Just DO It!!

Yes, I think of that commercial that was so popular a while back whenever I hear this phrase, but it seemed the most fitting way to say what I want to say :-)

I have a confession to make... I LOVE food. And I do NOT like exercise. I need to be healthier. Really. Regardless of my weight or what I look like, I have some really bad habits when it comes to these areas of my health.

A little known fact about me... I was in the Marine Corps Reserve for 5 years. Yep. Little ole me :) When I met my husband I was in amazing shape... exercised regularly (umm.... the Marines kind of ensure that) and was a healthy eater. Then when I got out of the military and didn't have that accountability anymore I kind of let things go a little bit at a time. I got out of the Marines right before my first son was born. I knew I wasn't going to want to be going to drill and leaving my baby behind, but I stayed in the whole pregnancy so I stayed pretty healthy.

After my son was born, exercise went out the window. I had enough muscle on me that my metabolism was pretty good, so it didn't start to show for a while. But after he was born I had several miscarriages and did some SERIOUS comfort eating. This is when it all started going downhill.

In between my third and fourth child I took a kickboxing class that was free at my church and really started to get back in shape. But then I let it all go again.

Now, to my point....

Yesterday was an AMAZING day for me. My birthday was last week, so Saturday my wonderful husband gave me a "me" day :-) I'm nursing my baby, so first thing my husband brought him to me, but then I gave the baby back to him and slept till 11:00 :-) I got up then to meet a friend for lunch at Olive Garden (my favorite!). Then I shopped after that and didn't get home till supper time :) I didn't cook and my hubby put the kids to bed. It was WONDERFUL! And it really gave me some time to just think.

I have SO many "reasons" for not being able to exercise and eat better... some of them include...

---I can't join a gym because I can't afford the childcare during the day and I don't have time to go to the gym at night because of the older kids sports

---I am hormonal.

---I already spend a lot of time on food and to eat even healthier it would take even more time.

---Exercising at home is hard because we don't have much space and the kids are all up in my grill.

Okay, so ALL of these statements are true. They are! BUT... they are not reasons... they are excuses. I CAN exercise at home. It may not be convenient or easy, but it is possible. It does take more time to eat healthier (we eat pretty healthy for supper and the kids eat healthy lunch and breakfast... but my lunch and breakfast are very lacking). And it is HARD not to snack on junk when I am hormonal or emotional about something.

Nobody ever said it would be easy.... but I HAVE to stop making excuses and DO SOMETHING!!

I have a tendency to want to do everything all at once.... make drastic changes overnight and then when it doesn't work I get discouraged and quit.

OR I will have every intention of doing something but will be waiting for the perfect time. For example, I have this mental block in my head that it has to be a Monday for me to start a new routine.

But I had an epiphany Saturday... It doesn't HAVE to be a Monday for me to start and I don't have to be perfect at everything right away. But I do have to DO something.

So, when I got home from my AMAZING day I got on my treadmill for 20 minutes while all the kids stood in FRONT (I put up a gate so they can't get near it... dangerous!) of it and jogged along with me... so CUTE! After they went to bed I did some hand weights in my bedroom floor while I watched TV.

So, I started. I did it. And it wasn't perfect or "all out", but it's done. And today I had my last piece of my birthday cake, and that's okay. Because I didn't eat the whole cake ;) Baby steps really are okay.

If you think of me, you are welcome to pray for me in this area :-) I will be putting updates (good or bad) on here occasionally. How's that for accountability? :-)