Questions, Part I

Source

A lot of people ask me about my fitness schedule and about my eating plan.  I am absolutely open to sharing all of this with you so thanks for asking!!

When I started writing this post, I realized I have a lot of information I’m going to share, so I am going to make this a two-part post.

Part I:

First, let’s back up.  The absolute first thing you have to know if you are just starting out is this…

Start off slowly.

Whoa – what?  Yes...you read that correctly.  Now, listen to me…I know what you’re thinking, my friend, because I’ve thought, done, said it all…like about a gazillion times. Hear me out.

Does this scenario sound familiar?  It’s Sunday…you're tired of feeling this way.  You're unhappy with the way you feel and with the way you look.  You're done.  You're gonna make huge changes around here!  You've decided to stop this cycle so you’re starting your new DIET - tomorrow…because it’s Monday, and that’s the day that everyone starts, right?  So, it’s Sunday and you’re doing this; this is it!  You are so enthusiastic and you just KNOW you’ll be in a size 6 by Summertime!  You head to the grocery store and buy every single vegetable, fruit and healthy item you can find there and you spend a bunch of money and then get home and cram it all into the fridge and pantry (which you have previously emptied of all of the cookies, chips, soda, & Little Debbie snacks) and you’re so stinking proud of yourself.  Whew, you need a nap!  But you're hungry because you haven't eaten since lunch and you just spent 2 hours at the grocery store and that shit's exhausting and hunger-producing.  You decide to send this day out with a BANG since it’s your last day to eat what you want and starting tomorrow, no more crap!  For real.  Let’s order Chinese and finish up this ice cream, shall we?

Monday arrives and you are amazing.  You get up early to workout, make yourself a great breakfast, pack your healthy lunch, head off to work, stay away from the community candy jar, head home and tonight you’re trying a new dinner recipe and everyone in your household is getting healthy – we’re all doing this!

Tuesday arrives and you have another really great day, you’re a little sore from yesterday’s workout but you feel pretty proud of yourself.  Maybe you have just ONE candy from the jar since you did so well yesterday and really, just one is no big deal (it really isn’t), and you think to yourself, “This isn’t so hard! I've got this!”  Then you get home and nobody in your house wants to eat the mashed cauliflower you were going to make and so you decide to just have grilled cheese sandwiches.

Then Wednesday arrives and your morning gets away from you, you overslept or your kids overslept, you don’t get your workout in, you don’t have time to make a delicious egg white omelet, so you decide you’ll just hit the drive thru and try that egg white thingy they’ve been advertising on TV.  Then you get to the drive-thru and you don’t want the egg white thingy they’ve been advertising on TV, you want the sausage burrito.  You think to yourself, "I’ve been really great for the last two days, I’m just going to reward myself and get them."  And you do…and they are delicious…you get to work, then remember you forgot to pack your healthy lunch because of your crazy morning and you realize you have to go out for lunch now, too.  You think to yourself, “I’ll get a salad.”  But you don’t…then it’s 2:00pm and you’re mad at yourself for the double burger and fries you decided on instead and womp womp…you’re done.  You think, “Well, I’ve screwed this day up enough, might as well just get pizza for dinner.”  You fall off the wagon for the rest of the week and you watch your fresh veggies and fruit go bad.

Goodbye enthusiasm, hello self-defeat and anger.

Want to avoid this horrible cycle?  You absolutely can if you Start Off SLOWLY.  This is a marathon people, not a sprint.  It's cliché but it's true.

Do you need enthusiasm to do this?  Hell yes!  Do you need to buy healthy food at the grocery store?  Yessss.  Do you need to EAT that healthy food?  Do I really need to answer that?  And, do you need to PLAN??  YES, YES, YES!

But if you want to be successful, this healthy life HAS to fit into the life you are already living.  So, try some new recipes.  Plan your grocery store trips.  Plan your menus.  Pack your lunch.  You just don’t have to do it all at once.  Listen to this advice.

I’m challenging you to try to make just ONE change this coming week.  Yes, you can start on Monday, if you insist ;-).  Pick one thing and make that your goal for next week.  If that thing is to try a new recipe or two.  Do it.  Go to the store, get your regular old groceries and buy the few things you will need for those new recipes.  If that thing is to try a new class at the gym or to walk after dinner, do it.  Plan to get those workouts in.  If that means getting up early, do that.  If it means heading out after dinner, do that.

Then the following week, try doing something else.  Maybe plan to drink a certain amount of water each day.

My point:  You cannot just jump in and expect that everything is going to fall into place.  If it was that easy, you wouldn’t be trying this for the thousandth time.  Trust me.

Once you get used to trying new things and incorporating those things into your life, it will get easier.  These things will become habit.  And guess what?  You’ll still get to eat sausage burritos, pizza, Chinese, ice cream, double burgers and fries.  I promise.

I started this journey attempting to create healthy makeovers (hence the name of the blog ;-)) on recipes.  Not every day, not every meal, just a few times a week, and I started walking.  I knew from past experiences that I had to do something that I could sustain over the long haul.  My hope was that by incorporating small changes into my routine, someday I too would have a healthy makeover.  Gradually, I started to learn different ways to make a lot of meals healthier and I started trying things that I hadn’t had tried before.  I didn’t try to change my life, but my life began to change.  I am over 80lbs lighter than I was at my heaviest.  The change is working.  Am I perfect?  NOPE.  But do I try every single day?  YUP.

Check back soon for Part II!