How can I help?

I hadn’t planned to blog today. After Shannon “lit my Spark,” I took a little time to plan posts. My kids have been out of school since before Christmas, and they go back on Monday. Today I planned to do a minimal amount of work, and then focus on enjoying this last official day of Christmas break with my kids. It didn’t help that when I posted a link to my Sparked post on FB, I discovered some funky text on there about payday loans, which I clearly didn’t write, so I need to do some technical work on my blog. And if you know me at all, you know I’d rather ram a chopstick into my eye than not work on technical issues. But then something changed.

I heard from a friend who is need of making some lifestyle changes. This is someone I love very dearly, and would gladly do anything for. They have had some ongoing issues for a while, which I will not share, but let’s just say it’s the kind of thing that needs to be monitored regularly, and can be life-threatening. They did not specifically ask for my help. They only said it was time to make some lifestyle changes and that they would keep me posted. And of course, I took that as a challenge.

My vow is to do everything I can to set a good example for this person, to let them know they’re not alone, and to help them change unhealthy habits.

One problem: Kinda hard to talk out of one side of my yap and shove unhealthy food into the other.

So, you know what? It’s time for me to walk the walk. Again. If anyone could inspire me to change, it’s this person. They were very supportive when I embarked on my 55-pound weight loss journey a few years ago. And I want to return the favor.

When I wrote my original Sparked post, I talked about how I went from eating less and moving more to moving less and eating more. That’s over as of right now. I hit the gym this morning, with a whopping 0 registering on my outside temperature gauge. Yes, zero. As in NONE degrees. Pretty chilly, huh? I’ve lived in Idaho for 8 years, and that’s the coldest I remember it being in several years. Really glad I belong to a gym that is open 24 hours and I didn’t have to wait outside for them to open, or hit the pavement for a walk.

I did 45 minutes on the elliptical and burned just over 500 calories. I got in just over 5,000 steps. (Forgot to make a mental note of my numbers. Perhaps because it was ZERO degrees outside and my brain was still a little frozen?) I made plans to meet my gym partner, Barb, tomorrow. Saturdays are hard for me–I just want to hang out with my kids and have a lazy morning. But I know that when I was losing weight consistently, I was finding a way to haul my lazy arse to the gym on Saturday mornings.

I’m committing to getting back to the gym 4 days a week. I meet Barb on Mondays, Tuesdays & Fridays. Wednesday is her planned rest day. I used to go in by myself, but I find that as I get older, it is very difficult to get up at 4 am and go to the gym when I know no one is there waiting for me. So, I’ve taken to doing my own workout at home on Wednesdays. We have a Wii, and I love to do Zumba, or I might do a step workout, boxing, or whatever I feel like doing that day. This is not just an excuse to sleep in, it also helps me break things up and work different muscles. Thursday is my planned rest day. But in order to get back to 4 days a week at the gym, I’ve got to start going on Saturdays again. (Sundays are too hectic with church at 8:30 am, a call from my mom, spending time with the kids, making dinner, and then getting the kids to their weekly Sunday school class in the evening, so that’s a planned rest day. In warmer weather, I might take a walk, but I try to keep this day low-key.)

Something else I’m working on is giving up soda. There, I said it. I go back and forth. I’ve given it up for months at a time, and every time, I go back to it. Seriously, is that shit made from crack, or what? But I knew it was time to give it up again, so I planned to taper down and have my last glass on New Year’s Day, which I did. Haven’t had any since. Yep, only 3 days, but that’s actually quite an accomplishment for me. I took my kids out to lunch yesterday and ordered … water. Felt weird, but I knew it was the right thing to do. And, truthfully, I didn’t even miss it.

In general, I’m just trying to watch what I eat, include more vegetables and fruits, up my fiber intake, pay better attention to portion sizes, drink a lot more water, and stay active. You know, eat less, move more. My hope is that my friend will be inspired by my changes, and commit to making the changes they need to make as well. No idea if that will be the case, but I sure hope so. Because right now, all I want to do is help. And I know one of the best ways to do that is to help myself.