July 23, 2011

Since my birthday a couple of weeks ago I have been striving to be a little bit healthier in my ways. This is a never ending battle for me; I love eating – I love the taste of food. I love the activity of eating, so it’s important for me to retrain myself to make healthier choices that are still enjoyable to me. I am continuing my cycling and my twice a day walks during my breaks at work and I have been doing my morning exercises. Every morning I hop on the scale to see if I am making any progress in this latest effort to be healthy. My reaction can vary wildly from day to day; one day it’s a smile, another day it’s a silent cheer and yet on another day I can burn a few extra calories by drop kicking yet another scale across the lawn.

I think the key to being healthier in my eating habits is by seeing results. I’m a results oriented kind of person. When it comes to our own weight and sense of feeling good, I think most of us are. The results from our healthy efforts must outweigh the satisfying taste of diving into our favorite food with wild unabandonment. Lack of results have discouraged me in the past — I once rode 105 miles on a bike ride and gained two pounds. This really discouraged me. It took me a little while to get back on the bicycle but I got past that and I made significant strides in my health after I saw the results of the second ride. It’s one of the reasons that I continue to ride today.

Jumping on the scale on a daily basis can be disheartening. Fluctuations in both directions in our weight is common; many say not to weigh yourself on a daily basis but rather on a weekly basis. I have a variation of this; I weigh myself daily to keep in mind which direction I’m going but I focus on a weekly number, taken on a Wednesday morning. My last official number indicated good progress, the unofficial number this morning showed me that I am definitely off to a good start. I needed that result this morning, which is the first time I’ve unofficially been under my first hurdle, to be my inspiration to continue.

No dropkicks today.

In the past I have resolved to eat healthy during the week and then given myself permission to relax about that on the weekends. I’m not doing that this time around. I think remaining focused and remembering how much better I feel today versus a couple of weeks ago is more important. Portion control and keeping the carbs on the low side are my main efforts. More importantly, staying somewhat active and not eating out of boredom is also key.

I have taken a good first step in the right direction. I’m looking forward to taking that second step.