I'll Start Monday!

I read something yesterday that caught my eye - "I'll start Monday!" How many times have we heard that? Or how about, I'll start next week or In January I'll start doing that."  Why do we do that? I know I was guilty of it for years but the reality of it is,   we need to start today! Whatever it is we are wanting to do or change needs to start now. The thing about losing weight and formulating a regular exercise routine is that it's not a diet, it's  lifestyle. Diet says the word, temporary. Lifestyle, says the word, forever. Think about it this way,  In order to be healthy on a long term basis this is not just a temporary fix. It's got to be something you are willing to commit too forever. Have you been one of those people who's worked really hard for a period of time to take some weight off, or develop a new exercise routine, only to either slack off, take a break for a time and in the end you've ended up gaining it all back and them some? You're back to square one and often times with more to lose than the first time around? I know for me, there was a time when I took off 40 pounds following a specific eating plan, and felt like when I had reached a certain weight, I had done what I had set out to do, and it wasn't going to get any better than this so I went back to my old way in hoped the weight would stay off. Wrong! I learned real quickly by not making that one decision into  a lifestyle and something I would work at everyday, the weight came back and the exercise stopped. It was daunting and something that really bothered me. Almost as if I was a failure. Then that effects your self esteem and so many other factors in a persons life. Maybe that's why things are different for me this time around. Maybe I needed to go through that experience so I'd learn it doesn't work that way.

I knew when I started on this journey this time around I was determined to make it work. To make it a part of who I am. To make it a part of my lifestyle. In my mind there was no other option. It was not  just going to be a phase, it was going to become a new part of who I was. I had tobelieve that! I had to look myslelf in my bathroom mirror and tell myself those words- sometimes on a daily basis until it became a reality. Now, often times when people are expressing to me how much of an inspiration I am to them and that  they're going to get serious about their weight, and or exercise program, I have no qualms in telling them; "Don't bother unless you're serious! It's not worth it!"  Yes, we are human. We like food. But until we can wrap out heads around the fact that food is to our friend and to be used  as fuel not our enemy, I truly don't think as a people, we'll be able to change for good.

Something to think about:

If you wait until tomorrow to eat right, you'll never eat right, because tomorrow never comes. By the time it comes, it's today. Until you're ready to lose weight today, to eat healthy right now, in this meal, you never will. There's nothing that will be there tomorrow to make you do it that isn't here today. We need to keep in mind that having the desire is our starting point, but in order to make eating healthy a lifestyle, we need to realize there will be no finish line!