Happy New Year! The Switch!

It's so exciting for me to think about what the New Year has in store. I'm not sure that I've ever had this much hope for a New Year. Mostly because I've never felt this good physically or mentally. It's amazing what a simple thing like exercise can do to change your entire lookout on life.

I went from detesting any type of movement, to craving it. I use to be the master at finding the easy way to do things. You know, the path of least resistance. Why did I sell myself short? The further I sank into the dark and deep hole of self destruction the more I did to destroy myself. The more my friends and family tried to help me the quicker I ran in the opposite direction.

I recently found a quote in a book I was reading "The key to long-term weight loss are planning and consistency". One of my favorite words that describes my success throughout this journey is "Intentional". When I read this quote today it resignated with me about being "intentional". If you think that eating healthy and exercising daily will just happen without being intentional and planning you are sadly mistaken. It takes organization, planning, discipline and thought to make sure that everything YOU need to be successful is at your fingertips.

One of the things my friend Tracy said to me at the beginning of this journey was "if you're exercising daily and see how long it takes to burn a simple 100 calories it will make you think twice about putting something in your mouth that is high in calories". So, true! Something in my mind has finally made the SWITCH. Almost like a switch plate on the wall. I finally got it!

I learned 4 years ago from a Psychiatrist who specializes in patients with food disorders that I had an all or nothing personality when it came to dieting. I was either on plan or completely off plan. I'm sure you can relate with this way of thinking. I would often fall into the trap of setting unrealistic goals, or would deprive myself of all of the foods I loved for so long that when I finally ate it I would let it snowball into a week, month or year long guilt trip of eating unhealthy. I now feel such balance.

I do feel that regular exercise is the key to such balance. The feeling you get after a workout is exhilarating. There seems to be so much clarity from all of that oxygen flowing about. Not to mention all of the extra energy I have. It didn't happen overnight, this was a gradual change in my thought process. Baby steps are okay. You can't change everything in one day. You are destined for failure if that's your attitude. But also, being consistent.