In the process of morphing in to the fit woman I’ve learned some powerful lessons. One of them is that old behaviors die hard.
It’s not for lack of will power or discipline because I have a pretty good set of both of those tools. It’s changing what used to be a normal behavior in to a new one.
For the most part I do really well with the newer versions of behavior. I prefer the taste of fresh clean foods over all others. I prefer the flavor of water or water with lemon over the taste of anything artificial. But inevitably boredom or even lonliness kick in from time to time.
All of that being said, the old behaviors like to live dormant. They don’t simply disappear or find someone else’s head to live in. They stick around but I’ve had to learn to control them as opposed to allowing them to control me. I’m not perfect.
All it takes is a weekend of inconvenience to have those old behaviors yelling “drink me, I’m diet, I’m refreshing, you are sweating puddles, come on, I won’t hurt you!” and in all seriousness, that diet soda tasted good for a few minutes. The next thing I know I’m bloating up with water retention when water would have been just as satisfying.
Or the other example, those famous sandwich cookies in the golden version, which used to be my favs. One wonders what are they doing there in the first place? The spousal unit is still a junk food junkie no matter what I do. Yep I reached in to the cookie jar and pulled out a couple of cookies and proceeded to test the waters. To my delight (yes seriously), all I tasted was the fact that those little devils were processed and that I could taste that clearly!
Part of me had that little nagging thought of “you should feel guilty for eating that” but the morphing of a fit woman doesn’t allow for guilt or shame. Neither of those are permitted to reside here. Only acknowledgement of eating them and analyzing of data. I ate them, yes. Did they make me feel bad or good, no. Will I do it again, not likely. I analyzed the data and it says don’t waste your food pleasure on something that tastes like crap!
Those old behaviors will always be lurking. Usually they are lurking with temptation in an effort to lure me back to the fat person that never really cared whether something was good for me or not.
Now I practice “love me some me” instead. I know that sounds so cavalier, but it’s not meant as such. It’s meant as truth.
This life attempts to beat us down from every direction. It keeps us confused with too much data, it holds us back with thoughts of fitness being too demanding, both in time and financially and my favorite is why bother.
I’ve seen so many people come and go from the gym because things eventually get hard or boring and they don’t get instant gratification so then they answer the call with “why bother” instead of sucking it up.
I bother every single day because I know how much better it feels living in the light of happiness and with the ability to help others. When you start actually looking at all of the bright spots in your life, you realize this really is a great life.
And just when you think you’ve got it bad remember that there is always someone else wishing they could be where you are today!
garagegym107 