For the last couple of years, I have really wanted to eat healthier and get my body into better shape. I think I started by eating healthier. I stopped putting so much crap into my body and started putting foods that would provide nourishment into my body. It was a slow process. Cutting out things that you enjoy, even things that are bad for you seems like a mountain and sometimes you just don't want to do what is best for yourself. But you come to a point where it's a decision between what you want now and what you want long term. In the long term, I wanted to stop being unhappy with how I looked. As a disclaimer, if you are happy in your body, no matter the shape or size, then you are an awesome human and deserve to be happy in your body. But I wasn't. I wanted something more. What I don't want to do is ever fat shame anyone. We are all made differently and we all have wonderful bodies. This isn't about fat shaming; this is about being the person I want to be. And that person could not exist in the body I was currently trapped in. I have dreams. I want to run a marathon someday. I can't do that in the body I had two years ago.
I slowly began to change my eating habits. I quit binging on the Oreos, the cake, the pie, the peanut butter cups (OH the peanut butter cups). If I have a weakness, even now it is those damned peanut butter cups. I don't think everyone believes that there is such a thing as an eating addiction, but I absolutely buy into it. I was as much a slave to food as an alcoholic is to drinking or a drug addict is to his next fix. Food owned me. And the problem with that is that you can not just stop eating. If you do, you eventually die. So, I had to learn to cut the ties with unhealthy eating and begin to embrace healthy eating. And I did. And even though it was a slow process, I began to feel better about myself. Without losing a single pound, just by eating healthy food, I felt better about who I was. I was choosing the good over the bad. And I wasn't perfect. I fell down a lot. I still fall down. I recently had a peanut butter cup binge and felt gross afterward. It's okay to fall. You just get up and recommit and do better.
So, I started eating healthier and then I decided to add some workouts into my healthy lifestyle. I have taken yoga/Pilates classes in the past so whether it's advisable or not I created my own little routine and started doing it. That along with healthy eating, helped me start to shed some pounds. So by the end of 2018, I had lost a good 10-15 lbs. I wasn't where I wanted to be, but I was so much closer than before I had started to get healthy. And then we did the biggest loser contest at work. I'm not sure that those contests are really the best idea, but it did motivate me because I'm competitive. And I lost probably another 15 pounds or so just in those nine weeks of the contest. What did I do? How did I do it? It wasn't really anything too terribly radical. At least I don't think so. I just got REALLY serious about eating healthy. I mean I had started eating healthy and had a certain diet I followed, but as of 2019, I decided that certain foods were not going to be part of my daily diet. When I say DAILY diet that is what I mean. Do I still have deserts on occasion? Hell YES I do! Do I eat them regularly? Of course not. I count calories and I exercise. And I think that is the key. I also use a calorie tracker that helps keep me honest. If anyone is interested here is my diet:
Breakfast - Breakfast Taco - 1 corn tortilla, 1 egg (scrambled), 1 piece of baby swiss cheese, spinach, tomato, maybe some mushrooms.
Optional Snack - mixed nuts or an apple with peanut butter (careful with the peanut butter and I would recommend the organic peanut butter powder)
Lunch - O.V.O.O. tuna packet (I like the sun-dried tomato best), 1 piece of Swiss cheese, 6 triscuits
Dinner - Honestly it varies, but most Fridays it's Salmon or a Tuna steak on a bed of spinach with cherry tomatoes and dressing. I also like to make this cauliflower pizza that is just delightful.
Treat - 1 (yes, just 1) piece of chocolate. And by 1 piece of chocolate, I'm not talking a candy bar. It's a small square like what you get in a box of chocolates. And that satisfies my craving.
In addition to eating more healthy foods, I also exercise. I started training around January of 2019 with a plan to run a half-marathon. I had a couple of months that I couldn't run due to weather, but for the most part from March until my half-marathon in May I was able to consistently run at least four days a week with a long run on most Sundays. I remember when I ran my first long run of about 6 miles and I was so proud. I'm still proud of that because 6 miles is not child's play. It's what you do when you decide to get serious about running. So from there, Sunday runs went up to 7 (wow), 8 (damn), 9 (double damn), 10 (hell YES), 11 (Am I crazy), 12 (I might be a bad ass), and then on May 26th, 13.1- a half-marathon. I was exhausted and feeling better than I ever had! Goal met. Now what? Well...if you do three half-marathons in 90 days you get to be part of a special half-marathon fanatics club, so...and of course I'm looking at the Marathon as a real possibility.
If you want to be fit, you can do it. You just have to make a choice. It's not about whether you can. It's about whether you want to. And if getting healthy sounds good, but also like a mountain, then do what I did and start small. Start adding healthy food to your diet and eliminating unhealthy food. Start by walking a mile, three times a week. Or by doing some kind of short workout at home. Just start doing something to get you to where you want to be.
Comments