Saturday, September 15, 2012

Diet vs. Lifestyle

One of the first things I read this morning was this post by Marion. I was extremely touched by her shout-out and happy to be found as someone who perseveres versus someone who started and gave up which was the path I was on for many, many years.

Today is the first day of the Whole Life Challenge.

When I was explaining the challenge to one of my friends, she commented - wow, that's quite a diet. I had to clarify and tell her that this wasn't a diet, it was about changing the way I eat. It's about changing something in my lifestyle.

There was a time when I barely exercised, and when I did, I know I didn't put in 100% effort. I wasn't consistent with my workouts and my eating had not changed.

Slowly but surely I started to enjoy exercising and I went to the gym regularly -- but my eating habits didn't change ... and neither did much of my weight.

Of course the winning combination is exercise properly and eat properly ... and I mean really properly. It's that extra effort that has been lacking. It's that extra bit that I know I can do, but am unwilling/scared/lazy to do ... that is changing now.

Another comment about the WLC was -- you're starting in the middle of your weekend? Why didn't they just wait until Monday for the start date?

I love that the challenge started in the middle of the weekend. It's precisely the 'tomorrow' attitude that I have had many times in the past that has been holding me back. Start now. START NOW.

The chocolate, the candy, the slice of pizza - it's unhealthy now, so start making healthy changes now. It's about knowing that you're strong enough to make those changes at any given moment, and you don't need to wait for a special day or a special time. Every single day we have the ability to make a choice that is good for us ... it's something I've written about before.

Although I have known all of this, it is only now that I'm feeling confident enough to take that next big step. I do hope that finally eating cleaner and really thinking about what I eat (and how I prepare my food) will help me reach my goals. I don't want this to be a temporary change - I want it to be a lifestyle.

I've started a separate blog just to track my progress on the Whole Life Challenge. You can read about it here.

No comments:

Post a Comment

Thanks for stopping by and leaving a comment! I can use all the support I can get :)