Baby Steps to a Healthier Me

4.30.2013


When it comes to health and fitness I have a lot of things working in my favor. The biggest thing is that I care. I care about health and fitness. I think it's important and I want to be fit and healthy. I think it's my responsibility to myself, my spouse, God, and others to take care of the body I have. I'm also not picky. I enjoy healthy food. I enjoy food in general (french fries and diet soda are major vices), but I also genuinely love salad, fresh juice, and water as well. I also gain weight slowly. I gain it, but it doesn't fluctuate drastically in short periods.

Then there's what I have working against me. I gain slowly and I lose slowly. Weight loss is a battle. I've never been the sort of person who can crash diet and lose 5-10 lbs really quickly. It takes time. I can maintain pretty easily (which is nice) but losing a significant amount of weight will take effort. However the biggest obstacle I have when it comes to getting healthy and fit is laziness. And I don't mean your run of the mill average level of laziness. I am lazy on a whole nother level. I enjoy cooking but the majority of the week I just don't feel like it. And exercise? Forget it. I'd much rather take a nap.

Up until now it hasn't mattered that much. I've never been overweight or had health problems so the fact that I was really out of shape (read: have never been able to run a mile or do a push-up) has done very little to motivate me. I guess I've always had the I'm young. I'll care and eat better when I have to. attitude (despite aforementioned positives)...sound familiar to anyone else???

Well guess what. I'm there. I may only be 25 but it's starting to show in my health and on my waistline. I have to care now---doctor's orders, literally.

So how does a person like me get in shape and maintain it. I've changed my shopping and eating habits before. I usually jumpstart my leap back into wellness with a challenge and go at it hard for a few weeks only to fall back into my old habits of eating take out and general inactivity. How do I get results and make them last?

Since drastic changes have failed me in the long run I've decided to try something new. Baby steps.

What I mean by that is that instead of going on a diet or a hardcore exercise routine that I'm probably going to quit after 3 weeks...I'm going to add in healthier habits and routines one at a time.

Yes...I will also be trying to cut out bad habits. I will tell myself...no fast food, no sweets, etc. and do my best to adhere to the "don'ts" but I will allow myself some flexibility while I transition. Instead of focusing on the "don'ts" I'm going to focus on the "do's". Adding new healthy habits into my life one at a time. I'd like to add at least one good habit per week and since blogging affords me at least a small amount of accountability...I'm going to blog about them. So here goes nothing.

Wish me luck!


1 comment:

  1. I'm working on a new healthier lifestyle too! I'm a month in and it's hard but I'm happier already! I'm excited to read and keep up with yours too. Nice to know other people are trying to work on it in a real way too... :) Good luck with your baby steps!

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