My New Health Manifesto- Re-evaluating my goals

This is me being okay with who I am, and setting small goals to get to where I want to be.

I want to be someone who eats mindfully and healthfully because I have a passion for nutritious food. Good food tastes good, it tastes real, it nourishes my body, it keeps me full longer, it’s fun to cook. Junk food never tastes as good as I think it’s going to taste and I always overeat it, eat it without thinking, regret it later and only choose it because it’s easy. Eating mindfully means thinking about my choices, so if I’m at a party and want to have a margarita, I will evaluate what that means in terms of my goals. I will not just guzzle it down and worry about it later. If I choose to eat or drink something high in calories it will have to be completely worth it, not too often, and I can’t feel guilty about it afterwards. This will make my lifestyle flexible enough to eat cake at a birthday party. I won’t feel deprived, and I’ll be conscious and accepting of my choices.

I want to be someone who is prepared and organized. I will log my meals but I’m not going to drive myself crazy counting and measuring. That doesn’t fit my lifestyle and it doesn’t help my mental health. I can’t control every little thing, so I will do my best to estimate. Sitting down every day to think about my choices should be enough to keep me on track. I want to change perspectives on my food log and make sure that I’m eating enough nutritious food, hitting my macros goals, instead of worrying about going over the limit. Those red numbers aren’t doing my head any favors. If I go over on sugar but it came from Greek yogurt, fruit, and local honey, I’m okay with that. I will plan menus for myself once a week with simple, easy snacks, and quick healthy meals. I will not just eat whatever Daniel is eating because it’s easy. Maybe this will help him too, and he’ll eat more healthfully because that’s the new easy route.

I am not a fitness buff, I have no interest in running a marathon, I should not fill my home with gym equipment or spend money I don’t have on an HRM. But I do enjoy being active, and I love the way it makes my body look and feel. I want to be an active person, I want to be able to go for long hikes without getting tired. I’m going to commit to doing something active every day, even if it’s just walking the dog for 20 minutes or dancing in my living room for 15. I will make it a habit by starting small, and I may only continue to make small efforts forever, and that’s okay too. The only exception will be if I am ill or injured. I want to take advantage of my free gym membership at the best gym in town while I’ve still got it! I want to be more active with my friends, so instead of asking them out to eat, I’ll ask them to take a walk in a park with me, or even just walk and window shop around a pretty part of town. My husband and I should take more strolls around the botanical gardens, which we love, we should go swimming too, or dancing. I truly love walking, I can feel that it’s a part of who I am. I’d also like to do yoga and pilates, maybe on the weekends. It is so relaxing and good for my overall well-being. I will not log exercise, it will not be about calories burned, about math, about over-analyzing every little thing. I will do it because it makes me healthy and happy.

I will only weigh myself once a month, just for maintenance. And I will work on being fine with the number staying where it is. I am in a healthy weight range. I will not compare myself with who I used to be, or with other people. I am me, I am now, I am curvy, I have big boobs and big hips (and butt), and I like it that way. If I can work on my emotional or mindless eating and gradually become the active person I want to be, I truly will be happy with my size. My goal is happiness and health, happiness and health, happiness and health. Not abs, not a smaller size, not vanity, not nit-picking my “problem areas.” I am beautiful, no body is perfect. I’ll walk around in a bikini and be proud of what I’ve got to show off, and not worry so much about the parts I’d like to change. Health and happiness. I’ll never be 25 again.

Finally, this starts today. And if I fail, it starts today. It starts right now. And if I eat an entire pizza? Yeah, it still starts today. There is no tomorrow. There is no yesterday. Do it right now.