheat meal.

Well balanced meal
Well balanced meal

A healthy lifestyle doesn’t come easily for me; yo-yo dieting does, because at least with a diet you know the end is near. To be perfectly honest, sometimes following a healthy lifestyle feels to me like a never-ending Lent.

Hopefully, one day I will find that dietary Nirvana where I feel at peace with following my meal plan and not crave cheat meals so often. To keep myself motivated to stick with the new normal of consistent clean eating, I set up mini-goals for myself along the way that require me to wear a bathing suit in public, like figure and fitness competitions, so I don’t slowly creep back into the gluttony of my past. Perhaps this isn’t ideal, I should just want to always be healthy, but for now mini-goals work for me.

How about you? Do you find living a healthy lifestyle easy or a challenge?

Lisa 😉

@sheslosingitnet
http://www.facebook.com/ShesLosingItnet
Sheslosingit.com (c) 2014 Lisa Traugott. All rights reserved. No portion of this blog, including any text, photographs, and artwork, may be reproduced or copied without written permission.

8 thoughts on “Fat Tuesday

  1. I found a healthy lifestyle to be quite a chore to start with, all the working out and eating right was torturous! It only took me a few months to accept it though, and maybe 6 months to be happy with all of it. The workout part was easy to like, the food bit was harder, but I think because I went too far on the ‘eat nothing and only eat healthy things’ side of things to begin, that when I started eating like a normal healthy person again it felt like indulging!

    1. I’m always afraid that I’m going to go overboard with the indulgences. At least now I know how to reign myself in more before I get really out of hand. Looking forward to getting where you are!

  2. How do you keep up with your diet or clean eating when you are sick? I find myself eating nothing but what sounds good which means ice cream or chips.

    1. It sounds like you are craving comfort food, ’cause, let’s face it, being sick requires some TLC! When I’m sick I usually crave chicken noodle soup because that’s what my mom gave me.
      The thing that keeps me motivated to stick to the meal plan, even when I’m sick, is whatever fitness goal I’m working towards. It also helps to get the chips and ice cream out of the house so they are not even a possibility. And keep in mind that eating clean boosts your immunity, making you well faster.
      Feel better!

  3. I think a healthy lifestyle might only come easy to those who grew up that way, like in a family who naturally eat healthfully and practice healthful behaviors. For me it never comes easy but the times that make it the hardest are when I’m cutting back way too much – Then it just gets messy and I’m waiting for the moment when the diet ends so I can eat everything in sight.

    1. I think you’re right. Pretty much everything we ate was processed food and prepackaged, so even just cooking is new to me. Maybe my kids will be used to it by the time they grow up, which is a good thing.

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *