Area Mom Resigns Herself to Regular Exercise, Moderate Dietary Reform

The last few weeks have introduced some somewhat personal problems that I’ve been struggling to work through and come to terms with. One of these things is the realization that I’ve recently failed in several attempts to improve my exercise and eating habits. It’s a weird thing to wrestle with somewhat publicly, and even weirder when you start to publicly fail. The ‘public’ nature of this issue in my life was largely by choice. I didn’t have to tell anyone my plans to change, and I certainly didn’t need to put anything on the internet. But I did. In part because I thought it would give me extra incentive to follow through - surely I wouldn’t fail if people were watching! And yet, I did.

After some reflection, it seems that the cause of this failure has mostly to do with lack of motivation appropriate to meet the challenge. Over the past 4 years or so, I haven’t had to put forth basically any effort to maintain an acceptable weight or physique. The main problem I encountered was losing too much weight and strength due to feeling sick when I was pregnant. But other than that, various life circumstances that didn’t have much to do with intent or discipline kept me in decent physical shape. Now that has changed, and I find myself spoiled, weak, and flabby. When Sara and I decided to embark on our ‘Health Binge’ I had some mythically inspired expectation that with only the most minor adjustments to my habits, my body would obediently transform, and I would naturally get more and more excited about exercising and eating healthily. Not so, my friends!

It’s going to take a lot more time, effort, and sacrifice to make the changes I would like to, and I’ve only recently (like in the last few days) come to accept that. So, no, I don’t have any new extreme exercise or diet program in mind. It’s just not my highest priority right now. But I am committing to more moderate regular exercise, and have finally acknowledged that it may take 4 or 5 months of slow, consistent progress to get to where I’d like to be. How’s that for a thrilling, end-of-the-week announcement? It’s kind of like an article from The Onion, so pedestrian, so bland.
But it’s all I’ve got for now.

Comments

Liza said…
I need an exercise partner. Mostly this means I need someone to walk with regularly. I'd like to build up to running but right now I HATE running. And regular walking would at least be something. But I never, ever stick to it on my own. If you are interested in being my walking maybe one day running partner, let me know and we can talk about it more :)

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