Changing the mindset is half the battle. I realize on this new journey to have a healthier life that I’m in a totally different mindset that I have been in the past. I have talked before about not approaching this lifestyle change as a diet because of the negativity around that word.
According to The Online Etymology Dictionary, the word diet originated from Old France (huge shocker, ugh the French, always so healthy) in the 13th Century “diet, pittance, fare” and goes on to say “often with a sense of restriction”. The Greek referred to it as a way of life (lifestyle change), so I suppose I shouldn’t be so sensitive to the word except to me it still encapsulates the word DIE at it’s root.
Changing your mindset or your habits is slightly harder to embrace during the holidays and the summer holidays are especially challenging for me. So here’s a recap of my Memorial Day weekend…
First, my sweet 75 year old mother came to town in tow with my adorable 3 year old granddaughter. You have to give my mother props for being willing to endure a 3 hour plane ride with this rambunctious child! It was a wonderful long weekend and let me tell you….I forgot how hard it is keeping up with small children. Props to mom again. Wow!
So we did a lot of swimming and a fair amount of eating. My husband’s birthday was on Sunday of the long weekend so of course, we had to have a BBQ and invite the friends and neighbors. Now, had I not had to entertain a 3 year old, I may have been more inventive in my food selection and preparation but seriously, it is all I can do to hang with her. She wakes up at 6:30 every morning like clock work, even on Saturday and Sunday. What?! Who does that? THREE YEAR OLDS!! By the time they finally go to sleep at night you feel like your ran the Boston Marathon, TWICE! “Gigi, watch this” plays on repeat in my head a million times.
Then I realize, I really didn’t make very many bad choices. For snacks we had unsweetened applesauce, fresh fruit, and sugar free jello cups. I was slightly panicked though because I felt like I was on a bit of a hiatus and I didn’t track my food on the Weight Watchers app the entire time. While I was enjoying the time off of work, my husband and I got away every other day or more to ride our bikes so we did get some extra exercise in on top of chasing the kiddo around and in the pool.
So I started thinking what is the mindset of the healthy in shape person? They aren’t running around every day counting every morsel that they eat. But it can’t be easy for all of them, right? My downfall is that I have always thought like an overweight person. “I had a rough day, I should reward myself with a <fill in the blank>”, “I’m stressed, let’s go get a <fill in the blank> from the drive thru”, “I worked out last week so I’m going to take a break this week”. Food shouldn’t always be a reward just like “diet” food shouldn’t always be a punishment. You have to find other ways to reward yourself.
Now I am saying things to myself like, “if I eat that burger I should probably plan a long bike ride for tomorrow”, “I think I will have fruit instead of dessert”, “it’s going to be too hot today to ride my bike, so I think I will swim laps for 30 minutes”. Or better yet, “today was stressful, I think I will go work out to burn off some steam”. Food cannot be the crutch, the solution, the cure, the pacifier. Food is fuel and you don’t put gas in a car that hasn’t driven anywhere and still has a full tank. How silly would that be?
So with that said, I’m down 15+ pounds in 7 weeks, 18 according to my home scale. I can do this. You can too.
