LisaP2200

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For the last few months I seem to have become the queen of the statement “I can’t because….” especially when it comes to a reason why I am not exercising.  I feel like my mind has reverted back to its old ways from the time before I had surgery when I was stuck in the constant excuses and reasons why I couldn’t work out.  Some of my old standbys are all valid but on a ground level still excuses, for example:

“I don’t feel well”

“I don’t have enough time”

“I am too tired”

“I have more important things to do”

“I am too busy”

Deep down I do want to be healthy and I want to do what is best for my body to maintain my current weight and to even possibly lose some more, but my internal excuses I keep telling myself keep getting in my own way.  I feel like the excuses are stronger than my will and determination but my goal is to kick these excuses in the butt one at a time.  I know I need to take baby steps which for me is not easy most of the time.  I like to prep, plan, get everything I need to succeed and then jump in with both feet, but I know with this that I am not going to succeed this time with that strategy. 

This month’s baby step is going to be to do one day of exercise a week.  I know this doesn’t sound like much but I have been off the wagon now for quite some time and I know I need to start slow in order for this to work and for me to be successful and not give up.

Now looking back at each of those excuses from before I can break each of them down and find an alternative reason why exercise would actually work into each of these.

“I don’t feel well”- Exercise is proven to make you feel better and increase your overall health

“I don’t have enough time”- If I have enough time to watch TV and play on Facebook I have enough time to exercise

“I am too tired”- Depending on what type of exercise I choose to do I can choose something calming at the end of my day like restorative yoga which won’t pump me up too much and may relax me and help loosen the muscles.

“I have more important things to do”-Honestly, there really isn’t much more that is more important than my health and well-being.

“I am too busy”- I can make time, I make time for things in my life I deem important I just need to move this one up the list.

When you boil it all down at the end of the day excuses are just that, excuses and unless you actually make the effort to push past them with some sort of goal or plan you will continue to fall victim to them.  You CAN do whatever you put your mind to, you just have to replace “I can’t because…” with “Sure I can”.

 

Why am I not working out? I have an excuse for that…

So I am almost 2 years out of my surgery and I have noticed some bad habits coming back to haunt me.  I thought I had broken some of the bad habits that I had deeply ingrained in me when I went through my pre surgery stuff and at least by 2 years out.  It wasn't until I was sitting at my desk at work and I noticed myself going through the "hand to mouth" mindless motion and I just snapped into the moment and thought to myself "What the hell am I doing?"  I have put on about 13lbs since my lightest weight and I know I have been slacking in the exercise department but that couldn't be it.  Now I know where those pounds came from, mindless munching throughout my day.  I had a scary snap to life moment and realized I had to make a change.  This change seemed so easy in my mind when I said it to myself but man was I wrong!  Since this action seemed like it was actually ingrained into my muscles and subconscious and not something I was even noticing it took a while for me to take notice of all of the times throughout the day I was grazing on things.  The up side of this was at least what I was snacking on was healthy, granola, pretzels, nuts...things like that.

My first change was looking through my desk for what I had squirreled away and cleaning out things that were grazing type foods and I replaced them with high protein bars and some fruit in my fridge.  These things are much more filling and I noticed myself very quickly not reaching for grazing snacks because not only were they not available but I felt full.

My second change was keeping to a much stricter eating schedule so that the need to graze really didn't come into play.  Breakfast by 7am, snack at 10am, lunch by 1pm, snack by 4pm, dinner by 8pm.  Keeping to this schedule really seemed to keep not only my belly full but my mind full as well.

Since making these changes I have lost 3lbs and that is without changing anything else in my life.

I know that my weight is always going to be an issue because I am not cured, I am just on a long road to recovery and transformation.  I have a lot to work on mentally, clearly, now I know that I have steps to take and I am just at the bottom of a very large mountain that I need to climb.