So I had a longish blog about this past weekend's horse show yesterday, but the internet ate it.

It did get me thinking about the parallels between horse showing and my own weight loss struggles.

Sometimes you go in the ring, and everything is smooth, fluid and easy. And you wonder how, when it feels so easy, you EVER could possibly make a mistake? I have those days with food, too--all I want to eat is fruit, veggies and healthy stuff. I'm happy and content and wondering to myself why I ever crave junk.

Then, you have the rounds where you biff the last fence. Sometimes it's a rail, sometimes you get lucky. With food, that's what it feels like when I don't follow my dinner plan, or maybe snack more than I should when I get home, or not weigh/measure dinner servings. I have a good day at work, where I can't not eat what I planned, but it all falls apart a little when I get home. Most of the time, I find these mistakes easy to move on from. I make sure I have salad stuff available if I want a snack, or plan to just start dinner as soon as I get home to stop snacking.

Sometimes you struggle around the whole course, making minor mistakes, but you gotta fight and recover and move on. As my trainer says, "Get scrappy". Crawl over an oxer because you didn't have enough impulsion? Forget about it, fix it next time. With food, I draw parallels to those days when there's food temptations at work. Someone brought in pasteries, went out to lunch, etc. As long as I adjust my plan for the end of the day, I can usually make the calories work, but I gotta just not give up. Gotta fight to keep myself focused even when I made some mistakes.

Finally, there's those classes where you crash through the first f'in fence. Ridingwise and foodwise these are my most difficult moments, and I know I need to learn how to cope mentally with them, but it's something I struggle with.

In other news, I finally went back to the gym yesterday, and am planning on going after work today. Woohoo! Bought lots of healthy food at the store this weekend so I'm doing OK. Fighting the urge to eat, eat, eat with this rainy dreary weather, but keeping myself busy so I don't think about it seems to work.