On Exercise and Eating Right

One of my biggest pet peeves is when people ask me, "Why do you work out? You're already skinny."

I usually just laugh it off. First of all, I'm not extremely comfortable with being called "skinny". Comments about anyone's weight, mine included, make me cringe. I know some people feel like they're complimenting me, but in all seriousness, it makes me insanely uncomfortable.

Here's the deal. I don't work out to be skinny.

Do I want to maintain a healthy weight? Yes.

But that's not (the only reason) I work out.

About two and a half years ago I came to a point where I was super stressed. Work was draining me emotionally and physically. I was feeding myself a steady diet of highly processed, high sugar, low in nutritional value junk. I had gained quite a bit of weight, and while I didn't like that, I liked the way I felt physically and mentally even less.

I knew something had to change. This wasn't who I was. This wasn't who God created me to be. And I wasn't honoring the temple He had given me.

So I started to change things. I started running (actually walking/jogging again) for the first time since before Andrew was born. Was it hard? Yes. I was working a lot. I had a four year and a full time job where I showed up at 7:15 every morning and didn't leave until close to five (and then I took A LOT of work home). Plus I was wading through the stresses of adoption paperwork and waiting. Some days it was all I could do not to say "forget it". Sometimes it meant making myself work out at nine at night (or later), but I made myself push through the exhaustion and do the work. And you know what? I almost immediately started feeling better. The constant exhaustion I felt began to lift. The stress began to have less of an effect on me mentally and physically. It's always going to be hard. There will always be excuses. And there are days where I feel like I would rather walk across a bed of nails than work out. But the benefits, I reap from going for a run and listening to praise music far outweigh those few moments of "I don't want to".

I also started changing the way we, as a family, ate. I didn't want Andrew growing up thinking junk was the norm. So I started really paying attention to what we were eating. I started cutting back on the processed foods, and cooking and baking from scratch. I changed the way I prepared the foods we were eating. In college I took quite a few exercise and nutrition classes. I learned things from these classes, and from one professor in particular, that have stuck with me for well over 10 years. These were the classes where I learned about the chemicals that we put in our bodies and the damage they do. These were the classes where I first heard about hydrogenated oils and how crazy bad they are for you. This is also where I learned that whole foods are best. So I became a label reading fool.

Do we ever have junk food? Yes, we do. I'm not going to lie. I polished off about half a bag of Doritos yesterday afternoon. And I do have t.v. dinners on hand for those times when I just don't want to cook. Do we every eat out? Yes, probably too much. But my goal is to make most of our meals healthy on most days.

Some examples of this are: Baking from scratch and making sauces, etc. from scratch. If we have dessert, I want to know what's in it. I don't have issues with sugar in moderation (although I am not a fan of High Fructose Corn Syrup and try to avoid it for the most part). I do have issues with sugar in my spaghetti sauce which is why I make my own. I also try to buy organic when I can. Although, it is more expensive, and it doesn't always happen.

We eat butter.

We eat cheese.

We eat meat.

We eat eggs.

We eat vegetables.

We eat fruit.

We eat ice cream.

No foods are off limits. I want my kids to have a healthy view of food. I want them to understand that food is fuel for the body. I want them to see the importance of eating right and exercising, not to be skinny, but to be healthy. But I also want them to enjoy food. And so yes, sometimes we pile in the car and head to DQ for ice cream.

This isn't about a diet. It's not about "looking good". If the only reason you want to lose weight or get in shape is to look good in a swimsuit, it's not likely to have staying power. There has to be more to it than that. It's about taking care of the body God gave you. It's about being the best you can be. No amount of vitamins or supplements or crazy crash diets can take the place of taking care of yourself. It's about being physically and mentally healthy so that you can lead the full life God intends for you to live.

And that is my rant for the day.