Adina’s Cute & Perky Blog!

So I listened to two friends of mine debate what they would have for lunch last Saturday.  They asked me to help choose, but I told them I didn’t care.  For 15 or 20 minutes of the ride my two friends wrestled and struggled with this decision.  You would think it was the most important decision of their day.  Who knows?  Maybe it was.

I did not join in, as I mentioned before.  I truly did not care where we ate.  I was there to enjoy the company of my friends.  I knew that no matter what I ate or where I ate, if I ate slowly enough, 20 minutes into my meal I would be full.  Whether if be junk food or salad.  Pasta or Subway.

I mean, think about it.  How many times have you watched coworkers struggle over what to order for lunch?  How many times have you seen friends pout when they didn’t get their choice?!

Imagine these people going home to their spouse or children.  When asked how their day was, do they reply in terms of food?  Do they say, “I had the best chicken salad I have ever had?”

Or if they didn’t get their way do they say, “My whole day was ruined because Adina chose a place that served healthy food?”

No.  More than likely no.  They talk about the events or accomplishments of the day.

Food is fuel.  Nothing more and nothing less.

Think of past family gatherings.  We may enjoy time around the table, but is it really the food we remember?  Do you look back and say, “Boy that Tuna Casserole of 83 will never be topped!”

No.  We look back and remember the people and the love.

Food is just fuel. 

When faced with what to eat at lunch tomorrow, just remember that no matter what you eat, you’ll be full in twenty minutes.

If you recognize food for what it is and make a good choice, you will go on with your day after lunch and forget it.

If you fail to remember that food is fuel and indulge in something you shouldn’t, you will change the course of your day.  You will berate yourself and wish you had made the healthy choice.  Because no matter how tempting or good something looks at the time, a few short hours later it wasn’t worth it.

Just remember….FOOD IS FUEL. 

Nothing more and nothing less.

So a friend of mine asked me to write down some tips she and her husband could use to start their New Year off right.  She did not want a diet, per say.  She wanted guidelines.  Gradual changes to make.

I thought about this for a while.  It was harder than I thought.  I mean, what do you tell someone without actually giving them a diet to follow? 

Then I thought, what if I could go back two years ago and write a letter to myself?  What would I tell the Adina of just a few years ago?

It would go something like this….

Dear Adina,

You have within you the power to reach your goal weight, but you just don’t know it yet.  Losing weight is hard, and the battle will be long.  The good news is you will look back and say it was worth it.

Your circle of friends will change a good bit.  Right now you are spending too much of your free time with food as the focal point.  You haven’t learned this yet, but food does not equal fun.  Friends are fun.  You don’t have to go out to eat to enjoy your time with friends.  In fact, the less time you eat at restaurants, the sooner you will make it to goal.

You think you are getting some decent cardio in, but you’re really not.  You rarely sweat.  You don’t get your heart rate up.  You only do it for twenty minutes.  You need to do more cardio and harder cardio.  You need to do it five days a week, and you need to sweat.

You have terrible eating habits that you need to change over time.  If you do it too fast, it will depress you.  It’s overwhelming at first, but not if you take it one healthy habit at time.  Replace white bread with wheat.  Skim milk for whole. 

Junk food needs to go.  You are not going to work this hard only to go back to junk food.  If you think you will go back to the way you used to eat, you will never reach goal.  And you will reach goal.

You need to recognize that some foods just have no place in your diet, no matter what you weigh.  No one needs a triple cheese burger.

You will learn that alcohol dramatically slows your progress.  In fact, you will learn that one drink throws your cardio off for days.

You will eat healthy so long that you will actually CRAVE healthy foods.  The first time you have fries, which will be one year into your diet, they will make you sick.  And that is when you will know why you had trouble for so long.  The food you put into your body on a daily basis made you sick.  Sluggish.  Tired.

There is no diet that totally eliminates hunger, so you will have some hungry days.  The good news is, after those first two months, you will rarely be hungry again.  And two hungry months is a small price to pay for years of over-indulgence.

You will learn that no matter what you eat, you will be full in twenty minutes.  You will learn that if in the worst of your cravings you eat something healthy and on plan, twenty minutes later that craving is gone.  And you don’t think about it again.  Where as if you cheat, you will berate yourself that rest of that day.

You will learn to look at a piece of pie and weigh its worth by how long it takes you to work it off on the treadmill.  And it is rarely worth it.

Two years from now you will not even recognize the person you once were.  You will look at before pictures and wonder how you didn’t know you were that big.  How you didn’t recognize how out of control you were.  You see why your dating life was non-existent.  You will see why people stared.

Two years from now you will no longer worry about fitting into a booth.  You will no longer shop in plus size departments and, you will no longer worry that you are the biggest person in the room.

Even your personality will change.  You will no longer feel the need to please everyone, because you will have learned to take time for yourself.  You will learn that putting your health at the forefront is OK…and even necessary.

Losing the weight will change every aspect of your life.  Food is no longer that center of your world.  In fact, you will go out with your boyfriend on New Year’s Eve in a little black dress and giggle when you both order eggs at midnight.

And most importantly, you will never look back and wish you had cheated or given in more. 

You will be proud at the person you have become.

And in the grand scheme of things, two years really isn’t that long.

Adina

 “Nature does not hurry, yet everything is accomplished.”  Lao Tzu
Let’s face it.  Some things cannot be rushed.

If you have one hundred pounds to lose, there’s just no rushing it.

It’s easy to see what happens in nature.  You pick something before it’s time, it doesn’t ripen correctly.  It’s not as good.

The warm weather comes too soon, and it messes up the planting.  I mean you could go ahead and plant something, but sooner or later Mother Nature will remember it’s too soon.  Send another freeze, and your effort is gone.  Wasted even.

I think that especially this time of year, we rush things.  We look too far ahead and try to rush Mother Nature.  We look too far ahead and try to rush ourselves to the goal.

If a football player could be magically transported to the goal ahead, would he do it?  Would he close his eyes and blink himself there?  Where’s the glory in that?  The glory is in the hard work and dedication it takes to make it to goal.  Think of the plays you remember.  Do you remember the one yard push or the 65 yard drive?

You may have started a diet this week.  You may need to start a diet this week.  No matter what day you start, you can’t rush it.

At any rate, you have the rest of your life to enjoy the fruits of your labor.

It took me two years to lose my weight.  Two long years.  But I can proudly tell people I did it the hard way.  I didn’t take pills or have surgery to rush it.  I didn’t fool Mother Nature.  I learned to appreciate her.  I learned to walk by her side.

Often times, when a tree blooms too soon, those blossoms are lost to freeze.  They weren’t ready to bloom.

Not to mention, it’s enjoyable watching the leaves change.  Watching the fall colors gradually over take the color of life.

And believe it or not there are many gradual changes to watch, learn from, and enjoy along your weight loss journey. 

I watched my formerly snug black skirt fall to the floor.  That was enjoyable, no doubt.

I learned new ways to deal with life when I decided over eating was no longer an option.

I enjoyed each new obstacle I mounted.

There was nothing I could have done to speed up my weight loss.  And looking back, I wouldn’t change a thing.  Not one thing. 

Because although I did not hurry, everything was accomplished.

Today is a good day to start a diet.  So was yesterday.  Tomorrow will be as well. 

The third Saturday in February?   Check.

The fourth day of November?  Check.

Middle of the day after starting the day with donuts?  Check.

Truth is, your body doesn’t know it’s Monday….Tuesday…..Wednesday.

It does, however, recognize when you make good food choices and will reward you with clothes that fit better, and yes a better number on the scale.

If you intended to start off the day on plan, but you didn’t make it…I promise your body won’t know the difference if you start tomorrow.

You won’t look back on this day in 2009 and wish you had held off waiting for the perfect day to start…because you know that day will never come.

Just like people….learn to love the imperfections of your diet. The opportunities to cheat…because they are really hurdles to mount that, when crossed, give you the empowerment to keep going.

My body doesn’t remember the actual day I started my diet, nor does it remember how many times I slipped and fell off program.

If does, however, recognize that every time I fell, I got back up.

It also recognized the plus size clothing department I bypassed yesterday en route to the junior department where I had to go to find a little black dress that would fit.

And my boyfriend noticed that it fit me well.

And it really doesn’t matter what day you start your diet….just that you do start it.

Just start it.

After all, today is a good day to begin the rest of your life.