WQ - Improving Health

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I'm participating in the Wednesday Quotes link-up hosted by Marsha at Always Write. This week's prompt is all about body systems and weight. I've been trying to think about how that subject could be inspiring or motivating, and I don't know that I'm particularly inspired. But maybe motivated.

Not that long ago, around the first of the year, a whole lot of people likely decided they were going to lose weight or get fit or do something to improve their health and feel better about their bodies. It's what we do for New Year's, right? If I remember correctly, losing weight remains the number one New Year's resolution. But a lot of people, myself included, find it difficult to stick with the "new year, new me" plan much past the first couple of weeks. 

I know I need to lose weight. And I want to. But honestly? Not badly enough to make big, wholesale changes. I'm generally in good health so there's no big urgency for me to change much. At risk of sounding complacent or like I'm making excuses, I've decided that I don't need to reach that elusive "goal weight" or fit into a certain size dress by a certain date. Shedding excess pounds is good. Improving my health is definitely good. Instead of beating myself up because I enjoy food and don't enjoy jogging, maybe it's okay if I am comfortable and happy with who I am and how I look right now, even while I try to make healthier choices. 

What inspires us to make the lifestyle changes we need to in order to get healthier and work towards a weight goal? It's different things for different people. And this is one area where I think we need more than just inspiration. Or I do, anyway. I need some actual motivation and goals that seem attainable and challenging.

Take care of your body. It's the only place you have to live. ~Jim Rohn

If you're not doing what is best for your body, you are the one who loses. ~Julius Erving

 I'm not a huge fan of exercising hard or going to the gym so intense workouts are not likely to work for me. I do like to walk and go on hikes, so that's a better choice. 

Walking is the best possible exercise. Habituate yourself to walk very far. ~Thomas Jefferson

I've been so happy that since getting my knee replaced, I'm able to do all the walking and hiking I want again! I won't be doing any running, but it sure feels good to be able to go for a brisk walk without needing a cane! In order to keep motivated, I've been doing The Conqueror Virtual Challenges for a couple years. 

Salads are okay but I like them simple and I'm fussy about salad dressing. I loathe broccoli and cauliflower. I love bread. My favorite way to eat most vegetables is in soup. (Just not cabbage soup. I have a funny story about that, which I'll add at the end of this post!) I think it's important to make a menu plan that one can enjoy and that respects food preferences, otherwise it will be really difficult to stick with for any length of time. 

The older you get, the tougher it is to lose weight, because by then your body and your fat are really good friends. ~Bob Hope

If that isn't the truth, I don't know what is! Ha!

I found this quote from Dr. Phil, and he makes such a good point. I've known people who were so obsessed with losing weight or looking a certain way that it wasn't healthy. I mean, their bodies might have been healthy, but their emotions and their relationships weren't. It's not just losing weight. It can be our hair, our skin, the way we dress, looking as young as possible, whatever. Taking good care of our bodies is very important, but that's not our identity or our worth, and while reaching our beach body goal is wonderful and we should be happy about it . . . it won't actually make us HAPPY in the long run. 

Reality check: you can never, ever use weight loss to solve problems that are not related to your weight. At your goal weight or not, you still have to live with yourself and deal with your problems. You will still have the same husband, the same job, the same kids, and the same life. Losing weight is not a cure for life. ~Phil McGraw

Don't forget about finding health and wholeness in your mind, your relationships, and in your spirit, as well as in your body.

The righteous will flourish like a palm tree,

they will grow like a cedar in the L'vanon.

Planted in the house of ADONAI,

they will flourish in the courtyards of our God. 

Even in old age they will be vigorous,

still full of sap, still bearing fruit,

proclaiming that ADONAI is upright,

my Rock, in whom there is no wrong.

~Psalm 92:13-16~

Eat drink and be merry for tomorrow we may diet. ~Cathy Hopkins

Okay, I promised a story about cabbage soup, so here it is. There was a cabbage soup diet a few years ago, and I felt like it was sort of a fad diet thing, but some of my husband's co-workers had done well with it, and it is just a week or two so he decided he wanted to try it. I agreed to do it as well, because I needed to lose weight and I do like all kinds of soup. I don't like cabbage though, so I was skeptical. But I told my husband, "It's a week. I can do anything for a week, right?" And so I thought. So we made our pot of cabbage soup and got started. Day One I think all you eat is the cabbage soup. I didn't care for it, to put it mildly, but whatever. Day Two you get to eat cabbage soup and something else. I was not enjoying my day at all. On Day Three when my husband came home from work and we were going to eat our cabbage soup for dinner, I lost it. I just started hysterical ugly crying and saying, "I can't do this! I hate cabbage, it's nasty, and it smells bad, and I'm so miserable!" I think that was probably the only time I'd bawled over food since I was a little kid. And my husband just held me and let me cry, and reminded me that I did not have to stay on a diet I hated. So I quit that diet. Like I said, it's really hard to stick to a diet if you can't eat any of your favorite foods and are forcing yourself to eat foods that disgust you!

I tried every diet in the book. I tried some that weren't in the book. I tried eating the book. It tasted better than most of the diets. ~Dolly Parton

Wednesday Quotes 2024 is hosted by Marsha at Always Write. This post will be linked at #WQ #161: Body Systems and Parts/Wait or Weight

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