The 3 R’s

I would say weight loss has been a battle for me…but that would presuppose I had entered the fight. I give losing weight lip service as I snack on Girl Scout cookies and sit on my couch and make excuses for not exercising and eating–after all the best stress relief=Chubby Hubby ice cream (right?!)…

With the weather now nice–there is truly no excused to not go running. (Well, except that my favorite shoes are giving me blisters but to remedy that I used DH’s coke rewards points to order a new pair of Nike’s–so as soon as they arrive there goes even that excuse)

I did go out today…with my blister-causing shoes (after DH said that it would be a silly thing to do!) But I had read somewhere that applying gobs of petroleum jelly would keep the shoe from rubbing and therefor blisters would not form–ummm…did not work.

My planned three miles was cut to one, limpy mile….but as I was walking (could not run because of the blister)…I started thinking about all the websites I have visited, and Biggest Loser episodes I have watched, and magazines and books I have read about weight loss and running. Let me tell you, I am definitely filled with book knowledge. I know all the ‘secrets’ about what is ‘sure to work’ and I have made some half-hearted attempts at many different things…As I was walking, though, it occurred to me that it really boils down to the 3 R’s!

R #1: RECORD! almost every diet plan or life-eating plan (as most call themselves now) talks about how important it is to journal everything you eat. I know it would make a difference but I am so stubborn about doing it because I just don’t want to write down those 3 thin mint cookies–I think knowing what I eat and when and why would be the number one key to weight loss success. I know I do a lot of mindless munching…but couldn’t tell you just how many calories I ‘waste’ a day other than the number is high.

R #2: RUN! which is really code for exercise. I love the running the best. But I have come to the conclusion that what really matters is the moving. I don’t need to power-lift and be so scheduled that it is not fun–but I do need to move everyday! I need to make an hour for myself to get out there and do something. Time (especially as a homeschooling, working mom) is so limited BUT that hour a day–also life-changing. It is ‘me-time’–time to pray, think, just be. “Losing” that hour, gains so many rewards.

R #3: RELATIONSHIP! This is a personal one for me. All the reading says not to diet–that diets are restrictive and no one can stick to them–they give an out to people like me. I know I have an unhealthy relationship with food. I get so busy, I don’t eat, and then I binge! That cycle happens all throughout the day. I also have a major sweet tooth. I am a vegetarian who has turned largely into a junkatarian (I don’t eat meat but not much healthy, either.) For weigh loss to occur, I need to redefine my relationship with food AND that has to mean sticking to a schedule and being really strict with what I choose to consume. Food has to lose its “crutch” affect with me. For the time-being, I need to think of food as energy and not a source of enjoyment or stress-relief.

That is not saying that I will never not eat the things I love…for example, a dear friend and I go out weekly for Starbucks–and I do choose healthy off the menu–that will continue…but the other 4-5 trips a week just because don’t need to happen….

Bottom-line: weight-loss is not easy. And it is not just going to happen because I read a thousand articles. It comes down to a choice I need to make within myself. And the discipline to not let the excuses that run through my head win out.