Fat Butt Friday...Creating A Healthy Lifestyle!

 A diet is simply an eating plan followed by an individual. But, these days, just seeing the word "diet" brings up feelings of anxiety and insecurity, sending me into a frenzied state in which no food is safe. I'm talking everything from yesterday's restaurant leftovers to my daughters half-eaten cookie, anything that can be swallowed without having to chew very much. I swear every time I say "I'm going on a diet" it's like the mere mention of the word "diet" triggers a stress response and all hell breaks loose in my mind, I suddenly want to eat everything that is unhealthy, and can't stop! This could be because a typical diet is an eating plan full of restrictions and extremes, in which pain and self-hatred are the rules, and failure is always just around the corner. These diets will lure you in with promises of rapid weight loss with just "one simple step." That step is normally cutting out carbs, cutting out fat, cutting out fruit or veggies, or only eating certain things at certain times. These diets can assure you results if you can stick to their strict guidelines. But the thing is, in the long run, these extreme regimes can actually make you gain weight...because your body requires all of those things to function. So as soon as you are done with them...the pounds begin to pack back on, sometimes leaving you with more weight than you started with!

Call me dramatic, but when we force ourselves to follow eating patterns that are often unhealthy and inconvenient, seeing how long we can last before we crack under the strain of being starved, subjecting ourselves to the depression and fatigue that comes from not having a balanced food intake, and longing for foods that are off-limits, do we actually believe that we are getting healthier? With diets, it's a race against time...how long can you last?!

Well, I have givin up dieting...and I started a new lifestyle, a healthy lifestyle! Creating a healthy lifestyle for myself is not about deprivation. It's about consciousness. Whenever the temptation to eat junk food or even fast food arises, I have to consciously make the decision to indulge or not. I am also creating a habit of exercising daily (though only a few days a week at a "gym").  I know in my last post I touched on the fact that I started kickboxing classes this week...and sore isn't even the word I need to describe how I felt on Wednesday morning!

Monday night I went to bed pretty excited for what was to come Tuesday morning! I set my alarm for 6:40am and was ready for a great night's sleep. Well that didn't happen...Kayleigh was up every few hours (a cold was on the horizon) and I was just so excited about getting my butt kicked my new workout class, that I literally tossed and turned all night. 6:40am came around way to soon...but I was out of bed and getting myself and then Kayleigh ready. Now...they weren't doing the normal kickboxing routine, they were switching it up and doing circuit training for the next two weeks. I am used to circuit training, it's what Jillian Michaels is all about...but this...this was different!  I thought easy-smeasy...I got this! OH NO I DIDN'T!!! It was a serious wake-up call...I thought that jogging/walking all my miles last month and doing some JM workouts in there too was getting me into some sort of shape...but WOW...I found muscles I never knew I had...did you know you had ab muscles right below your breast bone?! Oh my goodness...I do now...it felt like someone kicked in all my ribs!!! BUT...I have a love-hate relationship with exercise. I positively dread going to the gym...I hate the idea of sweating in public, hate exercising in cramped spaces, and consider the super-fit girl whizzing though the workouts next to me my enemy. But after I get passed all the moaning and groaning, and the reluctance to do the full workout, I leave feeling great. I love the flushed glow I get post-workout, the soreness in my muscles the next day...and it's just the motivation I need to go back the next time...along with the fact that I am paying for the classes!

Exercising is a commitment, and not an easy one at that. It requires time, energy, and dedication. Which is why I was so excited to join the 120 mile challenge! It was a reason for me to get off my butt and get moving! It forced me to make time for myself to workout. I am still working on my 120 miles challenge...and it is coming along great! July 1st marked month 2 of 3, and I am starting to feel a little more confident in my "jogging" skills. I found a few new routes, ones a little less hard to push a 25 pound jogging stroller and almost 30 pound kid! However...it has been hot hot hot lately, and finding the motivation to get outside and get my miles in has been hard...so I have been sticking to most days on the elliptical (at least it's not becoming a a dust collector!).

So as I continue my non-diet lifestyle...to a healthier me...I look forward to all the ups and downs, but most of all I look forward to the day I step on that scale and finally see 120 again!!!