My Healthy Reflection: A Journey to a Curvy, Yet Healthier Me!

 

Harsh Reality:  One morning I was rushing to get ready for work (as usual).  I just finished applying my make-up and doing my hair.  I dashed past my large freestanding mirror in the bedroom and immediately stopped in my tracks.  I saw a little too much movement in the stomach and thigh area.  I thought it was my imagination and I took a few steps back and looked again.  I wasn’t my imagination.  It was my reflection.  My actual reflection.  I eyes were fixated on my midsection.  I was immediately saddened.  My midsection was round and I mean rotund!  How can this be me?  How did I allow this to happen?  Then I recalled the pizza I had for lunch and the birthday celebration that I attended at Olive Garden the day before and I had my answer.  I surveyed the remainder of my physique starting from my feet, legs, thighs, midsection, chest, arms and finally my face.  My eyes were misty and a look of remorse was plastered on my face.  I threw on my clothes, grabbed my laptop bag and my leftovers from Olive Garden and ran out the door to get to work.

Light Bulb Moment (Ding):  I wasn’t always a big girl.  Actually I was of average weight as a child.  Mildly active because I had no interest in sports.  None.  No physical exercise and constant snacking leads to what?  You guessed it.  Weight Gain!   I love to snack.  I snack at work, on the way home, AT home, when I am reading, watching television, walking to the store, etc.  Anytime and practically anytime I am snacking and they are not  healthy snacks either.  Is there such a thing as a healthy snack?  Perhaps.  Anyway.   I started The Weight roller coaster from middle school to adult hood.  At one point I was ashamed of my curvy figure, but as I have gotten older, I realized that I can be proud of my curves.  I love my hips and my apple bottom (ok, its more like a large pumpkin).  They say that too much of  good thing is probably not good for you.  They’re right.  I think I may be a little too Curvy for my taste.

Decisions:  I like myself at my current state, but I want to LOVE myself.  I want to be curvy, but I want to be healthy too.  I am now officially in my mid thirties as of last month.  I want to be able to have a long healthy life ahead of me.  One that is not filled with medications and doctor visits, restrictions and pain.  I want a bright and healthy future with a husband and a couple of cute critters running around.  To prepare for my dream life I need to have certain things in place.  I need to be realistic and make major decisions and revise my relationship with food.

“If its not broke don’t fix it”:  Food is my Achilles heel.  It is what I go to for comfort in hard times and even in time of celebration.  I love food.  I love to cook and try out new recipes too.  I often refer to Pinterest for new and exciting recipes.  Any diet, where there are major restrictions will not work for me.  I need structure and yet flexibility if that makes sense.  I had amazing results following the Weight Watchers plan and I decided to go with that.  A quick visit to the website gave me a jolt of excitement.  It is different from what I remembered.  The point system, new app and weight loss tools, exercise videos, and even one on one support.

Move Ya Body!:  Did mention that I have absolutely no interest in physical activity?   Its true to this very day!  I can’t stand the sweating, attending gym classes and everyone’s eyes seem to be fixated on the largest person in the room ME!, the smell of old sneakers and sweaty gym socks, etc…NO NO NO!  I absolutely refuse.  Reality kicks in and I realized that my goal will not be obtained without some form of physical activity.  As a true Pisces, I love the water.  I do some of my best thinking and writing sitting by a body of water.  I also love to swim even though I have not done it in a very long time.  You can get a great work-out just doing laps and it is not strenuous on my lower extremities. (I have bad knees and weak ankles.)   Walking is also a good form of exercise too.

Mindset:  I know how I want to look.  Beautiful and Curvy….but healthy too.  It is possible to have it all and that is exactly what I want.  In order to achieve my health goals, I need to make decisions, become dedicated and more importantly change my way of thinking.  Dieting is not fun and anyone who says that it is lives on another planet!  Dieting and eliminating bad habits takes hard work, dedication, support and most of all determination.  I want to enjoy the summer and I recently booked a 8 day Caribbean cruise.  I think this year, I am going to rock a two piece bathing suit.  Maybe.  Check out some of my favorite bathing suits from MonifC that I featured on Trending Tuesday here.