Shannon: The ABC's of Beginning

We kicked off the new year with a Big Bang! :D Our physical fitness test launched us into our healthy plans...well, at least I hope it did. I think all of us joining this at home bootcamp are trying to get our sea-legs stabilized in the sea of fitness! So I wanted to reflect on my beginning and hopefully encourage all of you out there struggling to maintain the enthusiasm and motivation in this tough first phase of bootcamp!

1) PLAN: It's not always easy to formulate a plan, but I find it even harder to stick to it! We should have 3 components to our plan. A. Nutrition B. Exercise C. Grace These are my ABC's of beginning any health, wellness and fitness improvement plan. I used to think it was all about A and B, but I have found without giving myself some grace (true grace), I get so discouraged when I fail at A and/or B, that I give up and go back to my old ways. So all three components, I have found, are essential to keep on, keepin' on!

Let's recap A and B though. Nutrition and Exercise. As I've said before, keep your changes minimal. Drastically overhauling your entire life, for most people, results in short term success instead of long-term lifestyle change. More often than not, those who succeed are those who make changes slowly and thoroughly incorporate each change into their lifestyle as a permanent thing. Additionally, I've noticed that lots of people get bored doing the same things over and over. If you are one that easily bores with the same routine, then make sure, as you begin your nutrition and exercise routines, that you keep them varied. Don't make it a goal to go to the gym everyday if you are only doing the same things over and over. Take a group class, take a walk, go for a bike ride, hike somewhere, find an indoor pool, play soccer with the kids, run with the dog, or one of our favorites...play the Wii Fit! :D With food, make sure you have lots of healthy options and are willing to try out new recipes and new foods! The point being, health, wellness and fitness is...DARE I SAY IT?....ENJOYABLE? Yes, being healthy is ENJOYABLE! It's fun and feels fantastic! (Ask all the healthy people out there if you're not convinced.)

The next important thing about nutrition and exercise I want to emphasize is BE SPECIFIC. Map out how you are going to change your eating habits over the next 13 weeks so that you have a specific plan to be accountable to. If you are going to drink more water, make that the goal for weeks one and two. How much water will you drink each day? Weeks 3 and 4, how many times will you allow for eating out and where? What food choices will you make? The same thing applies to exercise. If you are new to getting off the couch, don't set yourself up to run every morning for 30 minutes. I guarantee after a couple of days, you'll hate life and want to go back to the couch. I set myself up to move for 30 minutes each day. I have lots of options...walking the dogs, doing the Wii Fit, a workout DVD, going to the gym, jogging or riding my bike. Additionally, my "vigorous exercise" commitment for the first two weeks is only 3 times a week. Week 3 and 4, it goes to 4 times a week, etc. It's about being specific. Those small steps work toward the ultimate goal you have set for yourself.

I think one over-riding thing that will try to snare us all is Mr. DEmotivation! When trying out the sea of health, wellness and fitness, this sailor is a big, fat, ugly liar that comes in to steal our drive for success! He tells us we don't have time, that we can do it when we feel better, that we have tomorrow, that we can do it later, that the dishes and the laundry need to be done first, that the weather is too cold, that sleep is more important, so on and so forth. Now, I'm not saying that sometimes, some of those things are true. But let's face it, we know deep down when we're making excuses for ourselves because change is hard! Commitment and follow-through have rarely been my forte! But if you and I are going to succeed at making serious changes in our health, wellness and fitness levels, we are going to have to sink Mr. D!

SAY IT WITH ME...

THERE'S NO TIME LIKE THE PRESENT...

I WILL FEEL BETTER IF I DO THIS...

THE CHORES WILL STILL BE HERE WHEN I GET BACK...

I HAVE A COMMITMENT TO GET UP AND GO!

I....AM....GOING!

And sometimes, reminding ourselves of our purpose is just the key motivator to get us out of the harbor and sailing healthier seas! Once we get going, we feel great! We feel accomplished and good about making healthy changes!

But wait...what if _____? If there are days we fail? If there are times when our will just doesn't cut it? If we just don't go? It's at that point, that real grace has to kick in. The C of our beginning is GRACE. I don't mean laziness that says "oh well". I don't mean flippant forgiveness for the last week of flaking off the plan you set in place. I don't mean giving up! I mean, a genuine discontented heart that there was failure, a willingness to let that failure go, and a sense that now is now...we CAN begin again!

I can't tell you how many times I've started over in my endeavor to lose weight and get healthy. I wonder if some of you are convinced I had some grand generous notion to help change the lives of others, but the truth is, I'm just starting over again. This time, with a LOT more accountability than I have ever had. I can't, with any integrity, stand out in front of a group of people, asking them to change their lifestyles, if I'm not willing and committed to doing the same. For me, ALL OF YOU, are the biggest accountability group I've ever had! And it reminds me that grace is what keeps me starting over. Each and every day the Lord gives me breath, I have another opportunity to make choices: choices about food, exercise and all of life! Whatever we do, we cannot let failure for the moment equal failure for the day. We cannot let failure for the day equal failure for the week. And certainly, We cannot let failure for the week, month, year or last several years of our lives equal failure for whatever future the Lord grants to us! Let today be the "first day of the rest of our lives".

That, my friends, is the ABC's of beginning! So get out, make your specific plan on NUTRITION and EXERCISE and then let GRACE keep you going each and every day!