steph72276
Ideal_Rock
- Joined
- Mar 16, 2005
- Messages
- 4,212
Happy new week all. Well, I have been thinking all week about how I would start this week''s thread. First of all, I want to thank Lorelei for suggesting that we take turns starting each week. I am always so inspired by her thoughts and suggestions, and am looking forward to hearing others'' thoughts and experiences.
I really love the new name of our thread, because it really is fitting for how we are all trying to live healthy lifestyles. I was recently visiting my family in my hometown and met up with a few friends that I haven''t seen in a while. One friend said "wow, you look great....what diet are you on?" I said, "actually I am not on a diet at all....I''m just making healthy food choices and am exercising." She looked very surprised as this was my best friend from high school as well as a college roommate. We have been on every imaginable diet together including the atkins, south beach, cabbage soup, the hot dog and cottage cheese diet, grapefruit diet, liquid diets, and plain old starvation type diets.
All throughout high school and college and even afterward, I would diet to look good for an event...a trip, my wedding, etc. Each time, the diets would cause moodiness, headaches, and sometimes dizziness. I would look good for the event, then go back to not worrying about what I ate or working out at all. I used to see exercising as form of torture, and hated every moment. Now I love working out and see it as a time where I am doing something good for my body and making myself stronger mentally and physically.
Healthy habits are not formed overnight. There wasn''t a switch I flipped on and turned my thinking around. I committed to making a few changes a month such as drinking more water, getting more fiber into my diet, getting some form of cardio in at least 5 days a week, etc. Eventually these changes became habits and I truly feel better. It was so much easier to ease into a healthy lifestyle than making myself miserable by making my favorite foods totally off-limits, or setting unrealistic fitness goals that cannot be kept up for the long-haul. Since shifting my mindset from "diet" to "lifestyle", I am focused on my health and how I feel rather than how I look...being able to fit into skinny jeans or feel good in a bathing suit at the beach is just an added perk!
Living healthy is also not an all or nothing type of thing. I heard the analogy this week....if you go to bed one night and were too tired to brush your teeth, you don''t get up the next morning and say to yourself "I am such a slob, I''m just going to give up on brushing my teeth forever since I skipped last night". Same thing applies to diet/exercise....if you have an off day (or two or three or four), that''s okay. Cut yourself some slack and get right back on track.
So as we go throughout the week, let''s all remember that this process is long-term. Although it is great to have short term goals to try to accomplish, the true goal should be to live a healthy lifestyle....a lifestyle that will allow us to have a great quality of life throughout the years.
Hope everyone has a great week
!
I really love the new name of our thread, because it really is fitting for how we are all trying to live healthy lifestyles. I was recently visiting my family in my hometown and met up with a few friends that I haven''t seen in a while. One friend said "wow, you look great....what diet are you on?" I said, "actually I am not on a diet at all....I''m just making healthy food choices and am exercising." She looked very surprised as this was my best friend from high school as well as a college roommate. We have been on every imaginable diet together including the atkins, south beach, cabbage soup, the hot dog and cottage cheese diet, grapefruit diet, liquid diets, and plain old starvation type diets.
All throughout high school and college and even afterward, I would diet to look good for an event...a trip, my wedding, etc. Each time, the diets would cause moodiness, headaches, and sometimes dizziness. I would look good for the event, then go back to not worrying about what I ate or working out at all. I used to see exercising as form of torture, and hated every moment. Now I love working out and see it as a time where I am doing something good for my body and making myself stronger mentally and physically.
Healthy habits are not formed overnight. There wasn''t a switch I flipped on and turned my thinking around. I committed to making a few changes a month such as drinking more water, getting more fiber into my diet, getting some form of cardio in at least 5 days a week, etc. Eventually these changes became habits and I truly feel better. It was so much easier to ease into a healthy lifestyle than making myself miserable by making my favorite foods totally off-limits, or setting unrealistic fitness goals that cannot be kept up for the long-haul. Since shifting my mindset from "diet" to "lifestyle", I am focused on my health and how I feel rather than how I look...being able to fit into skinny jeans or feel good in a bathing suit at the beach is just an added perk!
Living healthy is also not an all or nothing type of thing. I heard the analogy this week....if you go to bed one night and were too tired to brush your teeth, you don''t get up the next morning and say to yourself "I am such a slob, I''m just going to give up on brushing my teeth forever since I skipped last night". Same thing applies to diet/exercise....if you have an off day (or two or three or four), that''s okay. Cut yourself some slack and get right back on track.
So as we go throughout the week, let''s all remember that this process is long-term. Although it is great to have short term goals to try to accomplish, the true goal should be to live a healthy lifestyle....a lifestyle that will allow us to have a great quality of life throughout the years.
Hope everyone has a great week
300x240.png)