Monday, August 07, 2006

more thoughts about diet and exercise

Obviously, I suffer from a lifelong of poor body image. As a result, I have been on diets my whole life and even when I exercised, I couldn't seem to lose enough weight, so I hated it.  Just think, the most popular model when I was growing up was Twiggy - and in today's standards, she'd be anorexic!! But the clothing industry portrays such an impoosible to live up to body image for women and I believe as a result we have this population of overweight people.

In my career, I always  felt that if I had a great body on top of being logical, smart and having an uncanny sense of business, that I could have gone so much further in my career. I am convinced that "body beautiful" was the key to great success. Then when I moved to California I had an idea that everyone here was "beautiful", great bodies and big boobs (man-made of course!). I quickly learned that in the Central Valley (Fresno, Bakersfield, Hanford) that this theory didn't hold true, BUT afterall, it is an agricultural area. So, then when I moved to San Diego, I (once again) thought that the "body beautfiul" theory would stand. I mean, people in California are more health conscious, do more things outside like go to the beach, hike, ride bikes, and so on, they eat healthier than the folks in the midwest and are generally in better shape than those of us from Ohio.

Boy, was I wrong!! There are just as many overweight teens, women, children, men here than anywhere else!! I guess too many restaurants, big portions, lots of mexican food and too many cars. People have to have a car because it's far to get to anywhere.

So, over the weekend, he and I talked about this very topic. I'm sick of being so anal about it and he's "probably" sick of hearing me talk about it - well, he didn't say that but I would be if I was him. Anyway, he loves me just like I am, he doesn't care that I have extra pounds on me, he just wants me to be happy. I just want to be happy and I want to live the rest of my life without thinking about this on a daily basis. I am going to stick to my montra from last year or so when I started on Weight Watchers and decided JUST TO BE HEALTHY. If I have my health, am strong, eat good and exercise, then I will live long and be happy. I want to do that. I want to be heathy. The rest is just a number.

I exercise 4-5 times a week, sometimes even more. Over the weekend I upped my swimming from 50 lengths to 60. Only July 4th weekend, 10 to 12 lengths about killed me. I felt like a 30 year
pack-a-day veteran smoker!! And only a short month later, I am hitting the pool, gym, weights, sit ups, and ellipitcal like it's no big deal. I have a long way to go, but I have a long time to accomplish it. And if I can do things like climb the stairs without being winded and walk far without being tired, then I have accomplished my goal - be healthy.

I am going to give Hoodia a try to just "boost" the number on the scale - I would like to see it move down, I deserve it for what I eat. But, it's ok, I will try it for a month, see if it helps and if not, then I'm just going to keep on with the good diet, the workouts and the heathy lifestyle. I'll deal with the pouchy tummy and big thighs!!!!!!!!


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