What years of healthy habits can do for a person

This isn't a "success story" in the traditional sense--there's no "before" or "after"--but I just wanted to share with you all what a beast my 72 year old mom is.

She's the same weight she's always been, her entire adult life--she's 5'2" (or maybe 5'1" these days) and 115 lbs. She looks amazing for any age; she has 50 year old friends jealous of her energy. Hell, I'm not yet 30 and I'm jealous of her energy sometimes.

Here's the thing--she isn't some genetic freak. She's luckier than most, but she will gain weight if she's not consistent. But she's not extreme at all in her lifestyle. She always makes time for regular exercise, trying new fitness classes and gym exercises. She's had knee problems sometimes that kept her from running, but she's found alternative exercise. She isn't crazy self-disciplined; it's just part of life for her. Sometimes she'll take a month off of the gym, but she always gets back into it. She did when she was working long hours, and she does it now in retirement.

She also loves food and always makes space in her diet for deliciousness, even though on a daily basis she goes for a lot of veggies before meat/cheese/bread. She cooks at home as much as possible, even when she was working more than full-time. And the key: no matter where she eats, she is very aware of portion sizes. She also hardly ever drinks.

Oh and back when I was living at home, I'd often catch her indulging in guilty pleasure foods--cookies at 11 PM, late night salami, etc. She probably did this less often than I did in college though, and she indulged in tune with her body.

Yesterday at a family barbecue she was the only one, the ONLY one, who could keep up with her bundle-of-energy toddler granddaughter. She never gets tired of spending time with her family. She did a 12-mile hike with my fresh-from-the-military 20-year-old cousin last year; 8 years ago she did a 35 mile hike with me.

And she still sometimes has health problems. Her blood pressure is high sometimes. She gets aches and pains sometimes. She gets tired sometimes. But you know, comparing her to her sedentary friends, she's faring so much better.

Back when I was overweight, I figured maybe I just didn't have her self-discipline, or maybe I didn't have her genetic thinness... I came up with excuse after excuse as to why I wasn't as fit. Well I'm still heavier than her but i'm getting closer, and I realize there are no shortcuts. I have to eat well, exercise well, be consistent. Yesterday at the barbecue, we split a burger; how else were we going to be able to try 3 kinds of meat if we didn't watch our portion sizes? She proceeded to eat a slice of cheesecake and I ate donuts. We had fun.

I look at my mom and think: I want to be that someday. I just want to share that, while losing weight might be rough (I'm still working at it, and it's taken me a decade of cyclical gains and losses to even get to where I am), maintaining it for years is possible and can lead to a full and happy life. And though not everyone is as lucky as my momma, I just hope we can bust some myths on what it takes to maintain for years. You don't have to "never touch a carb again", you don't have to spend 6 hours at the gym every day, and you don't have to be hungry for years. Just get in touch with your body and treat it right.