In society as we know it, people are on this movement to be uber skinny. I'm talking disgustingly skinny - the kind of skinny where models look like Holocaust survivors. I am not, and refuse to ever be, this thin. I am naturally thin - I got my mom's French genes, so I have the thin, hourglass figure. Also floating around inside me are genes daddy passed down from his side - the Dutch ones, where women have a huge rack and a small caboose for a backside. Grandma D. always called her boobs her 'shelf', as they caught everything. I want to never have either of these things, as a tiny figure with big tatas just looks uncomfortable to me. However, I do want to be healthy in this body of mine, as it's going to be the vessel that carries me until God finally calls me home. Now then, what REALLY irritates me about society and fitness is that people give you crap about having an off week, so I have put myself through emotional turmoil about what a bad person I am for not having worked out this week - and then I talked to Lauren. I'm pretty sure God was telling me he was giving me a present when he let Lauren into my life, as she knows just how to knock the stupid out of me in a way that isn't cruel. As I whined and cried to her about the pathetic loser I was this week, among my other issues, she listened. And then she said "It happens. I didn't workout all last week. Sometimes life just happens. If there's a voice in the back of your head saying 'you can't do this' you need to tell it to shut up. That's what I learned to do when I started doing personal development." Ya know what? She's entirely right. We're all human, and therefore make mistakes, or get lazy, or whatever. I fully admit that. You know what I did this week? I did some homework, went to both my internship and work, and then came home and sat on the couch and watched TV. I distinctly remember a thought popping into my head every once and a while of "You should be working out" or "Those DVDs won't play themselves" but a voice would creep in and smother it with "Ya know what sounds good? Ice cream" and I'd stay on my couch cushion. I stopped keeping ice cream in the house two months ago, so to get a bowl would mean leaving my cushion and going 3 blocks to Frozen Custard, so it's gotta say something that I was also too lazy to do that. You're allowed to have a week off here and there, you're allowed to eat that brownie or drink that cookie dough milk shake, just do it in moderation and don't make a habit of it. Also don't make a habit of "well, if I go for a 30 minute run, it'll be as if I never ate that bag of chips." By doing this you're not actually getting anything accomplished, you're just sticking yourself in limbo, and limbo isn't any fun.
So, I told you that story to tell you this story. I got to thinking tonight about why I am doing this, and here are my reasons.
1. At the library I work in, we have a gorgeous staircase that leads to the second floor. To me, it looks like a less dramatic version of the one on the Titanic, and I have a love affair with all things Titanic. (Library is on the left, Titanic on the right)
There is an elevator in the library, but I prefer to take the stairs, unless I have no choice (taking a cart to the second floor, for example, requires use of the elevator). Generally, by the time I get to the top of the stairs, I'm huffing and puffing like a chain smoker. I don't smoke anything but the tires on really hot cars, so I prefer to not sound like one.
2. I'm not overweight by any means, but I do have a few trouble zones - namely my tummy and my hips/thighs. Plus my upper arms do this awesome jiggly trick when I wave. I would love to get these squared away so that I'll look just as good out of clothes as I do in them.
3. I have heard - and read - in various places where if the momma-to-be has a nice set of abs under her pregnancy ____ (I don't want to call it fat, as you're growing a human, so it's not fat, it's just a little something extra to help your oven turn out your little bun), then it is easier for her when it comes time to push. I don't know if this is true or not, but I'd rather have the tight abs just in case it is, in fact, true. No woman in her right mind wants to spend any length of unnecessary time in labor or delivery. Plus, I have also heard, read, and it has been proven to me that if you workout prior to and during your pregnancy, the weight melts off faster after because you go back to the habit of working out. *No, I'm not pregnant, nor are we trying yet.
4. This one is pure vanity - I want to be my husband's arm candy. I want to look hot in a bikini at any time of the year. I want to turn heads later in life, and not because I fell down a flight of stairs. I want to be able to go to my 40th high school reunion and make the guys drool when we're all in our 50s.
5. I want to be able to teach our future kids good habits. Children are like sponges, in that they soak up everything you do because you're mom or dad and you're cool! They want to be just like you, so do you want them eating chips and candy all day long, washing it down with soda and KoolAid? Not if you want them to be healthy, you don't.
Ok, those are my top 5 reasons. After having talked with Lauren, I feel much better about it all, and plan to workout tomorrow morning. It seems for a few days, I forgot my own mantra. Maybe I need to have it tattooed on my forehead (or not). In the mean time, I've also come across a few books that may help me with this new road I'm on. The first is called The Power by Rhonda Byrne. I'll actually be reading this as soon as I finish up this post. The second is one I found today while mom and I perused a local Christian shop: The Daniel Plan. Last but not least, I heard about this one from a new friend - who is also into this whole nutrition and fitness stuff - Crazy, Sexy Diet. I plan to review these after I've finished with them, so if you decide to read them based on my review, you can. If not, they are linked to their overviews/reviews on Goodreads.com, which also has links that lead to where you can purchase them. The librarian in me reminds you to save some money and check with your local library first to see if they have a copy you can borrow. Always support your local libraries, as they support you.
Off I go to read and look forward to my exercise date with Chalean tomorrow morning! Keep moving forward!
No comments:
Post a Comment