Who Changed the Rulebook?

How many times have I thought about just giving up and living with this weight?  Not as many as you’d think.

I took on this journey to succeed.  I want to reach the goal I set.  I want the VICTORY of owning my life!

No one sets out to fail at life.  I never have, have you?  I like winning just as much as the next person.  Only in this “game” there is no opposing team, unless you count fat and calories as a team against you.   My game is inside my head.  I have to fight the messages my mind likes to send to defeat me.  I can self sabotage in big or small ways.  Maybe it’s a program I grew up learning.  My reward for finishing my meal was cake, pie or cookies.  Why should I be rewarded for eating my food?  Why was there a clean plate club?  Is it because parents feel they need to force kids to eat healthy foods?  Is it perhaps because food that is healthy is not as tasty as non healthy foods? 

If you’re a parent you may remember giving your baby pureed fruits and veggies for the first time.  My babies never balked at eating squash or peas.  They happily ate whatever Mommy fed them.  As they developed more of a taste for foods they started preferring certain foods over others.  My kids ate a variety of foods growing up.  As the parent who cooked the meals, it was up to me to serve healthy foods.  I always had a veggie, meat or protein, starchy veggie and fruit.  I struggled some days to come up with something different.  I grew just as bored with Hamburger Helper as they did, but it was fast to make and left me time to make a veggie.

As my kids got older they started liking different foods. My oldest daughter would order the “Salad Bar” when we went out to dinner. She loaded her plate with veggies and jell-o.  She didn’t eat lots of dressing on her salad, oh no, she liked the pickles and olives.  She was my healthy eater. BUT she went thru a phase where she refused to eat meat.  She didn’t like the texture of the meat in her mouth.  That was rough for me as I kept trying to find what meat she would eat.  Eggs became very important.  Today she is a Mommy herself and she ate very healthy foods while she was pregnant and while nursing her son.  She had her own weight struggles, but she didn’t stress over it.  Today I look at her and feel such pride in how she lives her life on her terms and doesn’t let food become an issue for her.  What did I do right with her that I can’t do with myself?

My daughter Lizzi and my grand daughter Nevaeh

My Father, husband Thomas, youngest daughter Christina and I

Are we genetically predisposed to eating healthy?  I don’t know, but I’m thinking there has to be a gene that draws some of us to eat unhealthy foods.  I LOVE fruits, but dang it chocolate just tastes better some days.

So here I am with this food game going on in my mind and I’m on the defensive team fighting to regain control of the ball/mind.  Make no mistake, I WILL win this game.  This game is mine to win and I have the tools to make that happen.  Every day is a new beginning for me and for you.  Today I choose to get out of bed and hit the gym.  Yeah, that wasn’t easy because Arthritis has just entered MY game and wants to be in on the plays as well.  I’ve had to rewrite the rule book and some pages are missing.  I’m reworking this plan for my life and have new challenges to face, but I will face them and defeat this enemy that is body fat!

It’s okay to take a day off and reassess your goals and game plan.  Sometimes we need to look at what someone else’s play book looks like and copy what is working for them.  Other times we need to write our own plays for our game.

Today why don’t we all just make a list of what we know works and what we know failed in the past and learn from those successes and failures?  Make a new plan for our success for 2012!!!!

Diana"Me" and my Best Friend CheriAnne