Lessons from oversleeping
I overslept today. My sleep schedule hasn't approached anything that could reasonably called a "schedule" for several weeks (night owl + insomnia = chaos!), so it's probably not all that surprising. The problem was that it was late enough to throw off my food schedule for the day. I'm not on some sort of tight schedule where I need to have breakfast at X o'clock and lunch at Y o'clock, and so on. But I do like to have at least some break between meals so I don't get too full.
So I made up my breakfast at some embarrassingly late hour and then sat down to eat. While I was munching on my peanut butter toast, I started to think: okay, so how am I going to get all my food in today?
I was thinking and making adjustments--I have a crochet group in the afternoon that meets at a coffee shop, so adding a latte would be easy to get in some extra energy without feeling overly full, and then get something to eat along with it. Or I could bring some trail mix. And then add something extra in the evening, and all should be good.
Which is when it hit me: instead of planning how to "get away with" eating less, I was planning how to keep in recovery.
I don't think I've ever done that before. I've gotten past the point where I look for opportunities to restrict, but it's been much harder to *not take them* when they arise. And this was a great excuse. After all, I was sleeping, which isn't really known for its calorie-burning potential. Since I didn't wake up until almost essentially lunchtime (I'm, like, seriously moritified over how late I slept, yo), just crossing breakfast off the list would have been super-duper easy.
Except I didn't. I shifted a few things, and added them in here and there and tried to be flexible. It wasn't always ideal, but I was committed to making it work. And that's a really cool place to be.
7 comments:
Ha, now I'm embarrassed because I sleep that late whenever I get a chance, and later (doesn't happen often though)
WAY COOL!!!!!!! I love it!!!! So proud of you. Thank you for posting this. :)
GOLD STAR, Carrie! Way to rock recovery!
Awesome :D go Carrie!
Carrie, this post could not have come at a better time! Just yesterday I was frustrated wondering if I was every going to get over the hill of over thinking my "meal plan" or even counting at all…. I remember what life was like without both and it is so discouraging when I begin asking myself WHEN am I going to have the power to stop these thoughts and habits? I am so glad to see that you are walking over that hill, what inspirational words! Congratulations and I hope you enjoyed your day sleeping in, we all need that every once and awhile!
It is always nice when the recovery voice is louder than the eating disorder. That is so awesome! Good for you :)
When I first entered treatment, all of the staff essentially told me that I'd never be able to sleep in again. While I'm happiest to go to bed at midnight and wake up at 8 most days, this usually doesn't work. I have to get up at 7 or earlier, so when I get a chance, I LOVE sleeping in.
So I just had to figure out how to make it work. I was also pretty damn proud of myself when oversleeping wasn't an excuse for restricting. But I just had to find out how to fit all of that food into my day.
I was in 3rd year university the first time I slept in till noon. I didn't know what to do - I'd have to eat both breakfast and lunch in the same meal! One of my roommates told me that this was called "eating brunch." Novel idea!
I've since discovered that French toast with maple syrup (I'm Canadian) followed by scrambled eggs with raspberry jam (I'm weird...) is my favourite thing to have for brunch! So I have it in such epic quantities that losing out on the much-needed calories is no longer a concern. Ever.
Way to go for an awesome recovery milestone!
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