Why I refuse to drink the Kool-Aid

(This is long, but a fitness philosophy worth sharing.)

If it's not real, I'm not interested.

There was a time in my life when I was about 20 pounds over my happy weight (and that's a heck of a lot for a small-framed gal who's only 5'2"). I started buying low-fat everything, artificial sweeteners, 100-calorie snack packs, Lean Cuisine frozen dinners, and a lot of other prepackaged, low-calorie items that were easy to eat and easy to count. I worked out like a crazy person--at least an hour most days, plus the hour it took me to get to and from the gym, take a shower, etc. Over five months, I lost 22.5 pounds and got back to a happy size and shape for me. 

But here's the problem: it wasn't real. I didn't enjoy it--I missed eating real food, and I missed those two hours every evening that could've been quality time with my husband and friends. But I did it anyway because I felt I needed to, because I knew my body wasn't healthy the way it was, and because I felt less attractive. I needed a change, and I made it happen. That was four years ago. 

I joined myfitnesspal.com recently because my weight was starting to creep up again, and I wanted to get it back under control. This time, though, I'm keeping it real. I buy real butter, real cheese, real meat, real sugar. I refuse to buy skim milk, give up bacon, or join a gym. But, in just three weeks, I've lost five pounds, and I'm now halfway back to my goal weight. 

How am I losing weight if I'm eating all this stuff and not working out? The answer is simple: I eat real food, and I burn the calories from that real food by doing real things that are good for my body. Eating out is a special treat for us, not a weekly or daily occurrence. We buy almost nothing that's processed or packaged, and over half of my groceries come from the farmer's market. My husband and I cook real food, and our portions are reasonable, not super-sized. We eat meat and cheese, and we eat starchy foods, and we even eat sweets--but we also eat plenty of fruits, vegetables, and whole grains. I bake my own bread with half whole wheat flour. I'll puree whatever farmer's market fruits are about to turn and throw them into a muffin batter. We eat lots of vegetarian meals, partly because it's cheaper and healthier, but mostly because veggies are just plain delicious when you buy them locally and seasonably and cook them honorably. We burn a lot of calories grocery shopping, slicing vegetables, trimming meats, stirring pots of soup or risotto, kneading bread, and cleaning up the kitchen. We burn calories walking the 1.8-mile-round-trip to the corner store and back instead of driving. Now, I am almost always full and satisfied after a meal, I haven't set foot in a gym in years, and (most importantly) I'm happy.

People always talk about fitness and nutrition as lifestyle changes--and the idea that often comes across is that you've got to commit to drinking a protein shake and running 3 miles every day if you want to be healthy. To each his own. If you want to do that, and can, then by all means, commit. But I can't, and I won't. Instead, I am spending quality time with my husband as we learn about food together, make a mess of the kitchen together, clean up together, or walk to the store together. We might spend a little less time watching TV or playing on Facebook compared to other people our age, but the extra time we spend cooking, cleaning, or walking isn't a sacrifice. It's a gift, and a bountiful one too. Our bodies are healthier, our taste buds and tummies are thrilled, and our world is a little bit cleaner and nicer. We are caring for ourselves, but we're also supporting small local farms and businesses, driving less, and wasting very little.

Our ancestors in the not-so-distant past cooked every day and walked where they needed to go. They'd never heard of Bodyplex, and they would have looked at you like you were crazy if you'd served them most of the food-like items people eat nowadays. They rarely ate out, and they spent more time with their families. They didn't make time for exercise or count their calories, but they were much more fit and much less prone to obesity and diet-related illnesses than Americans are today. Their entire way of living was different and, in these ways, better. 

I don't want to be a phony. I don't want to live off of vitamin-fortified calories from imitation foods full of ingredients I can't pronounce. I don't want to spend mindless hours performing artificial tasks like climbing a staircase to nowhere, riding a stationary bike towards the gym window, or running on a treadmill like a hamster in a wheel. I don't want to be a slave to our society's definition of fitness. I want to be the real me--a woman who loves her husband and family, who enjoys cooking or strolling around town, and who cherishes delicious food too much to pretend that it's just calories in. 

Nutrition and fitness is a lifestyle change, but this time, I'm keeping it real.