May 1, 2013
Here’s a list of things I’ve learned in my journey to being healthy. And by healthy, I mean “eating veggies and working out in between pancakes and cookie cake.”
1. You can easily become obsessed.
You get in a habit of weighing yourself every day to track your progress, and if you’re not careful, you become obsessed with it. I’ll admit it. I’ve weighed myself three or four times a day, trying to figure out how I could lose this pound or if I could afford to eat this Hershey’s. Lol. It sounds funny, but it can become a serious issue if you let it. Don’t let it. Focus on being healthy and adjusting yourself over time. Make sure you’re doing this for the right reasons – because your body is a temple of the Lord and because being healthy has abundantly more physical, emotional, and mental benefits that being unhealthy. And sure, fitting in your jeans is fun too.
2. You can still eat yummy things.
Don’t worry. If anyone understands the love of food, I DO. You can have your cookie cake and eat it too. Now…the quickest way I ever lost weight was eating low-carb with lots of vegetables and NO sweets. I had chicken and cauliflower like they were about to go extinct, and I threw away every tempting bite of chocolate deliciousness in my house. I lost 10 pounds that way last year in a little less than a month. This year, however, I lost around 8 more pounds over two months and kept off the weight by sticking with my chicken and veggies, but also throwing in an occasional treat and a bunch of exercise. I adore pizza. I would eat it every day if I could. I try to have it once a week or less, but when I do have it, you better believe I’m running at the gym to burn it off. I have a chocolate chip pancake every morning. (The frozen kind…I’m not patient enough to whip up a homemade batch every day.) I get my little pancake and my cup of milk after I have a good workout at the gym. (And a shower, naturally.)
3. Balance is everything.
If I eat poorly for one day, I will camp back in veggie land for two days. You have to balance your food and exercise so it doesn’t get out of control. I’m prone to gluttony on vacations and birthdays, but I’ve discovered the best things to do are 1) eat really well before a vacation/holiday and 2) balance your meals while you’re splurging. Have a salad before you down that alfredo pizza. Say yes to the bread, but no to the dessert. It will make it a lot easier to get back on track if you haven’t eaten yourself sick. And if you’ve been consistently eating healthy and working out, you will feel sick when you overdo it. Trust me.
4. Rewards work for some people.
I am a big believer in list-making and writing out goals. I haven’t done this in a while because I’ve gotten down to my goal weight now (WOOP!) but when I was trying to lose a bunch, I would set a goal and a reward to work toward. After 5 pounds – a Reese’s, after 8 – pizza, and so on. It helped me be a little more excited and definitely more motivated to eat healthy because I knew on the other side of 5 pounds was a chocolate and peanut butter slice of Heaven. ;)
5. It gets easier.
If you had asked me to run 3 miles two years ago, I would’ve fallen to the floor laughing and given you a big, fat “not a chance,” and then promptly gone on a search for ice cream. I didn’t enjoy running, I didn’t care to enjoy running, and at every opportunity, I chuckled at the poor teenagers in orange jerseys running after school and thanked God I wasn’t one of them. I know. Horrible. And now? I LOVE RUNNING. It is such a stress reliever and makes me feel so boss when I’m done. ;) I never would have guessed I could run a mile, no less 3 miles. But I can. And it’s fun! Who knew? It gets easier. The more you work, the more rewards you reap. I can’t believe how easy it feels for me to run a mile now. If only you guys could get a glimpse of high school Caitlin, running and then vomiting during that one ridiculous semester I decided playing soccer would be fun.
Aaaaand all this talk has made me hungry. ;) Happy Wednesday loves!
~Cait
Posted by Caitlin in Cooking, Food, Health, Home, Humor, Life Lessons, Personal, Tips
