“If you don’t take care of your body where are you going to live?”

I don’t care if you are a healthy weight, overweight or obese… are you happy with your body?

If not, you need to figure out why and what makes you unhappy and take steps to change it. People of all sizes can be happy with their body, or unhappy. The above quote puts it well, you are the only one who can take care of your body. You are the one that has to live in your body every day. Why wouldn’t you want to take care of it?

I have struggled with being happy and taking care of myself. I think we all do. I’ve talked about my celiac diagnosis before. I’ve mentioned I have gained weight since my diagnosis (a common occurrence when celiacs go gluten free). Before my diagnosis, I was losing fairly quickly and was down to 140. I was happy there and wanted to work on building strength. I am now 157 and miserable. I feel flabby. My clothes are too tight (and a few pants no longer fit). I am struggling to lose weight.

I also went through a period of stuffing my face with all those gluten free cookies and cupcakes. I wasn’t happy. I was stressed. I ate my feelings. I was caught in a cycle of feeling stressed and unhappy, stuffing my face to feel better, and then feeling more unhappy because I just ate a million calories.

I know what I need to do. I think most of us know what we need to do. The struggle is to actually follow through and do it. I keep starting, giving up and starting over. It’s time to end that cycle. I am not sure who the following quote is attributed to as I’ve never seen a name attached to it but it is something I keep telling myself…

“If you are tired of starting over, stop giving up.”

I need to tell myself this every day. I am tired of starting over, of not changing, not moving forward. I want to feel healthy and happy. I am the only one who can keep going. I am the only one that can change my actions.

As of last Thursday (who needs Mondays or the first of the month), I have been working hard to make sure I track my food. I know tracking my calories helps me lose weight. It’s worked before and every time I stop I overeat. I also know I can get obsessive so I have adopted a more loose style of tracking food. I’m not worrying if I go over calories. It is what it is. But I might think, was I really hungry? Was I stressed? Reflect and move forward.

I am trying to hit my 10k steps each day and workout. I am currently doing a Nike Training Club program, which includes running. But being back in Phoenix heat I am struggling to run but am trying to do cardio on those days if I don’t run. I feel better when I workout. I am also working on shoulder and hip mobility so when my 6 weeks rest is up I can get back to New Rules of Lifting for Women. I enjoy lifting weights. It gives me a different level of satisfaction than running. I need both.

July 7th was my new year. I am starting over but this time, I am sticking with it. I want to happy. I deserve to be happy. We all deserve to be happy. It will be hard. There will be struggles, but I am ready for the challenge.

Yes, taking care of yourself is hard work. Everything worth fighting for is hard work.

You are worth fighting for.

What quote gets you through the difficult times?

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