Everything kaplods said ... yeah!
I think a lot of people sabotage themselves with the idea that they have to completely revamp their lives and that they have to do it all at once.
Now, I won't lie - my life now is NOTHING like my life 2 years ago. And if you had told me 2 years ago that this would be my life, I'd have given up. I'd have said "I can't do that" and just quit then and there.
Where I am now is the result of changes made step by step by step over that 2 year period.
When I first started, I had joined the gym because of my work ... just wanting to be in "better shape". Honestly, I had no idea what "better shape" even meant to me, except that I knew I wasn't in shape and that it was affecting my ability to do my job. I thought I ate ok - not great but ok - but I wasn't willing to give up my junk foods and my snacks and my "favorite things".
So I went to the gym. And I worked out like everyone says to. Lots of cardio. Cardio until I wanted to throw up. And I kinda quit eating junk food, but I was always making excuses for why it was ok "today".
Then, right before Christmas one year, I had some extra money and I thought I'd hire a trainer. It really was a whim and I had no intention of continuing working with him beyond my initial contract (4 weeks).
He started me training with weights - convinced me that girls could lift freeweights and lift heavy weights. He nagged me about my nutrition and my protein and cutting carbs at night. Mostly I ignored him.
I told him at one point if I wanted to be nagged about my meals, I'd call my MIL. Just teach me how to get fit. I had no frickin' clue that "getting fit" was as much about nourishing your body as it was about lifting weights and doing cardio.
But slowly, slowly, slowly the changes crept in. He pushed me to add more protein to my diet and so I did - mostly to shut him up.
And amazingly when I ate more protein, I wasn't as hungry all the time. He nagged me to quit eating carbs at night and so I did for a few weeks (sorta) and realized I felt better.
I had to give up my trainer for travel and finance reasons earlier this year, but I still credit him with much of the inspiration that helped me to change.
After I stopped working with him, I started reading and learning more - focusing on nutrition more from an athlete's point of view than from a dieter's point of view. Because, mind you, I'd NEVER considered myself an athlete, so why should I pay attention to an athlete's diet.
But what I read made sense to me. Not just from an athletic sense, but from a whole body sense. And it fit in with my desire to be more knowledgeable about what I ate and where it came from - to cut out chemicals, to eat more whole foods. I started reading books like Michael Pollan's In Defense of Food and The Omnivore's Dilemma. I actually bought the New Rules of Lifting for Women. Me! I bought a book on weight lifting - and read it cover to cover.
All of this ... was a sllloooooooowwww process. But one day I woke up and realized that I hadn't had junk from McDonald's in over 6 months. And I hadn't had a spicy chicken sandwich from Wendy's in almost a year. And when I got home at night after going to the gym (!!) I wanted protein - craved it. And I didn't want the normal snacky stuff that I used to - it just didn't sound good.
And today ... today I work out 4-6 times a week. I eat around 1500 calories a day, mostly veggies, complex carbs, and lean protein. I watch my macros and try to stick around a 40/35/25 split. I lift weights. I do squats and deadlifts with the olympic bar. I do benchpresses. I CRAVE movement. I CRAVE veggies and fruit.
And if you'd told me 2 years ago that I would be here today I'd have told you that you were smoking some serious crack.
Don't freak yourself out. It doesn't have to be all at once. It only has to be a step at a time. Take one thing - maybe you want to exercise some, or you want to eat more veggies, or you want to learn how to do yoga - and do that ONE THING. And then move on to the next. And the next. And the next. And before you know it, you'll have changed your whole life ... and you won't even realize you're doing it.
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