I promise not all of my posts are going to be in question form. Let's talk accountability today. Accountability is really the reason I have a blog in the first place. Because on what was day two, I was like: FORGET THIS! I NEED A BURRITO! But, alas, earlier that day I had informed the internet that I was, in fact, abstaining from burritos.
Why do you haunt my dreams, burrito the size of my face?
And it worked. Later that day I got some really helpful comments and encouragement from people who care a lot about me. And I did not run out and purchase a burrito! Nor have I, apparently accelerated to severe addiction stage where I have spare burritos hidden in the washing machine and in light fixtures. So the blog saved me from myself, and the burrito. This in itself is absolutely amazing. But I want to talk about going a little deeper.
This is my theory: I'm kind of a slug. But actually, a lot of the folks I hang out with are also quite sedentary. Not everybody; I have some very fit, active, trim, healthy friends, and cheers to them! I also have some friends who are happy with their activity level; awesome. Even my husband, who is at a healthy weight for his age, height and gender, does not get a lot of exercise. Here's the point though: exercise is not just for people who need to lose weight for fear of slowly suffocating in their own fat (that got graphic fast). Exercising is for everybody! Yay!
Continuing with the "I'm kind of a slug," theory. I need help. Just as eating is a social thing, exercising has been a social thing in the past. People bowl, hike, join intramural sports teams, go out dancing, or even train for and run marathons together. And that's the point. People do these things together. More attached to my theory, I think working out is awful and boring because I have always spent my time working out alone, plugged into a treadmill watching horrible TV. No wonder I hate it! My time playing organized sports was spent feeling like a burden to my team. No one is shocked I didn't pursue softball further. What would it be like if I could be with my friends, doing something active and not feeling ashamed?
So, with that in mind, we're getting a membership to the Y. And if you're reading this and you don't live in Germany (I found out someone from Germany read my blog!) maybe you should get a membership too. Let's make it a thing that people do again. Like, meet up for random basketball. Or like, see who can go the longest on an elliptical set to high resistance. I don't know, who can sneak the most farts in group yoga? Don't care. I want this to be A) Fun and B) something as natural as eating.
Every day I ask my husband, "So, what do you want to do about food?"
The goal is for it to be just as normal to ask "So, what do you want to do about exercise?"
Weirdly, (or perhaps not so weirdly, as it wasn't so long ago), I think about our wedding. We sure could have gotten married in a courthouse with just a few witnesses and saved a ton of money. But we wanted (and perhaps needed) more support for such a big step.
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| Tarver and I needed 16 attendants to agree to keep doing what we've been up to for 4 years. It was a great party :) |
Well, if losing 100 pounds isn't a big step, I don't know what is. Maybe that's why our wedding party had so many people.
Just an FYI for support: I too am dragging my butt off of my couch to work out today. My goal is 40 workouts before the New Year. If you lived in Minneapolis, I'd be encouraging you to join me :)
ReplyDeleteIn undergrad I put on close to 30 lbs. I started to track my calories and slowly shed many of these lbs as I got closer to graduation. After graduating (and being utterly unemployable) I decided to run a half-marathon. I printed out calendars and wrote my workouts in for every other day, ranging in difficulty and duration. By the time the race came around I had managed a 10-mile run in 104 minutes and was regularly running just over 20 miles a week! I had trimmed up and put on muscle; it felt AMAZING. After my wedding (of course) I probably put 10 lbs. of it back on. I got myself back into a great workout routine (45 minutes of lifting and then 45 minutes to an hour of cardio) and again got myself into good shape (see Halloween pics from 2010).
Now, again, I have managed to put 10 or 15 lbs. back on! I am setting this New Years goal because I have come to realize that "lifestyle maintenance" is a great thing, but part of my lifestyle is being a goal-driven individual. If I am not working towards a specific goal, I will find many excuses to not get it done.
The other thing that has been most helpful is getting my husband involved. He used to hate the gym, but after getting into a weight-lifting routine, he really started to crave it and even go without me if I couldn't get off of work in time. The gym can become addictive- one of the only addictions that I am happy to be "into". However, much like a rolling stone, when you've slowed, it becomes increasingly challenging to get the motivation to go again. Moral of this story: just go. Even if it's 30-minutes, you can feel proud of yourself for busting your butt and doing something great for yourself!
I am so excited to continue to watch your progress- congratulations on saying no to the burrito! Another option with those (if it's chipotle or qdoba): Get it without the wrap, use guac instead of cheese or sour cream and sprinkle it with hot sauce and lime juice. If you get chicken, rice, pico de gallo, lettuce, guac, lime and hot sauce, you can eat probably half of it and stay on track for the day! Not sure if eating half is a possibility, but if so, you can still enjoy what you love, simply in a smaller portion.
Keep up your great work, Liz!
Thanks for the encouragement, Maureen! Maybe in a awhile there'll be like a 5 or 10k in Minneapolis that we can do together :) Getting married is one of those things that just leads to gaining weight, apparently! I LOVE the 40 workouts before the new year idea-- definitely attainable and just the right balance between a short term and a long term goal!
ReplyDeleteGetting my husband involved I think has really helped. Like I said, I don't particularly like doing anything alone, and I may as well bring him with! He's gotta be healthy too!
I lost some weight at the end of my undergraduate career and the gym does become a little addictive-- I liked that part. :)
Thanks for reading-- we'll have to chat soon-- I want to hear about how your new business is going!