Healthy Body

I've changed my focus in the last few years from losing weight to being healthier. It was a hard shift to make in our society. The thing that did it for me was trying to explain to my daughters why they shouldn't diet. I've been overweight most of my adult life, but I think that dieting really caused a lot of it. I put myself into a feast or famine situation. I was either strictly watching what I was eating and counting calories or stuffing my face with all the things I had been denied (whether I wanted them at the moment or not). Same thing with exercise. I was either at the gym doing all sorts of exercises I hated or I was sitting on the couch.

It is really amazing what happens when we turn the switch to being healthier. I exercise quite a bit now because I teach water exercise classes. The difference is that the exercises I do are fun and not because they will burn the optimal amount of calories. I've found things that appeal to me. I think that is the trick. Finding things that work for you. They have to fit into your schedule and personality. It is so much better to do a bit less but do it consistently. Not very many of us can go full out and sustain it.

It's the same thing with changing the way you eat. We need to listen to our bodies and find what works for us. At the same time, we need to think about the changes that we are willing to make. It doesn't matter if I find the perfect plan for my body if I can't stick to it. As I've learned in the past, all that does is create a ticking bomb until I binge on everything I think I was denied. The reason there are so many diet plans out there is that we all are different. It all has worked for someone. We need to listen to ourselves to see what will work for us and what we can sustain.

I think the biggest key is also to make peace with our bodies. I tell my girls all the time that we are not all built the same way. There is no way someone with a curvy body can look like a waif and be healthy. I hope they get the message that being healthy is so much better than being thin. I also hope that if I say it long enough to them, I can continue to believe it myself.