Not the obvious "I want to change my body, health, etc" but change in our mentality about it all.
Who knew that weight loss was more a mental battle than a physcial one?
Basically, something has to change. Whatever you are doing now is just going to result in whatever you look and feel like now. More of the same will lead to more of the same.
Okay, easier said than done. How do we change? We are stuck in our ways, comfortable. Change is hard.
The key is to start with the mental change. No physical change is going to work and persist if the mental change doesn't come first. I've found that this can be a long journey in and of itself. To become mentally ready to face the physcial changes is a huge block to overcome. It took me a while of mental adjustments before I was finally ready. I had to plan it all out and get comfortable with it in my mind before I could do anything physical. Luckily for me, New Year's came right at the time I became mentally ready. So I was able to use the whole "It's time for a New Year and a New Start" thing to get me kick started. That means you have to find your own time for a new start to get your mind ready so that your body can follow.
The first thing I changed was adding in the bike. Adding exercise is not an easy change. I had to figure out how I was going to add that time in, WHEN I could add that in etc, and then become mentally ready to do it. Luckily for me, my hubby has been supportive. The bike is in our room and I get up about 30 minutes before he does and I ride. I turn on the light and ride. I was very reluctant to interfere with his sleep, but he assured me that it really didn't bother him, so I was able to find a time for me to add in exercise without having to change my already crowded schedule. That made it easy for me.
Well. Easier. It's not easy to get up and ride the bike when all I want to do is sleep. But by having the support of my hubby and the time that doesn't interfere with me being a mom, lawyer, wife, cook, housekeeper, etc, made it doable.
The next change came in adding in the bowflex. Luckily again, I really am into weight lifting. Did it a lot in college and I was one of those lucky people who could lift without bulking up. I was lithe and stong and I really enjoyed it. So, mentally, it wasn't hard to want to add that in. I just had to find a way to change my life to add it. I played with times and found some didn't work so well. Then I discovered that it worked pretty well to stop working and work out just before it was time to go get my child off the bus. I planned it in to my schedule, and it seems to be working!
My next mental block has been the fact that I've been doing all this since 1-2-12. And I wasn't seeing any kind of results. That creates a lot of mental pressure. It's hard enough doing this stuff as it is, but not seeing any kind of results really had me frustrated. Which is where this blog has come in so handy. It keeps me going and motivates me to keep on going.
And finally, I think I'm starting to have some physical changes to go with my mental ones!
Another change that I made was to try and start cooking "lighter." After all, if what I was doing was keeping me at status quo, then making small changes should bring small results. So switching from cream of mushroom soup as a base to recipes, I can start using the healthy request cream of mushroom soup. Not major changes. Nothing drastic where I risk the "diet" factor and the equal and opposite binge. Just small changes. Cook with skim milk. I can't drink the stuff straight, but I can cook with it. Use chicken broth rather than oil to fry chicken breasts with. Small changes.
Cooking lighter isn't the only way to change the food front. Portions. That's what the key is for me. I can still eat the steak (which is my all-time favorite food in the whole wide world) - just not a big porterhouse.
What got me thinking of all this was that I was facing another change if I wanted to participate in the color run. I was going to have to mentally and physcially work another type of workout into my life. Find a way to add walking at the park or on the treadmill, etc. So it got my brain going over the ways I could do it without failing.
I'm a lazy person. I don't deny it. So I have to mentally find a way to do something that I will be able to keep up.
Turns out, though, that the color run has closed, so I won't be able to participate. It apparently filled up very fast and no more slots are left. Upsetting. But as it turns out, that means I don't have to fit in another change. I can keep doing what I'm doing, which seems to be finally getting me somewhere.
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