STARTING OVER.....NO, MOVING FORWARD!

The term starting over, to me, implies failure or having made a mistake. Like when you write a paper for school and the teacher says that is not good enough, now go back to your desk, erase that and start over.  I choose not to start over and erase everything that I learned but to move from this point forward. Remembering what I learned and not erasing or glossing over it.

I spent the better part of the summer "playing" at running and allowing myself to fall out of my healthy routine and into a modified state of my old self. After running in my 2nd half marathon and (although I am proud to have finished) had a worse finish time than my first half marathon just a year ago I realized that my unhealthy lifestyle was having a negative impact on my performance and I was not going to allow that to happen again. But instead of "starting over" as I have done in the past...I am choosing to move forward!!

I am not forgetting all of the things I learned over the last 2-3 years (about both myself and healthy living), but I am applying what I have learned as I move in a forward motion.

I have said it before healthy is a lifestyle. It is not a diet or a once of year plan, it is about learning to make the right choice at least 90% of the time. No one is expected to live off fruits, vegies, and lean meat 100% of the time, but if you can make healthy choices at least 90% of the time....you can be "healthy".  We all like the guilty pleasures of chocolate, ice cream, pies and cakes....and we can have them, WITH restraint. It is that restraint from sitting down and eating an entire bag of chips or cookies that gets me...If I open a bag then my brain says I should just eat the entire bag!! RIGHT?!?!haha...And we all laugh, but I really could and ashamingly did!!

So, as I challenge myself to move forward, my challenge to you (while I train for my next half marathon, cause I have to redeem myself) is don't let adversity, life challanges, or plain ole frustration get you down. Start making healthier choices for one meal, then two, then three and so on.....remembering that no one can maintain depriving themselves 100% of the time. You will be surprised what happens. You will start to feel better, maybe even a little lighter. As you feel better, then you can add on exercise remembering to make it something that you enjoy doing so that you will stick to it. And, when you begin exercising don't feel like you have to go all out.....as my favorite fitness guru says, "do your best and forget the rest"!!!

Don't keep starting over.....MOVE FORWARD!!

Until next time.....Isaiah 40:31!!!