Thursday, July 25, 2013

Time and Opportunity

Batman and I love to watch Extreme Weight Loss.  We find inspiration in the stories, many of them similar to our own. It motivates us to want to work hard and improve our own health.
But reality is that we don't have all of the time that these people do to devote to a strict workout and eating regimen.
We were discussing this last night as I was making dinner. I just made a simple pasta salad and a tuna salad, nothing fancy. But it took time to cut up all those veggies. It took time to go to the grocery store every day to buy the veggies so they don't go bad before we can eat them. It took time to prepare a healthy meal.  How much time would we save if we just got fast food? It's already cooked for us, we just have to drive there and eat it. And while we are driving there we can multi-task--drop stuff at the post office, make phone calls, etc. I can't do that all while I'm prepping and cooking food. And let's not forget I have Baby Bug under my feet constantly. Last night it took over an hour to make a pasta salad because i had to stop every five seconds to get her out of something that could cut her,  maim her, suffocate her, crush her or poison her. My 1 year old is Evil Knievel in a mini, female version.  But I digress.
Batman and I were talking about how if I wasn't staying home, I wouldn't have the opportunity to really make these changes and make them stick. Right now, nearly all of  my focus is on this healthier living journey we're on. I worked out three times yesterday and twice today. I chop veggies and fruits and count calories and drink water. I do yoga and dancing and go for walks daily with Baby Bug and Monkey when she is home.
So there is a reason for everything and maybe the reason that our childcare didn't work out and I ended up having to stay home was to give us time and opportunity to improve the health of my family--physically and emotionally.

2 comments:

  1. They say everything happens for a reason. When it all first started, you questioned your reason. Now you have an answer. Shows like Extreme Weight Loss and Biggest Loser can be super motivating, but they are also misleading. If you notice, people on BL leave their jobs to hang out at the ranch. They have nothing else to do. When you watch EWL you see that most of those people never go back to their normal jobs. In past seasons I saw people quit their jobs to follow their dreams while working on their weight loss.

    When I did Weight Watchers many moons ago, it was the "at work" program. When it ended 16 weeks later, most of us met up on Saturday morning at the college to continue meetings. It took me a year to reach my goal weight. By that time I was unemployed and running 6-7 miles a day. It was easy to stay at 160.

    I went back to a desk job and those pounds came back. It got harder. I got up to 200 by the time I moved here to MI. I was so embarrassed I gained weight, I never went back to WW in OK.

    It IS hard. Anyone can admit that. Not to be uber cliche, but as you know - where there is a will - there is a way. Of course I know people with full time jobs (8-12hrs a day, and kids) and yet still find time to train for MMA or triathlons. Its all in how you schedule your day.

    It might help you to buy a salad spinner. That way you can make large amounts of salad at once and not make small ones every day.

    Also, cutting up meats and other things in preparation for the weeks meals..doing it all at once and putting it in bags really helps. When I make breakfast in the morning, I multi task and do dinner prep at the same time. If I don't - working from home will drive me insane because then I will stop what I am doing to go prep dinner so that it will take less time and be ready.

    Anyway, the small things add up and I can sit here and go on and on all day. LMAO!

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  2. I'm hoping that this time to get my lifestyle adjusted will translate into the rest of my life if that makes sense. If I can focus and spend all my time making it a habit, then when I go back to work, it'll already be natural to pack a healthy lunch or make time for a workout.

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