Why do we use the word DIET?

I’ve been reading articles all day about good health and I’m so tired of the word diet. Why can’t we use the words healthy choices? Lets admit it….90% of diets do not work. It’s a word that we just don’t like. It spooks us. Lets say we’re at a party and someone asks if we want dessert. As soon as you say “no thank you I’m a diet” everyone starts giving you their opinion of what the best way to diet is. Once I started to say “no thank you I choose not too” all the advice stopped. I never say I’m on a diet I say that I’m making healthier choices. The word diet comes with this perceived image that no matter which one it is it’s going to bad and your going to fail. But when you realize all you have to do is make healthier choices…now that sounds like something no matter how long you need to do it, no matter how much weight you want to lose or the reason you need to alter your food intake.. its possible. I tried to look on-line to see how many diets there were. Well to find that out I have to decide which diet I want a number for. For instance…..Belief-Based Diet, Vegetarian diets, Weight control diets, Crash diets, Detox diets, Diets for medical reason and I’m sure we all know a lot more. But when I brought up making your own personal healthy choice….there’s only one and that’s the one you chose. So I have decided if you were planning on going on a diet Monday how about saying…Starting Monday I’m going to start making healthier choices!!!!!!

Overwhelmed!

sitting here at work today and I keep thinking of all the wonderful opputurnites I have facing me. WOW…..then the overwhelming feeling comes over me and doubt that I can handle it. From passing my NASM test to starting a new journey with my BFF for weight loss in Naperville to Speaking at the Biggest Loser Ranches. Then I thought….What is wrong with you….OF COURSE YOU CAN DO THIS. Maybe not all in one day. But it can be done. I think we all doubt ourselves and I’ve learned thats the worst feeling. We enver beleive that we are as smart and as driven as we really are. So why do you think others can see that in us and we cant? I guess thats something that I’ll never understand.

Just my thought for today.

Chicago Biggest Loser Race

Today was such a beautiful day. Not a lot of people would love getting up at 5:30 on a Sunday morning but I do. OK maybe not every Sunday but today I did. It was beautiful outside. The kind of weather that you wish for when running or walking in a 5K. And the best part is the 5k was running along Lake Michigan, start and finish at Soldier Field. Even though the weather was beautiful, after a very sleepless night and not eating before the run I had to say I wasn’t physically ready for the race. Mentally I was doing a 6 minute mile. Physically I didn’t think I’d finish. And that what makes the Biggest Loser races so special to me. Everyone there was so supportive and so enthusiastic that its contagious. So my husband and I go out and get to the starting line. First person we see was Dan Evans who was a contestant on Season 5 and his mom Jackie. Then we met Danni who just won the last season of the show. And then if that wasn’t enough to get you going Dolvett Quince was there. OK…now I’m pumped. Now my energy starts to get going. I told my husband I was going to walk with him during the race. He’s not a runner so he walks to races. And bless his heart every time I sign him up for another race he just smiles and goes right along with me. As we were waiting for Dolvett to start the race I look at him and he just smiles and says..”you’re going to run aren’t you?” Yep…I’m sure going to try. So off we go and believe it or not I had a personal best. I cut almost 2 minutes off my per mile time. I was psyched. And that is the reason for this blog. It is so important to have support from friends, family or strangers when your trying to do something you don’t think you can do. It makes all the difference. Support comes in all different ways. A short good luck text, a quick facebook shout out or just a high five from a total stranger. Just knowing that you’re not alone is priceless. At about the 2 mile mark I started to slow down. Tired and my asthma just wasn’t playing nice. Along side of me I heard a woman say..”come on …we can do this.” And she started to run with me. We started talking and before we knew it we heard the music from the festival and vendors waiting for us at the finish line. We both made it then we stayed at the end and cheered on all the others that were coming towards us. So remember just because you don’t like to do something doesn’t mean you can’t be that support someone else needs.

Biggest Loser Off Road Challenge in Marseilles, IL

WOW…what a fun time this was and what a challenge. This is the first obstacle course mud run that I’ve done and thank goodness I had a great team to support me. My team Healthy Habits rocked this challenge. It consisted of climbing under barbed wire which was a mud pit, crawling up and down crueling hills sloppy with mud, climbing up and over wooden walls, hoisting buckets filled with cement, dragging cement blocks around a track, hopping up hills with a tight band around your ankles, and the final obstacle was jumping over a fire pit. I think the most impressive part of this challenge was not that we made it thru but the help and support that everyone gave each other to get the obstacle done. At one wall I just coulndt see myself being able to do it. I started to walk around the challenge when a woman I didnt even know said…oh no..we’ll help you. Sure enough her two male friends helped me up and over that wall….from that point on I knew I was in good hands. All the bruises, cuts, and scraps I wear proudly as I know I worked hard for them and did something I never thought I could or would do.