In Spite of, not Because Of

If you are waiting for life's circumstances to be "just right" before you start eating right and exercising, you are in for a long wait. They never will be.

Why is it that we view taking care of ourselves as an added burden?

Why do we look at ordering a Big Mac and large fries with a McFlurry as easier than ordering a Grilled chicken sandwich, hold the mayo, with a side salad and unsweetened tea?

Why do we look at exercise as something that takes "too much time", but we have time to sit down and spend 2 hours watching The Biggest Loser?

Why do we look at over eating, or eating crap, as an acceptable way of burning off some stress? Has over eating ever really HELPED your stress?

Look, folks, it's a change of mindset.

Since last Ocbober, when I made the decision to make the changes to my lifestyle that would enable me to have a body I am proud of, a lot of stressful things have happened. Here are a few: I got braces on my teeth, a family member died, I had seven family birthdays and four major holidays take place (one of which family members came in and stayed with us for- which was a pure pleasure!), my daughter had an emergency with and then surgery on her feet and then recover from it, another daughter is being sued, my son wound up in the ER with a dislocated knee, the step-kids and my husband came back over Christmas vacation. Oh, and not to mention my husband lives and works 1200 miles away and I am acting essentially as a single Mom to my kids, one of whom is a mentally handicapped adult and living with me.

There's more, but you get the idea.

The point is, taking care of yourself has to be a PART of life, not an optional and disposable add-on.

Yeah, I know you're tired. I'm tired. And I know you have a lot going on. I have a lot going on. But when I decided I was going to make changes despite my circumstances and that taking care of myself needed to be a part of my life just like showering or brushing my teeth, THAT's when the changes came. And now I have more energy to do all of life's stressful stuff because I have less body weight to haul around. I am handling life's stresses BETTER with a more fit body.

It's a change of mindset. Not a change of circumstances.