Them: “You look great”
Me: “Thank you”
Them: “You’ve lost weight. You look great!!”
Me: “Thanks!”
Them: “What are you doing”
Me: “Living”
Them: “I mean, what are you doing to lose weight”
Me: “Living”
Them: “How are you losing weight”
Me: “By living an active and healthy lifestyle”
When I first started on my weight loss journey, I viewed losing weight and getting healthy as a item on my to-do list. I think many people view it as that. Maybe that’s why many people gain back the weight they lose on a diet. They think that once they have lost weight that they don’t need to diet any more, check it off their to-do list and go back to what they were doing.
That perception changed for me after I lost about 30 pounds. I realized that losing weight, being healthy and being fit are not chores. They are not one time tasks. They are a way of life. They are a lifestyle. They are on my eternal to-do list.
Now that I’ve lost 50 pounds, I truly understand that being healthy is how I need to (and will) live my life. When I talk to people I try to convey that message. I help them understand that you have to commit to being healthy and live healthy. To quote my friend Miller: “Fitness is a journey, not a destination.” You can’t just get healthy and fit and then be done with it. Its not like going to the grocery store to pick up milk.
I have to work on it everyday. Make the right choices, make smart decisions. This is a daily thing, something that is part of my life. Am I obsessed with it? Darn right…its my life!
In the words of Bob Harper: “The struggle will always be there. Its how you manage it”
I have been realizing this very thing since the start of 2011. And it scares me a little. The idea is overwhelming that it never ends. That sounds awfully negative, doesn’t it?
It is a bit overwhelming, to say the least. However, what I realized is that as I continue to adjust my choices and lifestyle, I began to understand that its actually a part of my life. Its not just a hobby, habit, activity or task. Its actually my life. I’m having a hard to articulating this! My life before was eating large amounts of pizza, fast food, alcohol and not enough exercise. It was my life. I didn’t write down: eat pizza today. So this is just the opposite of that. My life now it eating right and exercising. I don’t have to make a to-do list to do that. Its just part of life!