This is one of those blog posts that are just like… sorry! Not a lot going on here with this. Or rather, nothing new, nothing sparkling. Nothing fancy. Just my head down, plodding along in a daily dance with the elliptical (I love that thing) and BeachBody stuff, if I have the energy. Doing the 21 Day Fix as best as I can.
I’m eating pretty well.
It’s all as it should be.
Okay, so this post is really about motivation, and the piece of motivation I’ve been thinking about is how we can lose weight to feel good about our bodies or fit into clothes we like, yada yada yada, but this is the thing: no amount of fitness is going to transform the way that I feel about myself. I mean, if I don’t love myself when I’m fat, then I’m not going to love myself when I’m thin. I’ll just find different things about my body to pick on. This, I know for a fact because I’ve been very skinny and very fit as well as very fat in my life and I can’t say that I loved myself better at any one of those stages.
So it’s really, really important to me to be in a good space with my body right here, right now, regardless of whether or not I lose 50lbs.
My friends are not my friends because of how fat or thin I am, and I don’t think yours are either. My husband isn’t with me because I’m the size I am and my being skinny won’t make him love me more than my being happy and smiley will. He loves my smile. My kids don’t think I’m the cat’s meow because I’m more or less toned. They love me being fun, they love my heart and they love my arms that hold them.
I’m in this to love myself better – to be fit and fine and to realize that I’m already there, where it counts the most.
Meriah Nichols is a counselor. Solo mom to 3 (one with Down syndrome, one on the spectrum). Deaf, and neurodiverse herself, she’s a gardening nerd who loves cats, Star Trek, and takes her coffee hot and black.
I get so exasperated when people hate their bodies just because they don’t look like the ones on magazine covers. I’m like, “You have so much potential! You could be out doing things that are completely awesome, RIGHT NOW! And you waste your time on self-loathing?!”
Wisdom is far more difficult to achieve than fitness and I am speaking from personal experience. The fitness part is actually pretty easy. The awful truth is that people are sick and overweight today because they are being fed loads of poisonous garbage (refined carbohydrates) by the industrial food industry, erroneous dietary advice from the medical establishment and then loads of nasty pills to ameliorate the damage. We are sick because there is huge money in processed foods. Look at any ancestral culture that adopted the western diet of flour and sugar and the results are always the same, obesity and diabetes, heart disease, etc where there was none earlier. It really is simple as that.
We got in excellent shape by adhering to the Primal lifestyle from marksdailyapple.com, it’s a great resource packed with great info for free. We are far more lean, fit and toned at 60 than we were in our 40s and 50s, back to our twentysomething yr old weights, also cholesterol and all those numbers are hugely improved. It’s easy because it’s 80% clean diet, 20% moderate exercise and good sleep. Just cut out all sugars, grains and processed foods, that’s it. We never felt deprived or unhappy in this process. I eat more than I have in years and am far leaner and that was only with moderate exercise. Later we started doing P90X3 because we love the endorphins and we feel so pumped afterwards and all the arthritic type symptoms have gone away. It does take it to the next level and we have made fitness our new and beloved hobby. What I realized was that if we let ourselves go physically we are not a true version of ourselves. I would never let my dogs get out of shape, I do everything necessary for their health and fitness and it shows in their robust health and their joy in every moment. We are every bit as much physical beings as they are. We need to become true human animals and share in the everyday joy of healthy physicality. It’s better than money.
I meant to answer your last comment – about how you started reading this blog, and your coming to the Lost Coast before, etc – I loved that comment – thank you!! Few things make me happier than unexpected connections like ours.
ANd now I’m inspired by your health and exercise – thanks for the link – I was reading it and it looks fantastic. I am truly inspired by people that are older than me who are in better shape than I am – makes me feel like there is hope, I guess.
P90X3 – wow, that is intense. I was wanting to ask you if you are still traveling? Are you an overlander? If so, how do you fit your diet/exercise in with Mexican food?
You’re very welcome. I’m glad you are open to this, I worry about being preachy but I love to share the incredible benefits we have gotten from Mark Sisson’s blog, the guy is a hero to many thousands of folks who have embraced his principles. There is more than hope, you will be amazed what proper diet will do for you and how soon you will see big changes. It’s even more beneficial for the kids especially as they enter the prime growth years. Here is a very well written success story from a woman of 41 yrs, notice her emphasis is rightly on the health benefits not weight loss, yet her body composition changed to where she looks like a whole new person and 20 yrs younger.
http://www.marksdailyapple.com/my-top-11-benefits-of-going-primal/#axzz3hE6thrvE
P90X3 is 30 minute sessions instead of the older 60 minute so it’s pretty doable once you get your motivation up. But there is really no need to do more than moderate exercise, walking, a bike ride, maybe a few pushups and squats, just enough to get the metabolism up. After six months of proper diet you are in a energized state and ready for more ambitious exercise.
We live in Shasta County on a very comfortable country place we love but it has come to feel like a ball and chain, it requires full time maintenance and presence not to mention money. I have been following various travel blogs yearning to do something similar, we need to unload our stuff and get out of our comfort zone. You guys are a big inspiration, I really admire the way you make your life on your own terms, it’s rare and gutsy.
Mexican food is healthy real food but the rice, beans and tortillas are too high carb for a weight loss regimen, I would limit them to once a week as a cheat day after a good workout, they make an excellent recovery meal. Once you’re on a maintenance regimen you can eat them more often no problem. No Doritos! Instead try Garden of Eatin’ Organic Blue Corn Chips and make some guacamole to go with them, you will never go back.