Today I hopped on the Wii Fit and it told me I was 53. Yikes! But sadly I was not surprised.
I have spent the past year putting off dealing with the 20 pounds I have put on. Last year I opened a cake design studio and working full time has taken it's toll on my exercise regiment and my meal prep. Even though I exercise a few times a week and don't eat any processed foods and eat my full servings of veggies each day, that toll added up to 20 pounds. I knew they were there but I kept figuring that they would come off. I figured they were there by mistake. But on Christmas my entire family decided to do a weight loss challenge and saying my weight out loud made it sink in that I needed to be more aggressive. That and the fact that when I said I needed to lose 20 pounds my mother yelled out, "At Least!!!!".
Now, I am not one for fad diets or gym memberships. I need to eat and exercise because I love it, not because I am afraid of the 20 pounds. So I spent today trying to remember what I loved about my food and exercise when I was 20 pounds lighter. I wanted to go back to the way I was!
Here are the things I came up with ...
1. I ate less meat and more dairy. I somehow got "dairy is bad for you" stuck in my head last year but I know that when I eat a dairy meal I feel 10 times better than when I have a meal with any sort of animal protein. I NEED TO LISTEN TO MY BODY AND NOT MY FRIENDS!
2. I exercised every day and on the days I took off I was cranky because I needed to exercise. Now, I am not a person who works out 2 hours a day, I am talking 20 minutes of belly dancing or yoga or walking to work with a day or two a week of an hour long dance class. But it was a 20 minute habit that my body craved! I NEED TO CREATE THAT GOOD HABIT AGAIN EVEN IF I HAVE TO DRAG MYSELF FOR THE FIRST 30 DAYS UNTIL THE HABIT TAKES ROOT.
3. I cooked lunch for myself every day at home and dinner for my family every night. My youngest was in half day preschool and the afternoon loomed long after 11:30 pickup. I had plenty of time to prepare a delicious, healthy lunch.... kale with white beans, corn and mushroom crostini, a salad with 15 crunchy and chewy and salty things in it. And my kids were too young for evening activities so I was home by 3 working on dinner. But even though I still use healthy ingredients and techniques today, cooking is no longer a joy, it is a necessity. I NEED TO LOVE MAKING MY FOOD AGAIN AND MAKE TIME FOR IT.
Now on to figuring out how to get back to the way I was while living the life I have now! Stay tuned. I am sure there will be more on this topic!!!
YOUR TURN:
Is there something in your life that has gone downhill recently? Your health? Your marriage? Your job?
Think back to when you were in love with it.
What's different now? How can you get back there while being where you are now?
I am trying to get back to my healthy mindset, too. I fell out of(and off and down a hill)my daily exercise routine and I noticed after giving that up the poor eating habits just seemed to kind of trickle in.
ReplyDeleteThis is a great post. I have definitely fallen off the eating well and exercise bandwagon, and I desperately need to get back on. I refuse to buy clothes in a bigger size, but yet don't work hard enough to get back into the ones that have become too tight.
ReplyDelete