Never give up what you want most for what you want today. ~Neal A. Maxwell
Have you ever done something, knowing the consequences of doing said thing, and then really regretted it when those consequences actually happened?
Or (and, if you’re like me)…when you chose to do said thing, did you think, “I know the consequence has happened before when I did said thing, but I’m pretty sure it won’t happen this time.”
Case in point: It was General Conference weekend last weekend, and General Conference weekend = treats in our family. Treats are fun, and they do help to keep you awake while you’re watching all those hours of amazing conference talks. And I must say, the first weekend of April and October every year—a.k.a. General Conference weekend—are two of my most favorite weekends of the entire year!
Anyway.
In addition to all of the treats we ate over the weekend, John made a Samoa Cake for Sunday night dessert since the first time this tragically delicious dessert made its premiere I was in Utah. Oh my goodness. It was to die for! He’s tracking his food on MyFitnessPal, so he plugged in the recipe, and the entire cake is 7000 calories. Holy cow. I told myself I’d only eat one piece and then I’d get back on my eating plan on Monday, and so I ate one heavenly chocolate-carmel-chocolate-coconut-chocolate piece. Until later that night when I just took “one more bite,” and then “one more, one more bite,” because I might as well live it up before Monday, right? Even though I was already feeling the effects of too many treats over the weekend…”one more, one more bite.”
Not a smart line of thinking because…consequences.
I’ve learned through my many years of running that I have to be a little bit careful about what I eat the night before I run or the night before I go to the gym to do my strength training—so, basically Sunday nights through Thursday nights—or I WILL experience some “intestinal distress.” I can get away with a bit of a treat and be okay, but a Samoa Cake-like treat + all of the other weekend treats? No bueno.
So as I was running Monday morning, those consequences hit like a mack truck. I could very easily have stopped, but since I can be pretty stubborn, I really wanted to finish that run, and what would quitting teach me about consequences? So I kept going, feeling like I was carrying an extra 20 pounds with every step, and paid those consequences the rest of the day.
I was once…again (remember that stubbornness?)…reminded that the fuel I put into my body really does matter, and I was willing—through my choices in treats—to enjoy the “now” and possibly negatively affect my progression towards my goals later. During that pretty awful run Monday morning, and then while I was working out and running the rest of the week and feeling so much better, I kept thinking about the quote at the top of this post and how it applies to my overindulgent weekend of eating #allthetreats as well as in so many other areas of life. In this case, I’d sacrificed a good run and feeling good the rest of the day for some cake and other foods—many of which I really don’t care about all that much. I would’ve been totally happy and those cravings would’ve been well taken care of with just that one piece of cake, but no…#allthetreats.
Now, I’m a firm believer in moderation in all things, and I do work treats into my eating plan for parties and other events and just because sometimes. But I really try and only eat treats on Fridays so they really are a treat. I just feel much better following this plan.
The lesson here? With running, and any other goals I have, I need to keep the end results I’m working toward in mind and not let what I want now affect what I want most. It’s so easy to let seemingly teeny tiny things affect my goals in big ways without even actually realizing it at the time.
Especially when John makes that so-hard-to-resist-eating-more-than-one-piece Samoa Cake.
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