Wary maintenance…

Some times you have to go back to the beginning. I started getting healthy when I joined a gym and started working with a trainer. Changing how I ate was an add-on at first, no pressure, just modifications here and there. That changed down the road when I addressed my over-eating head on, but it wasn’t my original focus. Now I’m trying to figure out the formula for keeping weight off. Or, as Prochaska, Norcross, and Diclemente* say about what happens once you’ve made a significant lifestyle change such as losing weight – you get a life of decreasingly wary maintenance. Sounds like a lot of fun, right?

But that’s reality; otherwise you find yourself drifting back into old habits like eating mindlessly and copiously in front of the TV. And then you throw in an unexpected medical scare, and all the crazy emotions that go along with that, and momentum starts to build in the wrong direction. Lapsing is scary stuff. So, some times you have to go back to the beginning. And for me, the beginning is making physical activity my main focus.

But it’s never exactly the same, is it? Because you haven’t been standing still since the beginning. You’ve acquired new skills and additional life experiences plus the knowledge that you know you can do this. One way things are different is that this time I want to be the designer of my plan. It’s a subtle shift. I will still go to bootcamp twice a week and be grateful each and every time for our wonderful trainer. But bootcamp twice a week, I’m learning, isn’t enough for me and I want to figure out what else I need and then, well…Just Do It!

This morning I kicked off the long holiday weekend by going to my local high school to jog around the track, something I haven’t done on my own for a very long time. I ran/walked for 1.5 miles. Then I alternated three sets of running up and down five flights of stairs with 20 wall push ups. A good beginning…

Best moment besides the feeling of accomplishment that comes with having just had a good workout? Having an adorable two year old mimic my wall push-ups. Change yourself, change the world.

*Changing for Good: A revolutionary 6-stage program for overcoming bad habits and moving your life positively forward