For the longest time, I thought this journey was all in or
all out. I would think that if I wanted to be healthy and thin that I could
never eat anything ‘bad’ again. This is not realistic, and it is not true. This
philosophy is why I continued to fail. I would think “Well! I ate a
cheeseburger. I blew it! I am just going to eat whatever I want now.” When you
go to a wedding or birthday party, you better believe I am eating some cake.
Just not the whole cake – which I may have wanted to at times in my life.
You are going to find the road to success is found somewhere
in the middle. You can eat whatever you want, but some things you can’t eat all
the time and not in large quantities.
Find a Support/Exercise Buddy/Cheerleader
(and if you can find it all in one person, even better)
I am a working professional, so when I get out of the office
at 5:00PM the last thing I want to do is go to the gym. I want to get home, make
friends with my couch, and marry Netflix until it is time to go to bed. I signed up for a personal trainer twice a
week, because I knew I needed the accountability. But, even then I was only
working out the two days I met with my trainer. It wasn’t until I found a
friend to work out with that I started going to the gym on a regular basis. We
encourage each other to push ourselves, show up to the gym when we don’t feel
like it, and cheer us on when we reach a personal best.
For the longest time I thought I liked to work out alone, so
when fitness blogs would tell me to get an exercise buddy I would scoff. But, I
love it, and I wish I would’ve done it a long time ago. We trade fitness tips,
set goals, and keep each other excited about working out. She encouraged me to
sign up for a 5K, which we are currently training for – and something I would
have NEVER done on my own.
One Day at a Time
In the beginning of a fitness journey, it is really daunting
to think of how far you have to go. It is even harder to think you will have to
maintain these habits every day for the rest of your life especially if you are
so accustomed to your way of life of being unhealthy like I was.
When you are overweight and out of control, you don’t think
about where your next meal is coming from. You swing through a McDonald’s, and
you plunge a spoon down in your Oreo McFlurry without batting an eye. When you
are making healthier choices, it takes planning and intention to track calories
and schedule meals.
I recently read the memoir “It Was Me All Along” written by my
favorite fitness blogger, Andie Mitchell. She was heavy her whole life until
one summer she decided to turn it all around. She said that one thing that
helps her is a quote she saw in O magazine.
Majorly paraphrasing, but here it goes in general: A woman being
featured in the magazine was telling the story of joining Overeaters Anonymous.
She called her sponsor in tears one night when she wanted to binge. She was
overwhelmed by the idea that she would have to always think about what she was
eating, count calories, and avoid large amounts of sugary foods for the rest of
her life. Her sponsor listened patiently then replied, “Ok, let’s not worry
about the rest of your life. Can you just not binge tonight? When tomorrow
comes we will worry about it then, but can you just make it through tonight
without binging?” The woman felt relieved. She could survive that night. Rather
than looking at her fitness journey as this overwhelming set of seemingly never
ending weeks, months, and years – she took it one day at a time.
So, don’t be overwhelmed. Just ask yourself – can I eat
healthy today? Can I just move more just today? Then, that is it. One foot in
front of the other for the win!
Non-Scale Victories
It took me over a month to see a 5 pound drop on the scale.
Yup. Apparently this is normal for women who are personal training. I was doing
all the right things, but the damn number wouldn’t budge. I had to start
celebrating non-scale victories. Work pants that felt like they were cutting of
my circulation when I sat down, fit perfectly. I gave up pop (also known as
soda or coke depending on where you live), so I was proud of myself when I
passed up the vending machine for my daily fix of Diet Coke and drank water
instead. So, rather than berate yourself for small defeats, stay motivated by
what you can see and feel that doesn’t always show up on the scale.
Love Yourself Enough to Want Better
Simply put: nothing tastes as good as healthy feels. Every
time you feel the former urge to bury your face in a deep dish pizza, analyze
why you are feeling this way. Are you emotionally eating? Did you let yourself
get too hungry? A good test of if you are eating out of emotion and not hunger
is to ask yourself, “Would I eat an apple?” If the answer is no, you are
emotionally eating. When you are eating from actual hunger, you will eat anything
for sustenance including an apple. If
you are eating from emotion, you are more selective.
Remember Why You Started
A year from now, you are going to be happy you kept going.
So remember that the next time Krispy Kreme’s red light it calling your name.
