Losing weight.
Getting healthy.
Self Discovery
This journey is intense. It’s about redefining everything we do, all that we are. We’ve to change our habits of every hour of every day. We need to change how we think, sleep, eat, do, in order to succeed and reach our goals.
For all of us we struggle with different things. Some eating. Some exercising. Some emotionally. Some everything. I’ve been doing a lot of thinking (you know, now that I have time to do something other than school work ;)) and I’ve realized a lot of things I think are good to share, because they might help someone, and even if one person walks away with a new piece of this puzzle, a new trick to add to their repertoire, it’s all more than worth it, all my own struggles and set backs I’ve experienced in order to gain this wisdom.
1. It’s all about balance.
Everything we do, is about finding that perfect equation that works for you. People try to push themselves beyond the limits in a lot of ways.
First off, don’t hurt yourself. Walking is enough for exercise, especially in the beginning. We all see what Nancy and these other fantastic women on here do; it’s amazing. But we’ve to be realistic– we can’t all exercise for 3 hours a day.
In terms of eating, nearly everything “unnatural” is bad for you. Meat, milk, eggs, butter, blah, blah blah. And for most there’s a “healthy alternative”. Well, if you’re like me, some of them are good (Almond Breeze!) and some are not palatable at all (soy milk!). This is where you’ve to listen to yourself. Don’t eat something you hate; it will inevitably lead to failure. Find the balance of old and new foods that works for you. For me, I like butter and olive oil depending. So I use both, I don’t completely eliminate things I like. Ice cream will always be on my menu at least once a month, but I can definitely do without candy, except in few and far between moments.
And then there’s the balance of combining the two: exercise and healthy eating. You need to right amount of both to succeed. If you exercise but don’t eat well, you’ll go no where except perhaps gaining some invisible muscle underneath your bulge. If you eat without exercise you’ll lose weight, but inevitably be lumpy and saggy with no real definition and a body that is still weak.
2. Treat others as you would like to be treated. Now let’s alter this: Treat yourself as you would treat others.
We say things to our self we would never say to others. “Look how fat I am!” is just the surface of that. Why? Why are we our own worst critic? As long as we have these attitudes we can’t progress. This negativity is a sure fire way to kill any motivation that you have. No, you need to be realistic, admit that you need to fix some issues, but still love and accept who you are– your weight is only one aspect of your person.
There’s another side of this. We try to convince ourselves that things are okay. “I can eat this ice cream, it has protein in it” and other illogical truths we tell ourselves. When using this tactic as yourself, “would I tell my husband/daughter/etc this same thing?” Most likely, no. So be true to yourself.
3. Remember your loved ones.
This is two sided. Most of us know someone else that’s in need of losing weight. The next time you want that candy bar or want to skip a work out, act as if you’re doing this for them. You’re working out FOR THEM, eating FOR THEM. Will you still do it? Again, Most likely, no.
And then the reverse: when you want to skip, think of the people who want to help you. They’d exercise, eat for you in a heat beat. But the reality is, they can’t, you’ve to do it for yourself.
4. Last, but not least, Believe in yourself.
It all boils down to how much you can motivate yourself. Believe that you can do it. We all can, no matter our circumtances. Don’t use all the classic excuses; follow Nike and Just Do It!
We’ll all be glad we did in the end.
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