The Missing Piece

Everything else comes first - exercise last. We say that the other activities must be completed - we owe that time to someone or something else - and exercise is - well - hard. This is me for sure! So many irons in the fire, so much other responsibility. However, I am trying diligently to change my mindset. To realize that exercise is hard, but it is worth the difficulty. This is the only body I will ever have, and it is my responsibility to take care of it or face the consequences - and those consequences are not pretty - and dealing with them will be a whole other kind of hard.

Yet knowing what needs to be done and actually doing it are much different. So I had to find a way to make it work for me. Some people just go for it. Some people even enjoy the exercise (I do once it is done - and not because it is over, but because I feel so good). But I tend to put it off to another time, then another, then another - eating as well - oh, I don't put off eating - I put off eating meals that will fuel my body with needed nutrients. If bread and chocolate had all of our daily vitamins - I would be Hercules - well maybe Xena.

My dilemma, then, became how to motivate myself to act in a manner that would build me up both physically and mentally - that would keep me on track - not perfectly - but heading daily in the right direction.  Challenge groups and coaching groups! For me, the answer.

I began with the challenge groups - and even then I struggled - but I trudged on. I finally realized that is isn't about not struggling, it is about perseverance - not giving up. That every step I took in the right direction would eventually lead me to a healthier and happier place. The real beauty of these groups (which is the main reason I became a coach - lifetime accountability) is that my struggle affirms someone else's struggle and together with many others we journey, building one another up with encouragement and understanding along the way. We stumble - we fall - one challenger put it well when when she commented about not only falling off the horse, but tumblig down the hill as well.

We are better together - and I am better because I am not only looking out for myself but others. And if we stroll together day by day and pound by pound - we will eventually find ourselves running and wondering at which point the actual change took place.

In his book The Compound Effect,  Darren Hardy states, "The Compound Effect is the principle of reaping huge rewards from a series of small, smart choices. What's most interesting about this process to me is that, even though the results are massive, the steps, in the moment, don't feel significant....What most people don't realize is that these small seemingly insignificant steps completed consistently over time will create a radical difference."

 It is the small steps, the consistent steps, the turtle steps that will eventually allow for finishing the race. And those of us working together may not all cross the finish line at the same time, but we will cross, while continuing to cheer one another on along the way.

Twenty-one Days and Beyond

My eyes have been opened. I am no longer suprised by my lack of weight loss (though I have lost a couple of pounds since so far). I recieved the 21 Day Fix today. As I read through the information and checked out the colored containers, I realized how much more I eat than is necessary to get and keep my body fueled. I have always heard that restaurant portions were much too large, but my own portions (even after I thought I was eating less) are still way too large. This new eating program is going to prove very interesting.

One of the aspects that I really like is that even though you use containers, you do not eat from the containers. The food is still put on a plate. The idea behind the 21 Day Fix is HABIT and understanding. It is not meant to have you eating out of the colored containers for the rest of your life but to give you the ability to recognize the appropriate portions of different foods necessary for fueling the body well. Eat this way and exercise for 21 days and hopefully a habit - a healthy habit will be formed. Makes a lot of sense to me, especially after realizing what a portion really should be.

So here's to creating a new habit. A healthy habit. A lifelong habit. For 21 days and beyond.