Say it with me.

C-A-R-B-S.

Why on earth are they so delicious, and yet cling to ya?

If you had to choose, are you gonna get the steamed broccoli or the mashed taters?

Seriously is this multiple choice? Why can’t you pick the taters?

I am sometimes my own worst critic. O.K., fine, I am always my own, but aren’t we all?

I recently had a couple pictures taken and I saw them and hated.

In every definition of the word. Hated them.

They were terrible in my opinion. Why though? Why did I hate them?

I just am flat out too hard on myself.

I carry my emotions on my sleeve most days. Does it help? Not at all. Aren’t we all too hard on ourselves?

Listen, as humans, as women, we need to spend more time leaning on, building on and helping our pals.

Take time today to say what you feel because tomorrow isn’t promised, right? So build up your pals.

Winter sure has come in with a bang and a cold snap.

The holidays are upon us and that means fudge, cookies and cake.

So how do we deal with this? Easy, don’t beat yourself up!

I talk a lot about struggle and personal gain.

What it means to each of us is different.

There will always be struggle and temptation and there will always be personal gain, if you let yourself see that.

This month I want to share a little bit of the emotional aspect.

The emotional aspect of waking up every day wanting to be better sometimes is all the motivation you need.

Then the remains of yesterday creep in, the self-doubt we all have takes the lead and we fall short.

There we are midway through the day and we are already defeated, so why not a soda pop or candy bar? We are already down.

Even worse is when you add in emotions. They can be fueled by stress.

Stop for a second being so hard on yourself for not “following form” and for not losing that pound or for stumbling.

All those things trigger your emotions and before you know it you are eating again all the wrong things.

Let’s try this.

Tomorrow let’s start with a plan. Day one: Don’t bring yesterdays struggles into today.

If you are always allowing those in your are in a sense spinning your wheels and digging yourself deeper in the mud.

Day two: No wheel spinning. If you plan your day out the day before rather than the week before you are more likely to achieve greater and last longer because you are seeing greater gains.

When you break this apart, emotions will fuel you.

You have to determine are they bringing me up or tearing me down?

Well, which is it?

Heather Chase is a Seymour resident chronicling her weight-loss and fitness journey. She is writing a monthly column for one year with The Tribune. Send comments to [email protected].