Imperfectly Starting the Unprocessed October Challenge!

Crap. That’s what I said to myself when I saw someone post about the #Unprocessed Challenge on twitter.

I TOTALLY forgot about it. Actually, that’s not completely true, I don’t think I even realized it was October until yesterday!

Is it just me? or is time passing us by? I really can’t keep up anymore.

Maybe it’s the kids.

Yeah.. I’ll blame them. ;)

Anyway, I saw Andrew post the October #Unprocessed challenge and I immediately signed the pledge weeks ago. I love a challenge and this is a good one! It may also be the little nudge I need to nix my current nighttime snack habit. So I’m starting today. err I mean I started today!

That’s right. I started in the middle of the week, 4 days late, when I already had dinner plans and I’ve never. been. more. motivated.

“Old Roni” would have never, EVER, done something like that. She would
have used both her lateness and the middle of the week-ness as an excuse to write off the whole month of October, but not before totally pigging out at her “last dinner out” because, you know, you can’t eat out when you’re being perfect. Since the challenge is for a month, she’d end up waiting until Nov 1 to start. Oh, look at that, November 1 is a Thursday, Hmmm, Sunday the 4th will have to be my new start day. Crap, screwed up by having a cookie, looks like Monday, Nov 5 starts my lifetime of Unprocessed eating. I swear I’ll never, ever, eat another cookie ever again!

Go ahead, laugh or tell me I’m crazy, but that is exactly how my brain works. I still fight off tinges of this mindset today and I know some of you do it too. That’s why I keep bringing it up. There’s no way to stop the yo-yo dieting cycle of hell until you hop off the perfection wagon.

I already know I’m not going to be perfect on this challenge. It’s not that I’m trying to set myself up to fail. Actually, it’s the complete opposite!

For me, it’s better to go into a challenge prepared for imperfection than have some inflated sense of confidence and an overblown concept of what perfection looks like. Instead I’ll try my best, plan as much as possible, make decisions as they arise, and continue moving forward towards my goal regardless of any indiscretions.

Hmmmm sounds like what a weight loss attempt should look like, doesn’t it?

Maybe we wouldn’t have multiple attempts and start overs if we went in knowing we will never be perfect on a “diet.” We’d just be in a state of… well, of Stateless Dieting. That’s what I call it anyway. No more of this on plan/off plan stuff. We simple do the best we can ALL the time.

Does that make any sense?

Anyway, day 1 unprocessed for me was a success! I had eggs, kale, peppers, quinoa and sweet potatoes, pears, cashews, chicken, green salad, walnuts, cheese, and dried fruit.

Not bad! Right?

I’d do a regular food journal but I’m exhausted. Not enough sleep last night and had a busy day. I started working on FitBloggin’13. YIKES!