Paying Attention

If you know me, you know this:

Detail is NOT my thing.

I'm a broad-brush type. Big picture. As such, I'm not always very observant. To the unfamiliar, it may seem that I'm scatterbrained as hell. (And there is some truth to that!)

This weekend, however, I'm trying very hard to go against my nature for a really good reason.

For the past 24 days, I ate right and exercised properly. I cut out the fake sugar in diet soda. My sugar intake was waaaaaaay down and my dairy intake all but non-existent. I eliminated a lot of salt and processed foods. I had very little white flour. Instead, I was eating a lot of whole foods, heavy on protein and veg.

And I felt good. I had energy. My joints didn't hurt as much.

Yes, I was taking more/different supplements and vitamins than usual. But I was, at the core, just really eating clean.

So this weekend I'm doing a little experiment.

I'm eating. Pretty much whatever I want. And I'm not really working out.

And I'm paying attention to how I FEEL.

Yesterday, I grazed all day. I had two Cherry Coke Zeros. And two pieces of carrot cake. Chips. Pretzels. (Another family party. Damn the tradition of potluck and snacking!) Once I started in on the crunchy food, I couldn't stop.

When I went to bed, I was tired. To the bone. And I felt bloated.

Today, it's a little more of the same. My knees hurt. My wedding ring is tight. I'm tired. (We went bed shopping today and I kid you not ... I could have fallen asleep in the store.)

Tomorrow I'm going back to two days of "clean" eating and we'll see what happens.