My husband and I decided in the fall of 2001 to start an exercise and nutrition program. It was a really big change but we had a lot of encouragement from our children, parents, and our friends. Renee Davis, a long time friend, kept talking to me about working out and going to the gym. I kept noticing such positive changes in her that I talked to my husband about it. He had diabetes and had almost given up in trying to manage it. We decided we would try this together as a team. In our family a team means everyone, my two children and my mother. We all ate healthy foods during a 12 week period except on our free day, which we said was Saturday. On our free day we celebrated the milestones we meet during the week and also got to eat anything we wanted. On regular weekdays, we didn’t indulge in those wonderful sweets or chips.
The first 4 weeks were the toughest. Planning was the key. It’s too easy to make excuses like, we have two children, there isn’t enough time, I’m tired. We decided after a family meeting that we wouldn’t accept those excuses, changes needed to be made. We all set our goals and communicated them with each other. We held weekly planning meetings with the family, planned meals, exercise times, and scheduled in all the other stuff that happens when you have two active children. We found that even after scheduling the workout times, we had more time with the children and it was time better spent. Instead of watching TV we played together. That can be a challenge with an 11-year old who loves basketball. The children and my mother were even into it, they found ways to exercise and took an interest in preparing healthy foods.
We took a break over the holidays but once the holidays were over both children kept nagging us to get back into the gym and wanted to know when we were going to eat healthy again. As, a mother with a son who is in love with take out pizza, I couldn’t help but ask “Why do you want to do that again?” My 11-year old responded “because we didn’t get sick as much when we were eating healthy”. Since then my husband and I have started going to the gym again, both kids go with us and color (sometimes they help us workout) they support us because it is important to them too. They want mom and dad to be healthy so we will be around for their children. When I asked my mom if she noticed any changes during the time my husband and I were exercising and we were all eating healthy she said “Yes, you have more time with the children and the time you spend with them is better.” We could have kept on making excuses and not really living our life but we made a choice to live life, not watch it go by. We had many friends encourage us, including everyone at the Wellness Program.
Sometimes it makes it easier if you join a contest to motivate you even more. Mike and I both participated in “A Healthier Way ” and “Weigh to Go!” it helped motivate us to continue exercising and eating healthy. Goal setting is also important. I encourage you to do what both of the programs talked about, set clear goals and dates for achieving those goals. Read your goals each day and visualize yourself achieving those goals. By reading them each day and visualizing that you are achieving them you are changing your mind set and telling yourself that you believe you can do it.
Life isn’t easy and it isn’t easy finding the time to exercise or even eat healthy, but if you don’t make that commitment to yourself no one else will. You are worth it, you aren’t doing yourself or anyone else a favor when you say that everything else is more important than taking care of yourself. |