Fighting a “Losing” Battle

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I can get easily caught up in everything I’m doing wrong on my journey to a healthier lifestyle. I can get caught up in the fact I am nowhere near my goal weight I set for myself back in January, or that it’s still a struggle for me to go to the gym after work, or that I’m still not drinking my recommended ounces of water daily. I could go on, but you know what? Why dwell on that? Why beat myself for up for everything I’m not doing when there are things I AM doing right.

I exercise at least four times a week.

Every since I joined a gym, exercise has become a part of my everyday routine. I never thought I would be able to call myself a gym rat, but I totally am. My gym membership doesn’t come cheap, but I get way more out of exercise than I did when I didn’t have a membership. When I didn’t have a membership, I was “running” a few times a week (never longer than 30 minutes), using our apartment gym (consisting of a treadmill, elliptical, and stationary bike), and occasionally using exercise DVDs. I got in my exercise, but my gym membership allows me to do so much more with my workouts. And I now feel as if a 30-minute workout is taking it easy.

I am mindful of my portion sizes.

One of the best things I ever learned from Weight Watchers was measuring out portion sizes. About two years ago, I bought my mom a food scale and I implore anyone who is looking to lead a healthier lifestyle to buy one of these. It makes measuring out correct servings of meat and noodles so much easier. Before I got a food scale, everything was done by eyeballing food and that was never giving me accurate sizes. I measure out just about every single food I eat and believe me, it was a little scary when I saw what a 1 oz cookie really looks like. It’s time-consuming and not always fun, but it’s extremely necessary in my journey to lose weight and be healthy.

I drink less soda.

I’m still not completely off soda, although I want to be! I’ve tried the cold turkey route but I go through bad withdrawals when I do that. I know you just need to get over that hump, but I’ve never been able to. Instead, I’m cutting down on my intake. I do ridiculously well during the week (one can a day) but falter a little on the weekends. But it’s still less than what I was drinking before. On average, I would probably drink about 4-5 sodas a day so dropping down to one a day is a major accomplishment. And I’m also starting to go days without one at all! (This is HUGE for me!) I know I am addicted to drinking soda, so it’s hard, but I’m also learning it’s doable.

I am mindful of what I eat.

Sometimes, I have major slip-ups. (Like a month ago, when I bought a box of Pop-Tarts to eat for breakfast. Not the healthiest of selections but I haven’t had Pop-Tarts since I was a kid!) But more often than not, I look closely at the nutrition facts and ingredients in a food. There are certain foods I don’t even think of buying due to their fat or sugar content. I know what qualifies as healthy and what qualifies as unhealthy. (Which can sometimes be tricky, thanks to questionable packaging.)

I am not giving up.

Through all of this, the ups and downs, the slip-ups and the losses and gains on the scale, I am still doing it. I’m not giving up, I’m not quitting. Even if I “quit” for a week or two, I brush myself up and get back on the horse. I keep going, I keep fighting. It’s been the hardest battle I’ve ever faced, but I will not give up on it. My health is too important to give up on.

What is the hardest battle you’ve had to face?