I've been noticing lately how much my habits have an effect on DD (she's 2). She loves imitating me do weights and will even ask me to put exercise DVDs on so she can "workout" with them! She also practices jogging with her toy stroller around the living room with her doll in it.
She also eats tons of veggies/fruit/protein (because we don't offer much of anything else) and doesn't even have a sweet tooth from the few times she's been offered sweets (well, with the exception of ice cream and muffins but we never have those at home so it's a non-issue).
She practices cooking all the time and cuts up her toy veggies and then feeds them to all her dolls while proclaiming how yummy they are!
She also steps on the scale almost every morning to weigh herself... (ok, maybe this one she didn't need to pick up...)
It's really made me realize how important it is that I've changed my habits now when she's young. She imitates everything that I do and I'm glad she's NOT imitating the mom who use to binge on chocolate. I'm glad that she's NOT imitating the mom who wouldn't exercise enough.
I've struggled my whole life overcoming the examples that I learned from my own mother who habitually overate, was sloppy, never took care of her appearance, and would use junk food as motivation for me and my sister to get things done. I really don't want to provide that as an example for DD and it's a great feeling to see her picking up good habits not bad ones. It's such a big motivation to keep losing!!