I’ve looked into a lot of diet plans over years because I thought thats what it would take to lose weight. Sure I would lose some weight, but in a few months or maybe even several months I would get off the plan and then it would all come back. Its taken me a long time to realize that its not about being skinny or looking a certain way. It’s about being healthy! I want to feel better than I do now. I want to walk up to my 3rd floor apartment without losing my breath. I want to run with my dog and my nieces and nephews without lagging behind too much. I want the people I love to stop worrying about me.
Now, don’t get me wrong. I didn’t wake up one day with this new mentality. I’d been very sick for several months and was experiencing a lot of pain that couldn’t really be explained. I went to a new doctor last Friday and found out that a lot of the problems I have relate to how overweight I am. I’ve had that hunch for a while, but it was swept away to the dark corners of my mind where I didn’t have to think about it.
As we’re nearing the end of the appointment, she looks me in the eye with this kind of direct, serious way and says, “Tell me what kind of healthy choices you are making in your life.” I knew she was referring to my weight and what I was doing to change it. She ran through some healthy advice about just taking time to think about what I’m doing when I’m eating and gave me a list of options that I’d probably heard a thousand times. I babbled a bit, making excuses. Her goal for me was to do just ten minutes of walking a day and loose 2 lbs/week.
I told my grandmother on the ride home and her first instinct was, “I guess we should eat more salads.” Not really a longer term fix, but probably the most common thought when people start thinking about loosing weight.
We went to the book store. I was thinking about buying a food journal or a new healthy cook book. As I was looking around, I realized I didn’t really want to get a cook book. Not for now anyways. Cooking is a hard thing at my house, there are usually only random things to eat. I may or may not have the ingredients for a delicious healthy meal. Getting a new cook books wasn’t going to fix my problems.
I decided to start smaller. If I make smaller changes at first I can work to make them habits. Several smaller changes over time will still help me get through my big weight loss goal! I decided to start with just journaling and walking ten minutes a day the first week. After all, if I see what I’m eating, I’ll already be more mindful or what I’m putting in my mouth and it would overall help me make healthier decisions.
I’ve done this in the past. I was on weight watchers for a while and I’ve tried making my own little journals, but I didn’t have the drive to finish what I was doing or I would lose the journal and get discouraged. After looking around the book store at the various journals they have there I decided none of them were really for me. They were either too complicated or too silly or didn’t track what I wanted to keep track of (or tracked things I didn’t care about.)
It’s REALLY important to customize all of this to your lifestyle! The more natural it feels to you, the more likely you’ll be to stick to it! I am online constantly doing research for my comics, games and novels. I’m constantly checking my Facebook or e-mail and keeping up with the little Facebook apps. When I sat down to think about how I was going to approach keeping track of everything, it only seemed natural to do it through my journals on Facebook. I’m not really shy about people knowing my weight or what I eat, so this seemed like a good decision for me. Plus, I’m always online.
I urge you to find something that works for you. Maybe you’re a little creative and can make your own journal customized to you, or with a little research from the book stores, there might already be one made for you. Whatever you pick, just make sure its functional for you. If you snack at work, you need something that will fit in your pocket, and not just your purse or backpack. Get something that will easily hold your pen too, so you never have to stop and look for one when you’re grabbing a quick bite on the go.
Depending on where you are in your Healthy Choices journey, you could be ready to keep a more detailed list information about what your eating. For now, I’m starting very simple.
- I record the time I ate, what I ate. How I liked it or how I felt. Everything I swallow. Drinks, snacks, meals. When I cook, I even write how I made it sometimes if I really liked it. That way I can make it again another day. Even though it doesn’t add anything like calories or sugar, I keep track of how much water I drink as well to make sure I’m getting enough!
- I write when I exercised, what I did, and for how long.
- I keep track of when I take my medicine. (This is really only for me because I tend to forget.)
- At the end of the day, I try to write how I felt over all that day. It seems a little silly, but its a good idea. I can see if I felt sluggish or bloated after certain types of food. It also helps me keep track of whether or not too much of one food is affecting my health. For instance too much milk can make me ill. If I eat fried food two days in a row I tend to get really sick. Stuff like that. It’s also a good way to see how much better I feel since I’ve started to make decisions about what I eat.
I ask any questions for the people who read it to discuss and put in my own observations about certain things I think are important or things I would like to try. One fun thing I decided to do is post a picture of someone I admire for their fitness. I paste in a little saying, like they’re addressing me personally and encouraging me toward my goals. Sometimes, I’ll draw the picture myself!
I try to walk at least ten minutes a day, like my doctor said. When we go to the store, we walk for ten minutes before shopping. I suggest doing this in the parking lot if you can. I’ve found that when Grams and I go inside, she’ll stop when we pass the jewelry, or stop when we pass home goods or plants and flowers. It’s easy for some people to get distracted when they see something pretty. Don’t let it interrupt your walking!
When I got so much support from my friends I decided to make this journey into a blog as well. So many people texted me and wrote that they too were trying to make healthier choices and we’ve decided to give each other support and encouragement. I wanted to put this here as well, so everyone can be a part of it! I encourage you to take the Challenge with me. Make Healthy Choices. Make Decisions in your life. Don’t let autonomy of the body take the choices away from your mind! Remember if you have a bad day or a bad week, just keep journaling. You’ll get back into the swing of things. Find encouragement when you need it! Your friends will be proud of you! You will be proud of you!
(Some of the following entries will have a “back date” at the top of the post. I was in Day 4 before making this blog, so its to show my past days. I didn’t just change the date because I want everything to still be in order.)
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