This year has been a roller coaster! Recently, Hubs and I took our annual trip to Ross Lake Resort. This is where, over a year ago now, he asked me to marry him. The trip caused me to stop to reflect on the year and my discovery of the 3 Keys to Sustainability for a Healthier Life.
What’s Been Going On
Since Hubs proposed last October, we’ve gotten married, bought a house, and gained back the weight we lost before getting engaged. Now, we’re losing that weight again.
It was only two years ago that I began my journey with fitness.
I started by incorporating some exercise (walking) into my daily routine. Then, I began selecting “healthier” options at the grocery store.
Over the next year, I gradually worked my way toward spending an hour or more in the gym each day and meal-planning for a week at a time on an 1800 calorie diet.
That all got to be too much.
When life got busier, meal planning, meal prep, calorie counting and intense exercise were the first tasks I cut out of my routine.
And guess what?
Just as fast as I’d lost the weight, I allowed it to pile back on again when I lost sight of the keys to sustainability for a healthier life.
After gaining back 30 of the 40 pounds I had lost in the previous year, I decided enough was enough.
My husband was having the same issue: His clothes weren’t fitting as well and he complained that he was seeing numbers on the scale he had never seen before.
He said he’d been hearing this guy Vinnie on the Adam Corolla show and I should check out his book, Fitness Confidential.
I checked out the book, and immediately everything made sense.
What’s Up with this Vinnie?
I’ve always been a firm believer in eating whole, real foods, but somewhere along the way I lost sight of that. My obsession with calorie-cutting was forcing me to explore low & no-fat “food-like products.”
Vinnie Tortorich says that you begin to see real results when you stop trying so hard. Cut out addictive sugars and grains for a while and watch the weight come off, but don’t deprive yourself. Eat full-fat, real foods & you feel full sooner and you’ll avoid over-eating and that feeling of hunger that doesn’t seem to go away when you’re dieting.
Exercise to the best of your ability to build muscle.
Suddenly, everything Steve has been telling me for the past two years came back to me.
Being healthy shouldn’t be difficult – 3 Keys to Sustainability for a Healthier Life
So, Hubs and I have gone “NSNG” (No Sugars No Grains) for the most part and we’re losing weight again! This time, I’m not working toward some end goal or allowing food and exercise to run my schedule . . . I’m just living my life.
Through this journey, I’ve found that the 3 Keys to Sustainability of a Healthier Life are as follows:
- Keep it Simple – if it’s too much work to maintain, eventually you just won’t.
- Share Your Journey – Whether you are sharing your wins publicly, through social media, or with a friend or family member who’s joined you, having someone to share with makes it all worthwhile.
- Don’t Be So Hard on Yourself – So you ate an ice cream cone . . . enjoy it and move on!
Making healthy choices isn’t always easy. Sometimes, life gets busy and tough and you just need to get by on comfort foods. But, that shouldn’t be the norm and it shouldn’t be something to beat yourself up over.
I’m still learning how to be more kind to myself, but I’ll get there.
All in all, I’m keeping the 3 Keys to Sustainability in mind to maintain my long-term goal of a healthy life.
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