Lately I have been watching TV while working out at the gym. One afternoon, Man Vs. Food was on, which I found to be an ironic accompaniment to my elliptical-ing. However, another recent afternoon found me watching an episode of Oprah featuring dramatic weight loss stories. Much more appropriate. I felt very motivated to work hard, and then of course to analyze my own diet and exercise habits.
Now let me just start by saying that I eat pretty healthy, and since I was active as a swimmer for years and years, I had a pretty good base to start from when I began working out on my own occasionally throughout late high school and college. I actually like exercising, which aids the process, but I also love food. People often look at me and say things like, "Well, you can just eat whatever you want and you wouldn't gain weight." Thanks, but it's so not true. I found this out in the years in between when I quit swimming and when I decided to try walking/running (okay, more on the walking side of that equation). I may be fit, but I still need to take care of myself.
The resolution that arose out of the Oprah show is that I am currently trying to eat fresh veggies with my daily lunch sandwich instead of potato chips. Note that I did NOT say I am giving up potato chips in toto...just on an everyday basis. :-) I also have been eating my sandwich on a wrap instead of bread, but much to my chagrin, this morning I did a comparison of the nutrition information of the two and found the wrap to be much worse than a single piece of bread and only a little better than two. Oops. Consider this a PSA to not be swayed by wraps. "But it's green and has spinach in it! That's healthy! And it's so flat! It MUST have fewer carbs!" Not necessarily the case. There's nothing wrong with a good loaf of whole grain bread. But a wrap or four won't kill me or derail my efforts to be healthy. I'm trying to be less flippant about sweets, too. I don't eat them all that often, which usually makes it easy to convince myself it's okay "just this once," which may or may not actually be only once in a given span of time.
What I struggle with here is finding balance between eating foods that I enjoy, eating enough food that I am full and satisfied, and eating healthy foods without being racked with guilt. I have never been overweight by any means, but sometimes I let little things get to me too much. I need to keep finding solace in my good faith efforts to take care of myself.
It also helps that I have been making myself adorable little containerfuls of veggies at the beginning of every week so I can just grab one and go. Today was cucumber, yellow bell pepper, and sugar snap peas. If I were a good blogger, I would have taken a picture, but alas. Maybe one to come soon.
P.S. Last Wednesday, Hubby and I went for a walk together before work, and we saw an older couple walking, too. I told Hubby that if only his socks were pulled up higher we could be JUST like them. ;-)
