Mistakes and Resolutions

Question: “What mistake do you want to stop making?”

A common mistake that I have made over and over again in my life is my approach to food. I can workout everyday but as people say “abs are made in the kitchen”. Diet is not something that I have discussed much in these blogs and the reason that I bring it up now is to shed some light on giving ourselves grace. I eat a very healthy diet, I prioritize protein, fruits, and vegetables at least 3-4 servings of each daily. And of course, I love sweets, snacks, and ultra processed food. But finding the balance between all of it is key!

Childhood eating

Growing up, I always thoroughly enjoyed eating. Coming from an Italian family, food was made to put you into a better mood and cheer you up. And on the other Irish side of the family, food was always the core of our celebrations, along with games! The problem with my approach to food was I ate too much of it. I would go to my Grandmas everyday after school and she would feed me meals rather than an afterschool snack. We would eat Chinese food at 3pm and then I would proceed to come back to my own house and eat a whole dinner again. This process led to overeating and the incorrect portion size. My eating habits stemmed from boredom and just being in places where they had delicious food to eat. I always wanted to have those delicious foods all the time because my mom thankfully bought very healthy food. So when I went to a friend’s house and saw all of this different food I turned into a binge eater. A helpful tip that I have been trying is buying the treats and having the sweets in the house but not always needing to eat them because I know they are there but it is not a rush to finish them to go out to buy more, if that makes sense. Having the food is good to have a little bit of it at a time and not need a whole meal of that bad food in one serving.

Why fasting doesn’t work for me

The next caveat in the whole mistake was fasting. For the past 8-10 years of my life, I have fasted and did not have my first meal until noon. While this may be good for some, it doesn’t seem to work well for me. The problem is I would break my fast at noon with a protein shake, then have a few of my kids snacks when they were snacking after school and then eat a humongous dinner because I was ravenous from not consuming enough calories all day but then I overdid it again and paid for it with stomach aches after dinner. For years, it did help me to maintain my weight but lately I have seen that the larger portions are not helpful especially at night.

Recently, I was listening to a podcast that said you should eat breakfast like a King, lunch like a Prince and dinner like a pauper and I was doing quite the opposite. I have decided to change my frame of reference when it comes to eating and prioritize whole, healthy foods and eating some of them in each meal. I have started eating a nutritious healthy and filling breakfast, followed by a large lunch and a good sized dinner but trying to regulate my portions as best as I can. I am not doing this necessarily for weight loss but just to have a better relationship with food and not feel as though eating before noon is a sin. Also, food to me was the enemy at times but that was shearly the sized portions that I was eating. You can have it all and just maintain good portion sizes.

Altering my food relationship

My goal/resolution is whole, healthy foods with certain treats in moderation. My childhood had ruined my relationship with food in the portion sizes that I was eating and this mistake is something that I would like to rectify not only as a new years resolution but as an ode to life changes that make sense. I am hoping that this new plan with three healthy meals and limited snacking will help me to feel my best everyday. Snacking to me was a way to eat mindlessly because I was so hungry. Since trying my new way of eating, I see that I do not require snacks because my meals are filling and keep me satiated for hours.

The mistake that I want to stop making is seeing food as an enemy or on the flip side a reward. I want food to be my fuel and something that I enjoy and don’t hide from and then make up for in a binge later on. I also want to model a viewing of food as positive and not have it be such a worry for my kids as it was and maybe still is for me.

I want my kids to know that balance is key and having a healthy relationship with food will help you to feel your best. I will continue to exercise and challenge my body to push past certain limits and this new outlook on food will hopefully strengthen and fuel my body properly.

Another resolution for 2025 is upping my running and completing 1 mile for every day of the year in 2025. This will help me to get in some cardio but also to up my weight training. I can easily run a mile and then do a full strength workout to tone my body while also getting some steps in. I did this challenge when I was training for the NYC marathon back in 2017 and that year I managed to run just over 1,000 miles for the year.

I plan to run a 25k trail race in April on the same race course as Dadjogger but he will be tackling the 50k again. I want to try all different race lengths and this is one that I have not completed yet. Another resolution is continuing to work on triathlons in the summer. I would like to complete at least two sprints and 2 Olympic length triathlons this summer/fall, one of them being Montauk where I got a flat tire and redoing that course on a proper bike with better tire luck. These resolutions will help me to stay active, engage my body, but also not be training for hours a day and still be able to enjoy my family as much as possible. My resolution for my family is to travel! We just secured passports for our boys and I would love to take them out of the country once or even twice if we can make it work. These memories are ones that we will cherish forever.