Healthy Living – Joyfully Clamoring

I was 19. Enjoying college life to the best of my abilities. Dorm life was full of friends and so much fun. One of my favorite memories from those days was exercising in the hallway with my group of besties. One of the girls had just gotten the Jane Fonda workout ALBUM and it was hot! We’d all put on our favorite leotards, complete with tights and leg warmers, and we’d line up in the hall on our hands and knees and do all the leg lifts Jane asked us to do. We were amazing! Truly! All this huffing and puffing and aerobic- heart -racing gave me all the confidence I needed to say “yes” when I was asked to join another group of friends in this Texas Tech 10 mile walk-run-jog-a-thon for a cause. I’d get a cute tee shirt I could wear so all the world would know of my great accomplishment. Also, there would be cute boys. The day of the event started with such great excitement and anticipation. THE cute boy I had my eye on would be walk-run-jogging with us. I was sure I’d have his heart by the end of the day. Oh sweet, naive little me! Somewhere in the 8th mile of this 10 mile jaunt through the streets of Lubbock, TX, my digestive system got wind of the fact that I was doing something totally out of character and it was voted by all the other systems in my body to be the one to put all this craziness to a stop! Thankfully, when my stomach decided to stage this revolt against me, we were very near Cute Boy’s house. In a moment of West Texas chivalry ,Cute Boy walked me to his house where I could use his bathroom . I was then picked up by the event EMT’s and took that ride of shame to the finish line in an “ambulance”. That was it for me and Cute Boy. I don’t think I ever saw him again. That was also the end of my relationship with exercise. It was hard and could obviously become humiliating!

Besides a couple of very short gym memberships during times when I forgot how badly I disliked exercise , that was it for me. My hatred for exercise was solid and pretty much immovable. I didn’t like it. Not one little bit. I avoided sweating at all costs. If my heart rate got even a beat above my resting heart rate, I knew it and would immediately rest. So how in the world, at the age of 58 1/2, did I get to place where “rest days” are harder to take than days where a heart pumping workout is my favorite thing to do??

It didn’t happen overnight, that’s for sure. But there are some things I think helped my gradual build up to the place where I’d just as soon do a great workout as I would sit and read a book! Keep reading if you wonder if what I did might help you as well. These are in no particular order …

I FOUND A FORM OF EXCERCISE I LOVE!! It’s true. If you don’t like it, you won’t do it. But I was certain I’d love to be a runner. So I downloaded one of those “please make me a runner because I need to stop sitting on my couch so much” apps. I started with day one on a super cool June day and I was proud that I made it through. But then the next day was a more typical summer day in Georgia and when I attempted day 2, I thought I might die. So I waited a few more days until the next weird summer cold snap and you know what? My body started to remind me why I’m not a runner. I was quickly limping around the track because my wonky toe didn’t like running. My hip kept catching because it didn’t like running. And my motivation waned …because I didn’t like running. As much as I wanted running to be my fun thing, it just wasn’t so I knew I wouldn’t continue with it. I had to find something better for me. The part of me that prefers to stay home because I don’t have to look a certain way or worry about if there’s enough gas in my car or if the traffic will drive me insane, needed something I could just roll out of bed and do. My at home workouts quickly became something I LOVE! Because I love them, they’re super easy to stick with. So find something you can delight in!

2. I STOPPED COMPARING MY JOURNEY TO ANYONE ELSES I didn’t decide to be friends with exercise until I was in my mid-fifties. As I scrolled all the social media and looked around at the people out walking and jogging and hiking, the vast majority of who I saw appeared to be quite a bit younger. And if they were my age, well in my mind they obviously were people who loved exercise all their live long days! I don’t know if they were or not. But they were so good at it. They were all so fit. In the newness of my fitness journey , I could’ve easily fallen into the belief that I needed to be just like them right now. Yesterday even! And it would’ve taken about 10 seconds on an uphill path before I felt like a total failure. Comparison can be a killer of a dream that needs to be a reality!! So to make this all fun and games for me, I started comparing me to me. I kept calendars and trackers for writing down times and reps and weights. I’d compete with my yesterday self and try to up my weights. Competition became fun. And yes, now that I’ve been in this a few years, if I can keep up with one of the trainers, I do shout a big old hallelujah!!!

3. I GAVE MYSELF GRACE TO NOT BE PERFECT!! Lord have mercy!! If I’ve heard it once, I’ve heard it a hundred times…”I’m just not good enough at this so I’m done! I quit!” STOP IT!!! Just stop it!! Feeling the need to be perfect at all the things is just downright stressful. Stress takes you far from any place that is remotely fun! If you can’t do all the moves, do what you can! If you can’t keep up with the pace, big deal! Do it at a pace you can keep up with! If they’re all lifting 15’s and you’re still struggling with 8’s, pull out the 5’s and get on with your bad self. If you’re squats are barely little bends in your knees, great!! You’re still moving!!! In this grace to not be perfect, I also gave myself permission to modify as needed. Modifying is not a not sign of imperfection or weakness! Modifying actually shows how STRONG your resolve to get it done in spite of it all is!! Modifying a hard workout brings the fun back to it!! This is because a workout you can actually do is 100% more fun than one you just stand and watch with your hands on your hips wondering what the heck is going on!!!

Sometimes I even modify the stretches. Gotta hold on!!

4. I FOUND FRIENDS WHO LIKE TO WORKOUT. I’m a big old introvert at heart but one who still likes to be with people! I love to hike with my husband and friends. But my favorite way to exercise with people is right from the privacy of my living room! My at home workouts are something I look forward to every day. Whichever program I’m working through, I seem to always “bond” with someone in the cast..my workout buddies! It’s usually the modifier or the non-modifier who seems to be on the struggle bus a little bit!! In this day and age of social media, I also have a group of people who meet in a Facebook group every day to talk about the workout of the day. We all mostly do the same workouts and we try to stay on the same day of whatever program we’re working through. We’ll post pictures of ourselves after we survived all the exercise torture of the day and we encourage and motivate each other along the way. We show grace to each other and don’t expect perfection! It works. Plus the accountability is great! And it’s fun!

5. I PRAYED FOR MY MINDSET ABOUT EXERCISE TO CHANGE SO I COULD SEE IT AS FUN!! I guess I saved the most important, best thing for last here on my little list. If you know me in real life, you know how important my faith and prayer is to me. Being a woman past mid-life who had never ever ever liked exercise, I knew it would be hard to teach this old dog any new tricks! I knew if my mindset on exercise were to ever change, it would take a flat out act of God. So I prayed, “Lord You know me better than I know myself. And I know myself hates exercise. It’s uncomfortable and sweaty and it hurts. But I know I need to do it. I know it’s important now more than ever. I feel like if I don’t get my hiney in gear now and make exercise a part of my life, it’s only gonna get harder to make it happen. I’m not getting any younger. This won’t get any easier. So I need Your help ! Change my heart and my attitude here. I need this to be fun!!! Please and thank You! ” Then the important part….I BELIEVED HE’D DO IT!! I did my part. He did His. And voila! I never thought in my lifetime I’d ever mutter the words “I LOVE EXERCISE”. But there you go. I love it. I crave it. If I skip a day, I miss it. Whodathunk??

What on my list can you do today? What has made exercise fun for you? I’d love to hear your answers. And if you need a group of friends to come along side you and make exercise fun, let me know and I can get you plugged in to my Facebook group (if you’re a Facebook person!)

Until then, Keep Joyfully Clamoring!!

Several weeks ago , I stopped and had lunch at the wonderful “Christian chicken” restaurant my son works for. It’s always fun to sorta sneak in there amongst the crowd of famished travelers, shoppers and parents entertaining their preschoolers and just watch my youngest do his thing. I had a hard time being sneaky that day though. He saw me as soon as I graced the side door entrance with my presence.

Now for my fellow WW friends, the Lord’s chicken palace is a great place to get a super low point meal. The grilled chicken nuggets have ZERO POINTS! That means GIVE ME ALL THE GRILLED CHICKEN PIECES…..PLEASE! They really are yummy! Plop them on top of your side salad and tada! You’ve got yourself a nice and healthy fast food meal for 3 measly points. Now isn’t it odd that the salad has more points than the chicken? Darn you cheese !!!

Speaking of c h e e s e, you may have heard about this new Mac and Cheese that God Himself created and gave to CFA. My son came home with a bowl of this deliciousness one afternoon after he got off work. Because he’s smart, he added a spicy chicken filet and some bacon pieces into it. I sat across my very own kitchen table from him and was in some sort of trance as I beheld his holy creation. I couldn’t move. Mainly because I was afraid Six Months Ago Me would take over and demand every bite of my kid’s food. I sat there and prayed (of course I did!), came to my senses and calmly asked if I could have one small bite of his Mac and Cheese Delight. He glared at me for a second, probably going over in his mind if he wanted to be a good son and fully support my weight loss goals OR be a good son and hand over a single bite of his food before I bit off one of his arms. There was a thin line there! I got the bite. I don’t know if this was a win or not because that one bite was so dadgum amazing it left me wanting to steal food from a baby. Hmmmm…..I behaved. But hey? Is it stealing food from a baby when said “baby” is a 6 ft 4 grown man?

Anyway, back to my original story before I got distracted by the Mac and Cheese of Jesus. On this particular day I was feeling mighty and strong in my resolve to eat well and make good choices. I got my grilled chicken nuggets and my well-done fries (I needed Points SOMEWHERE in this lunch) and topped it off with a refreshing diet lemonade. My sweet son came over and gave me the excellent news that his boss wanted to give me a gift….a peach milkshake!

Oh! My! Word!

A P E A C H M I L K S H A K E!! I’m certain this is what I’ll ask for on my death bed and I’m pretty sure that my mansion in heaven will have a milkshake machine that only makes peach shakes…oh and banana pudding!

I smiled at my precious son , my heart full of such love for this man-child of mine who had the power to bring me the gift of sweet , creamy, Georgia-peachy joy! Then he looked at me , shrugged his shoulders and said, “I told her you were on a diet and probably wouldn’t want it, though. She’s pretty insistent. What do you think?”

Oh the dilemma!!!! So I pulled out my WW app and like every great weight watching person diligently seeking their best and most well self, I looked up the Point value of a large peach shake. Because I COULD just have it and count the points and go about my day. But my jaw dropped flat to the ground because it became pretty evident that the “powers that be” did not clue in to the fact that all dreamy ice creamy treats at the Christian chicken place should NOT count as a a full day of Points plus some! Oh my gracious sakes alive!

Suddenly I was singing “let the devil know not today!” in my head and looking in my purse for the holy water to sprinkle all over this temptation! But my precious son was right….I did, in fact, no longer want the delectable treat I had so kindly been offered.

I sent him back to work, feeling strong and good about my decision to skip the shake. As I sat there proudly munching on my ZERO POINT chicken nuggets, she came to my table. TheFood Pusher. The really sweet and with great intentions Food Pusher. He was right, though…she was pretty insistent on gifting me that day. She offered me a small instead of a large…thank you but still no. Then I told her about my weight struggles and how far I’d come to overcome those obstacles. Our banter went back and forth for many minutes and it became clear to me our thoughts on getting healthy in our 50’s were a bit different. I also began feeling I needed to accept something from her so I asked for a lesser of the ice cream evils … a frosted DIET lemonade. That satisfied her need to gift me and I felt like I was still in control of my choices. For the record, I could have THREE small frosted diet lemonades for the same points value as that large peach milkshake! Jesus take the wheel!!!

Truth is, I should’ve passed on the ice cream treat altogether. I walked into lunch that day strong and with great resolve. I knew what I wanted to eat. I had my plan. But I let someone else’s plan for me break through and rule for a minute.

Friends, we will all have to face Food Pushers as we work towards our health and weight goals. It’s just inevitable unless you live under a rock or in a far off space station orbiting a distant planet all alone. People generally like to share food. It’s a means of entertaining. Of saying “Hey I like you…join me”. Sometimes we’re gonna feel weak and give in. We’ll believe the lie that we “deserve” this treat. We’ll believe the lie that one bite won’t set us back! Believe me….ONE BITE can absolutely wake up a sleeping sugar monster inside you and remind him he’s famished!!! We’ll believe for a minute depriving ourselves of the treat in question is bad and giving in to it is our due reward.

You know what you truly deserve, though? Not the brownie or the milkshake or the 61 point Texas sized nachos!!! Yes, they DO exist! You certainly don’t deserve the massive amount of guilt you’ll feel afterwards either! You deserve believing YOU ARE WORTH MORE!! More than the”here now , gone in a flash” satisfaction of a few guilt-ridden bites . You deserve to feel amazing about your decision to eat healthier and to take control of what you put inside your body…no matter what anybody says!! Stand firm in YOUR convictions. Don’t let them be swayed by someone who doesn’t believe in you like you do!!

Let me take a minute and speak to anyone reading this who may be an unknowing Food Pusher. Please stop it!!! It’s nothing personal when someone politely tells you no thank you when you offer them something to eat. I promise!! Speaking from experience, I normally always want whatever someone is offering me . If I could eat all those delicious brownies you made and take them home with me and eat them in the bathtub full of bubbles I would. But what I really need is simply your support of my decision to eat healthy and be healthier no matter what your own opinion is !!

Now I just wanna speak to the person in the mirror. Can we just stop a minute and admit that we are way too often our own worst enemy? We can self sabotage like it’s our job some days. What then? What if the food temptations around you are so strong you just know you’re gonna crumble?

Walk away! Go outside. Take a walk. Just go into another room!

Bring to mind or pull up an old “before” picture or a picture of yourself at your goal weight!

Eat something better! I always have fruit around to grab in hunger emergencies. If the temptations are in your own kitchen, throw them out! It’s OK! If you just can’t throw out food because of all the starving children in the world and all that, I get that! Give it to a neighbor or box up all the tempting delicacies and donate them to a local food bank.

Pray! I’m serious!! Lord give me strength is a great little “flair prayer” even if you have to repeat it a dozen times before you feel an ounce of strength.

Repeat encouraging phrases. Write them on note cards and keep them at your fingertips. Words like I am strong! I can do this! I am worth more! Being healthy will feel better than this will taste! Whatever works for you!!

One of my favorite things to remember when I feel weak is simply a verse from scripture. It’s this…

I remember I can eat that brownie. Or that bowl of cheese dip. Or that ice cream. It will always be available for me. I’m allowed to have it. It’s not taboo! However, it’s not necessarily beneficial for me. It’ll make me feel bad. I’ll probably feel a twinge of guilt. Really, nothing good will come from it! So I decide to not let any food be the boss of me…and trust me I know some pretty loud and bossy food!! I think about all the years food mastered me. When I lived to eat and eat some more! When food was a great source of entertainment for me! And it makes me mad…and sad…and determined to be the master of what I eat and drink and not the other way around!

So Food Pushers, I love you! But I’m gonna choose to love myself more!

Until next time, keep joyfully clamoring!