Baby Steps: How I Aim to Improve My Health

We all know the story: how I lost thirty pounds and then gained it back. Well this is a different story. This is the story of how I’m getting down to weight pre medication and never gaining a single pound back. It’s a lofty goal but I aim to achieve it….with baby steps. Here are some steps I’m taking so that one day I won’t even have to think about healthy. It’ll just be a reflex.

• Order water every time I go to a restaurant. Another goal of mine is to be more present in enjoying my food. So I’ll be more focused on my meal and less on what I am drinking. The water will also fill me up so  I will eat less, consuming less calories. The only drink I really ordered from restaurants was iced tea and usually I had to dump seven packets of sugar in it anyway. Plus it saves me (and usually Justin) money.

• Ditch soda entirely. Act like I’m allergic to it. That’s what I did with alcohol and subsequently with Monster and other highly caffeinated drinks. I only drink soda for the caffeine anyway but it’s a minefield of sugar and additives I know are bad for me. One of my favorite “self-help” authors is Gretchen Rubin who poses  the question to us “Are we abstainers or moderators?” It seems (hint: seems) like  the easiest thing in the world is moderation but I actually think I am an abstainer. It is why every Lent I am able to quit cold turkey no matter what it is (chocolate milk, apple cider, iced tea and yes one year I gave up sex). So rather than have soda once in a while, I’m just going to knock it out completely.

• Take a step up at the gym. I actually earned two free personal training sessions this month- one for my birthday, one for all the points I accredited for showing up so much. I try to go five days a week and so far have mainly stuck to cardio and keeping my ass away from the intimidating machines. But my trainer, after going over my goals (which is to tighten my core, lose weight and get a better ass. Well,, I didn’t say that part) showed me a few machines. Well, today I went into the gym  on  my own and did all the machines. I felt so legit especially since the trainer had told me I had “good form”. That sounds like high praise coming from a trainer.

• Stop when you’re full, not when your plate is empty. A strange occurrence happened last night at dinner. I couldn’t finish my meal.  I was full. I still had a plate of roasted carrots in front of me (which I find really tasty) but I knew I wouldn’t be able to eat it. I can’t remember the last time I stopped eating because I was full. I always feel like I should keep eating (usually  because I am ravenous). But I wasn’t hungry now. So I stopped eating. 

• Watch the fried foods. As we have already established I am an abstainer.  But I can’t abstain from fried foods. I loved fried food. I especially love onion rings and fried calamari. Those are like my guilty pleasures. I could probably give up french fries (but maybe not the skinny shoestring ones we get at Open Mics). I think I will limit myself to one “cheat” per week. So if I get onion rings Wednesday I can’t get fried calamari on Saturday. It’s not alot but it’s better than nothing.

  
  

As I start to shed the pounds, I think I will be encouraged to eat healthier, cut out more fried foods and incorporate more portion control. It will be a long journey. But it doesn’t seem like such a long trek with baby steps.