Pulling My Head out of the Sand

I started this blog and discussion group to work through all aspects of making a life style change to health and fitness. When I’m in the groove (exercising regularly and pushing the edge, being smart about what I eat, feeling good and losing weight), then I have no problem coming up with articles and stimulating discussion. But when I start heading down the slippery slope that takes me back to old habits (failing to exercise even a little, opting for more calories and less nutrition, gaining back a few pounds), then I seem to avoid both blogging and discussing anything about the process.



What needs to surface here is that both sides of the fitness coin are real and need to be held up to the light of day for scrutiny. I need to own the bad behavior and poor choices as much as I own the good behavior and smart choices. After all, it’s all me, making decisions and taking actions that effect me. What’s there to not own?



Things have slowly broken down since I took my last vacation in September. I don’t think the vacation was the catalyst for lapse, nor was it the fact that my personal trainer decided to stop working in my area on Saturdays. I still have access to two gyms free of charge and I still have all of the information I have gained over the years about good nutrition and working out. This is just the time frame in which the slipping began.



The difference between this down-slide and others, is that I am hyper aware of it and have not let everything go. The progress I have made regarding preparing healthy meals and taking healthy food into work for lunch and snacks still holds. The difference in eating has been that I tend to eat more calories over-all and I indulge in empty calories such as pita chips or cookies. As a result, my weight hasn’t change much, though I notice a few pounds and my clothes fit a little tighter.



I think the most significant thing this time is that I just quit exercising. I have ample opportunity, I just haven’t done it. As a result, the biggest change I notice is the lessening of muscle tone (softer tummy and thighs and even upper arms.) This is the biggest loss for me. I really like feeling fit and toned.



So why don’t I just go exercise? I don’t really know. I have plenty of excuses, but none that are truly sufficient to prevent me from establishing some kind of exercise routine. The only real excuse that may in fact have some merit is that I’m going through yet another stage of perimenopause and am having a lack of drive to do a lot of things I typically do. I’m going to see a new doctor after the first of the year to see if I can get a plan in place to improve my focus and energy to do things again, and I hope that this will put me back on track with fitness and nutrition. Although I have been going through perimenopause for about seven years now, I have never been on any kind of hormone replacement therapy because of concerns about negative side-effects and my personal history of cancer. However, I have found an alternative medicine treatment center that uses natural hormones and formulates the correct compound for each person they treat. I’ll certainly write about the experience, and I hope that it truly makes a difference.



In the meantime, I’m asking myself, “Why don’t you just go back and exercise?” Since there really is no good answer to that except that there is no answer and therefore I will go back and exercise, I’m hopeful that this will jump start a return to good behavior that will improve my fitness.



So all this is to say that there are always valleys with the peaks. I’m thinking that the appropriate response to the valley time is to acknowledge it for what it is, own it and find another peak to start climbing. Ignoring it just allows it to keep on keeping on. For me, that’s not acceptable. I simply will not go backwards!



I hope my next post is to write about the process of getting back into the swing of things. However, if that doesn’t happen, then I will write about the continuing process of working my way back to establishing that new life style that embraces health and fitness. Check back to see what happens next!