Saturday, July 11, 2009

So excited I forgot the Friday quote

Yes, I was so all about bragging on myself yesterday that I forgot it was Friday, and around here Friday means "something to think about." So we'll do that today instead.

“Confidence is contagious.
So is lack of confidence.”
Michael O'Brien

When my husband retired more than a year ago, he started taking a daily walk. He weighed more than was comfortable for him, and probably qualified as "overweight" on the BMI scale. But more importantly, he just didn't feel good, or healthy, or trim.

So he took his daily walk and about six months later was teetering on the brink of "underweight."

Seriously.

He knew, beyond a shadow of a doubt, that taking a long walk every day would result in weight loss, no matter what else he did. (He progressed from three miles to five, and finally settled on 10K as his ideal distance.) Now that's confidence.

I've been a regular exerciser for years, but have never had that kind of confidence. My mind is convinced that my body is going to hang on to every pound it has, and so far my mind has been right, except for a two-year period about 12 years ago when I, too, was at a normal weight.

Recently I've been working on changing my attitude. I'm trying to "catch" my husband's core belief that a long walk, every day, will help me lose weight. We eat a varied and healthful diet. At the moment, I'm not eliminating anything but I'm also not overindulging in anything either. (Sugar, I'm lookin' at you!)

I'm working very hard on having the mindset of "I've done it before, I can do it again." I banish negative thoughts as soon as they cross my mind, and I don't have to work hard at all to enjoy the walking. I'm nearly ready to start running again.

Good thing, too, since a fall race is in my future.

So. Twenty miles down, 10 to go and this week will be done. (My weeks begin on Mondays.) I'm confident I can do it.

1 comment:

Marla said...

I will be interested to hear about your attitude experiment. You know where I'm coming from, and I've had to wonder if I was somehow mentally preventing myself from losing weight, because the physical facts just didn't add up. So let's see if you can work some Mind Over Matter magic!

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