Fit Minded...Or Fat Minded?

Ironically, it came to me on my cruise this week that I am either fit minded or fat minded. 

The main thing that has to change in order to have any lasting success living a healthy lifestyle is the mind. 

First, you have to have a determination to consciously approach everything from a fit mindset. EVERYTHING. The decision to change your mindset is something you have to walk out every day.  Every hour. Every meal. Everything.

It is not easy, and it is not quick. That is why when people hear the safe and successful weight loss is 1-3 pounds a week, most think that's not enough and go for some quick fix. Liquid diets. Pills. Off brand things I won't mention. 

That's why accountability is so important to being fit minded. A fit minded person reads labels, and is accountable for what they are eating. My initial success was hinged tremendously on posting EVERYTHING on www.livestrong.com. Even if it was a bite, or a handful of M&M's, I knew I would have to put it in my tracker on MyPlate. 

My carb addiction was the first very obvious issue - and for me, the dangerous one, as a newly diagnosed type 2 diabetic. Initially, to my horror, I saw that 60-80% of my caloric intake came from carbs.  

My fat-mindedness was not happy. My fat mind loved comfort foods, and I realized that I was using food as a drug more than I wanted to admit. 

My fit mind became stronger every day that I was accountable to MyPlate, and every day the carb percentage went down. I average 60-80 grams of carbs a day now, when my prescribed daily carb intake was 180 grams a day. It's a little by little, bit by bit, conscious fit mind that makes changes. I would like to be at 40 carbs a day, when I'm not training for races. One day at a time. 

My fat mind also was a slug. I went to work, ate, and slept. There was no exercise. My fat mind had a million excuses - I work 12 hour shifts, I have a long commute, I'm tired, I'm not an athlete, I hated P.E. Ad infinitum. 

My fit mind had to make a plan, and stick to it. Initially it was walking everyday. It doesn't seem like much, but when you are a couch tater, it's a lot. 

Eventually I was run/walking the Jeff Galloway plan, and I was doing 5k's. Then 10k's. Now I've done 7 half marathons. 

I spent a week on a cruise ship with the constant reminder of why it's hard to be fit. Buffets were laid out in glorious splendor. Lounge chairs were everywhere. It's vacation, right? Said the fat minded girl. 

But this daily deciding to be fit minded girl went to the gym three times for a total of 11 miles. Walked 60k steps. Climbed flights and flights of stairs instead of using the elevators.  Ate the healthier selections, and did have dessert - but ate half. 

Being fit minded means you understand that we only get one body, and we need to take good care of it. If you feel like crap, I guarantee that making changes in your diet and exercise will help you feel better. 

Where are you - fat minded and making excuses? Or fit minded, and making resolutions? 

I never want this to be me - 400+lbs. struggling to breathe and walk

She didn't wake up that way. 

But every day she wakes up fat minded, it will just progressively continue to kill her. One bite at a time. 

Make the decision to be fit minded. Start today. As they say, the rest of your life starts NOW! 

e b e r