Quote of the Day

Tuesday, April 24, 2007

Making life changes... one step at a time...

"It's not what you do once in a while, it's what you do day in and day out that makes the difference."~ Jenny Craig

Someone posted this quote on the message board recently... and isn't that the truth. I honestly believe that one of the reasons I have always failed at diet and exercise in the past has been the dream of instant gratification. If it didn't happen immediately, then I gave up.

Also, I have never committed 100% to becoming fit. It wasn't a lifestyle change... it was "I want to lose weight... I want to lose it NOW... oh, and by the way, I don't really want to exercise regularly and eat better."

I am not sure what it was this time that spoke to me...I have a feeling that it was a variety of things. BUT this time, it HAS become a lifestyle change... or should I say... it is becoming a lifestyle change. Because I am not there yet. I have to work hard at it everyday. The exercising the last couple of weeks has been really good. I do my strength training 3 days a week as scheduled. I do BodyRev about 3X a week. And I either walk or bike, 5-6 X a week. For some reason, it has been easy doing this.

The food is going pretty well. I am making sure to add lots of fruits and veggies to my diet. It's not that hard to do. J is good with buying lots of fresh produce on his way home from work. When I make a Slimfast shake for breakfast (which is usually 4-5 times/week), I used to add only one kind of fruit. Now I am adding 2 and even 3 different kinds. We keep cut up carrots in the fridge at all times for crunchy snacking and I have to have my favs on hand at all times... sugar snap peas! They are sweet and crunchy... I just love them. I am making small changes in my diet. I completely switched to skim milk in October and just recently switched to Whole Wheat bread (told J though that he has to read the ingredients... first item must be whole wheat flour... not enriched flour). I try to take smaller portions and make substitutions where I can. No soda unless we are out to dinner or a movie (which turns out to be only about 3X/month). There is still room for improvement but considering how I used to eat... this is still a huge difference for me. I will make other substitutions as I go along.

In the past, I would DIET... completely limit myself on what I could and could not eat. YEah, that would always last about 4 days. Then I gave up because I was either hungry all the time... or craving my favs. Or there was the time, that I dieted during the week and on weekends allowed myself to eat whatever I wanted. Stilll no life style change there.

This time around (and alot of the credit goes to Alden and my buddies on the BB) I am doing this every day.... I have to... I have to think about it everyday in order to make it work. It's really not that hard... aww, hell, who am I kidding? It is hard... it is work.... but I am not giving up yet. I almost did a couple of months ago. I hit that plateau and nothing seemed to motivate me. I really needed to determine what it was that I wanted and what exactly I was willing to do to acheive it.

Yes, I want to lose weight. But it is really so much more than that. I want to have energy. I don't want to LOOK fat. I want to be able to do activities with my kids and not be winded or tell them to go on without me. I want to look in the mirror and not see a FAT person anymore. I want to live to see my grandchildren and great-grandchildren. I want to LIVE this life I have... not just sit on the sidelines watching it go by.

So when it all comes down to it... it is what I do, day in and day out that will make the changes happen... there is no instant gratification here. It will really take a lifestyle change to make it happen.

3 comments:

Anonymous said...

Carrie -

Glad you had fun riding in the rain. Having kids has reintroduced so many things like this back into my life. It's a gift.

Good luck with the life style changes you want to make. Switching from bad food to good food is a pain in the ass for about the first month or so, but then, when that becomes the new norm in your head, you'll crave the good food. At least that's how it was for me. Remember, it takes about a month for a new habit to take root in your head, and about 3 months for the bacteria that occurs naturally in your intestines to adjust to digesting more vegetables and additional fiber. So if you get gassy, etc., rest assured, that will change.

Can't believe the insights in your post. You're definitely in touch with yourself and know what you want. That's WAY more than half the battle, IMO.

kara

DTF said...

Hi, Kara... thanks for stopping by and the advice. So that extra "gas" I can tell my family that it is just my body becoming healthy??? LOL!

emily said...

carrie, you really are such an inspiration... in the "i want to be you when i grow up" kind of way... i love reading your posts - you have such great insight, and i admire what you're doing so much! i've been flagging badly lately, but reading your blog makes me really want to jump in there and try again...