Why I Do What I Do

As I've mentioned in previous posts, the one question I tend to get asked pretty often is "How'd you lose all that weight?" People always want to know what "diet" I'm on, or if I even eat at all.  I notice this particularly among many of my clients, because to them, my weight loss seems pretty drastic, I would imagine.  When you only see your hairstylist every 6 weeks and every time you see them they shrink a size, I suppose it does seem like it's happening overnight.  I can't blame them.

The truth is that it isn't happening overnight - it's been a long, sometimes difficult journey of dedication and hard work.  And I've loved every minute of it.  No, really.  Everyone needs to have that one thing that moves them - something they're passionate about.  For some people it's religion, or politics or in my hubby's case, anything with a motor!  For me, this has been it.  And if you've known me a long time or if you've followed my previous blogs, you'll know that this wasn't always the case - I didn't grow up with any appreciation for healthy living or an active lifestyle.  I grew up in front of a TV, eating fast food and mac n' cheese.  So if I was able to fall in love with a life of fitness and clean eating, I'm pretty sure anything's possible! 

I get a multitude of different reactions when I answer the question, "How'd you do it?" with an enthusiastic "I eat healthy and I exercise...a lot."  Some people shake their heads and I'm sure they are thinking I've gone off the deep end and I'm one of those "health nuts".  They wouldn't be caught dead giving up their favorite foods or their time to go to the gym. Don't get me wrong - that's completely fine, as long as they are happy with where they are at - I'm not judging.  But others often say they wish they could be like that - to have so much discipline, but they're just not that kind of person, or they don't have the time, etc. What I wish to say to those people is that you can be like that if you truly want it - but you have to go about it in the right mindset.  If you go into it thinking of it as a chore, you're only setting yourself up for failure.  It's always a little awkward at first, starting anything new, but the trick is to learn to truly APPRECIATE the process.

When I first set out on my health/fitness journey, I'll admit, for me it was only a means to an end.  I wanted to be skinny and this was the way to do it.  But along the way, I've realized that it has become about so much more than just fitting into a smaller size. It's become an entirely new way of life. I have come to love it - and not only because it has provided results.  I genuinely look forward to my workouts and to eating healthy, balanced meals. If you're reading this and you still think I'm nuts, just hear me out.  These are just 3 of the things you stand to gain from living a healthy lifestyle - aside from a smaller waistline!  ;)  This is why I do what I do:

1. It feels good knowing you have a healthy body.  A few months ago - right around the time I found myself struggling with finding a healthy balance in this lifestyle - I took a pretty hard spill at work and went right down on my booty in a pair of shoes I probably shouldn't have been wearing!  When you're a kid, falling is a natural part of life - you get right back up, put a band-aid on it and go along your merry way.  As an adult though, your body doesn't always handle it as well and it becomes a bigger deal - and truthfully it shook me a little.  I knew that I would likely wake up in agony the next day from the "trauma" of wrenching my whole body around to try and catch myself.  Well, the next morning I was surprised to find that, while my butt didn't feel so great, the rest of me managed to escape unscathed.  Later that day, my dad commented that it was a good thing I was in such great shape, or I would have really been hurting.  That's when it hit me.  While my mind had been so focused on eating and exercising to LOOK good, I had managed to build myself a body that could take a little bit of a beating.  I had always been sort of a weakling in that way, and it made me proud to say that I had toughened myself up a little bit.

2. Empowerment.  Nothing feels worse than being helpless.  I know.  I've been there - that desperate feeling that you have no control over your life or your surroundings.  Living a fit life has given me a sense of empowerment that nothing else ever has.  Feeling empowered to make healthy choices, even when they may not always be the easiest ones to make, is a character builder like no other.  Just the other day, I came across this blog post by Electra over at Vanilla Bean Lean and she put very eloquently into words exactly what I was thinking while writing this post.  She said, basically that you ALWAYS have a choice, and any time is a good time to choose.  It's not something someone needs to twist your arm to get you to do - it IS in every one of us to make the decision to lead a healthy life, and to truly learn to love and appreciate the process.  It's just a matter of realizing that the power to choose is all you! 

3. A more positive outlook. This is not to say that there are not some very fit people with bad attitudes out there - if you've ever watched an episode of Jersey Shore you can attest to this!  But if you research fitness and health, one of the things you'll find is that a lot of the people who live this lifestyle tend to be pretty positive people.  My guess is that the first 2 reasons above have something to do with it.  If you have a healthy body and a healthy mind, even the hardships in life don't seem as bad.  It's much easier to keep a positive attitude if you FEEL good.  And if there's one thing I've learned, it's that a little positivity goes a LOOOOONNNNGGG way!  Energy, whether positive or negative, tends to build momentum.  It's like that Liberty Mutual commercial where one person does a nice thing and then they pass it on and so on and so on.  Do one nice thing for someone for no reason and you want to do it again and again and before you know it you're a positive ball of energy doing all kinds of nice things for people just because it feels good!  Similarly, if you wake up and stub your toe on the bed, and drop your toothbrush in the toilet, and burn your breakfast, and catch every stoplight on the way to work, it can be pretty easy to let that negativity build up and then you take it with you all day and the next day and so on. And before you know it, you're a miserable, negative person who makes everyone around you miserable!  Ok, now I'm really rambling, but my point is: it's much better to be the 1st type of person, and if living a healthy life will make me into that person, I'd say all of those hours at the gym were well-spent!

As I said earlier, if someone is happy without fitness in their life, more power to them!  Except a lot of people nowadays are not happy with how they look or feel but they see fitness and healthy eating as too much of an inconvenience to be for them.  All I'm saying is that it doesn't NEED to be.  If you take the time to really learn to appreciate what your body can do if you hold it accountable and push it beyond it's limits, you may find out that you get more than you bargained for - in a REALLY good way!