My grandmother sent me an e-mail the other day. She just had a birthday on July 1st. And my grandfather just had a birthday on June 26th. How lucky am I, at the age of 30, to still have 2 grandparents around? I consider myself quite lucky. Anyway, instead of sending birthday cards in the mail I found pictures that I have recently taken, usually of some landscaping in my yard, and turned them into cards using Gimp. My grandmother replied to the last card I sent her and said it would be nice if I could send her a picture of myself with the flowers. Being the good grand-daughter that I am, I wanted to oblige. So yesterday I had my boyfriend take some pictures. I was not very happy with them. It seems what I see in the mirror, is not what I really look like. I have gained about 10-15 pounds the last couple of years and it really shows. I am only a little over 5'1" so it's hard to hide the extra pounds.
I was quite heavy several years ago, and did not have too much trouble losing the weight. About 2 years ago I noticed the weight creep once again and wanted to put a stop to it up front. I knew the potential of what could happen if I didn't. It seemed no matter what I did, nothing worked. I tried joining a gym and did that for about 6 months. I went regularly and had a professional put together a weight and cardio program for me. I had limited results from this and just ended up not having the energy to continue. I tried watching what I ate, and stopped eating out as much. Still the weight continued to creep up. I tried buying an elliptical, hoping that would be much easier to do regularly than going to the gym. That lasted about a month until I got sick. I just never got back into the routine, and was always just too tired to do it after a full day of work.
I know that this is something I can control. I think that this time around, being much older now than the last time I needed to lose weight, I need to be more strict. Last time I could eat pretty much whatever I wanted, just in moderation, and I was fine. I could do some moderate amount of exercise and still lose weight until I hit my ideal body weight. I have finally come to terms with the fact that this time that is not enough. I need to be stricter about what I eat, and make sure I get regular exercise. More than just a 30 minute walk 5 days a week. There are a lot of things in life that I don't have control over, but this is not one of them. I can control what I put into my body, and I can control how much exercise I get. It just takes dedication and willpower.
I want to be healthy. I want to feel well. I want to be able to live my life to the fullest. I don't want to waste days or not do things because I'm not feeling well. I'm tired of being out of shape and not treating my body well. I'm tired of feeling tired. I need to set my mind to it, and accomplish what I want. This is something that is important to me. I should make it a top priority. And starting today, I have.
I know it's hard; but the most important thing really is your midset. Because once your mind wants to stick to something, there's nothing that can stop you. The internal struggle is the hardest thing with diets. I essentially had to quit my bad eating habits cold-turkey so that I could get to this point where I'm able to enjoy the foods that are so delicious but bad for you on occasion but still eat healthy most of the time. It also helped because by quitting cold-turkey and sticking to it for over 4 months, I am now able to eat less of the food that are bad for me - I'm full before I can eat any more which helps soooo much. I have a template of a really good diet if you'd like me to email it to you :)
Hey Reggy. I remember when you first mentioned starting your diet several months ago. I think you said the it came from your boyfriend. If you wouldn't mind, I'd love to have the template :)