I originally joined the 60day for a few reasons.  The first being that my husband had signed up and I thought it would be a great thing for us to do together.  Exercising and moving my body hasn’t been a problem for me for some time. I love exercising, but I often struggle with being disciplined with my diet. I knew the 60day would help and heading into summer, which is usually a hard time to be disciplined, I thought this challenge would really give me a good jumpstart during a difficult time to make good food choices.  In the end, it wasn’t really about a certain amount of pounds to lose but rather just having my clothes fit me better.

I started my first diet when I was a teenager.  Over the next 20 or so years I would continue to diet on and off.  In short, I was tracking my food intake in some way.  I usually was pretty good about having a good balance with allowing a treat and not being super strict. I measured all my food with a food scale or measure cups/spoons.  So a serving of chips or a cookie wasn’t that big of a deal to me as long as I tracked it.  I would still have binging sessions and it was a huge struggle to stop, oftentimes they’d last days, weeks or months.  Deep down, I had a goal to try to overcome the trigger for these binges and if possible begin to heal from it.

When I looked at the 60day meal plan it scared me because it gave me about 70-80% of my nutrition and I had to make choices on how to fill the rest and I had to do this without knowing how many calories were in those meals. How was I going to make sure I didn’t overeat with that remaining 20-30%? I almost quit before I started. I told myself to let go and give it a try.  It was only 60 days and after that I could go back to tracking if I wanted.

Shortly after the class on meal planning/prepping, I began to mentally transform and after using the meal plan for a few weeks I decided it was time to try it on my own by referencing what I learned in that class. We had spent a lot of time on what to include on your plate when eating and while I am not a stranger to meal planning it was going to be difficult to give up the control of how much I was eating. Not using my measuring cups or a food scale was a foreign concept when dieting. But I wanted to use the strategies I had learned in that class and eat a well-balanced diet without being obsessed with tracking food intake. I realized that for me, I needed a lifestyle that didn’t involve obsessing over how much I was eating. I began to wonder if the last 20 years of dieting on and off was causing the binge eating. I can’t say for certain that is the reason but what I do know it feels freeing to let go of what could be holding me back.  I look forward to continuing on this journey I’m on. I want to continue to say no to tracking everything that goes into my mouth, I want to say no to measuring cups and food scales.  I want to continue to trust my body in what it wants and needs. I do not want to rely on tracking my food anymore.  I only want to rely on myself.

I certainly couldn’t have made this realization without the 60day and it helped to have cheerleaders along the way.  The trainers always seem to remember me from the Try it Tuesdays and Sampler Saturdays and would make a point to smile, wave, say hello, offering encouragement and advice.  I know they will be there to continue to support me as I start the process of healing and trusting myself.