The other night, as I was deep within my nightly ritual of self-care (ie. ice cream gluttony – caring for my taste buds), a very sad realization dawned on me.
As I was carrying in my tubs of ice cream, I thought to myself how I really should be drinking water rather than eating ice cream. I indulge far too often, and have been terrible on the hydration front lately.
I continued to get out a bowl and a spoon. Then I remembered that we were going away for the weekend, and I would be meeting a friend’s new-to-us significant other. I don’t know about you, but I like to *try* to put my best foot forward when meeting new people that will likely remain in my life for a while, and part of this involves my confidence in my physical appearance. Call me shallow, or however you want to put it, but I like to look like I take care of myself. Like I am “fit” for what life throws at me.
Looking down at my now easily bloated and ill-defined gut protruding further from my middle than I remember it having been, I thought again about putting away the sweet cream of icy satisfaction and grabbing my water bottle to encourage my belly to return to a more proportional size with my tiny frame, but again this thought was fleeting. Instead, I did a few extremely effective, half-hearted, slight bend-and-flexes of my abdominus wrecked-us while I scooped that sweet nectar of the creamy gods into my bowl. Hmm, were those 5 pathetic “crunches” enough? Better spend a bit more time scooping to make sure and squeeze in a couple more.
Okay, so I realize my habits need to change. My life tends to ride the waves of health and fitness (or lack thereof) and I seem to have fallen into one heck of a trough at this point in time. Which is really troubling, being that I’m still providing a fair bit of nourishment to my breastfed babe. I want to be able to know I’m providing the best nutrients I can for her, while keeping some for my own body as well (breastfeeding sucks a lot out of you – puns always intended). Not to mention, I am the biggest role model for my growing youngster, and I want her to get off on the right foot when it comes to taking care of her own mind, soul and body.
So. Something’s gotta change.
First off, I need to revisit and keep these 5 tips for living a healthier life in the forefront of my mind. So how to do this?
Make a list, baby, make a list. I’ve been working on a list to balance my life a bit better (let’s face it, it’d be great if I could put all my focus on eating right and exercising, but life calls) and I’m hoping it’s going to help me out. I’ll try it out and tweak it a bit over the next week or so, and report back on how it went. If it seems to be helping me return balance and a healthier lifestyle to how I go about my days, I plan on sharing it with you. If you’re interested, keep an eye out for it. Or to make sure you don’t miss this, or anything else that you might want to read, you can sign up for a weekly email to let you know what’s new on The Big To Do List blog.
Here’s hoping it helps. Enough is enough. I’d much rather thrive than dive deeper into the sea of unhealthy habits.
(Don’t worry. I won’t completely abandon ice cream. Life is too short for that.)
What tips and tricks do you use to help keep yourself on the healthy track? Where do you find the most trouble in making positive lifestyle choices?