Enjoying Family and Life!

I was so happy last week for losing over 3.2 pounds, but this week I ate back part of one of those pounds! Megan Gilmore of Lark’s Song spoke to our group this week at the Centrum Mall about food addictions and how to have a healthy relationship with food. It was such an inspirational class. One statement she said was to talk to your body. Well, I had a good talk with mine and this pound and other pounds have got to go bye bye! I really wanted to talk to my scale and tell it off! But, I have to be positive and keep on working to achieve my goal weight.  Next week I am hoping to have a more encouraging weight loss.

This week I went to spin class and water aerobics at the YMCA, and I enjoyed them both. What I saw at the YMCA this week impressed me. I saw husbands and wives working out together. I saw families come together in the cold to participate in the Walk a Mile in My Shoes event hosted by the YMCA. I also saw families taking time to show their children the value of exercise and spending time with one another. I watched a father in the pool with his young children playing with them in the water for over an hour while I was walking laps in the lap pool. You would have thought that these children were at Disney World. The smile on their faces was priceless. When my kids were little I loved to ride bikes and take walks with them. It is so important to share a healthy lifestyle with your family.

I grew up working on a farm with my family, and we were always in shape from the exercise that we got taking care of the farm on a daily basis. We always had a big garden, and I hated it when I grew up. I hated picking beans and working in the garden. I did not like spending my summers getting up at 5:00 in the morning to hoe the bean fields. I look back now, and my parents were keeping us in shape. I always claimed that they had four kids just so they could have hired hands. That never went over well with my dad. Even though we worked hard, we were together as a family learning the importance of being healthy.

I need to get back to my roots and go back to how I was raised. It seems like I have strayed from that lifestyle. Now I try to stay focused on my future and make new memories while learning from the past.  Guess what my family did last year, and will do again this year? We planted a garden! What a blast from the past! I did not think that this was such a great thing when I was younger.

The pictures in this article reflect family and fun times. Losing weight and working to improve our health does not have to be boring and a hassle.  Make it a lifestyle for your family, and your family will admire you for it, although they may not thank you for it until they get older.

I want to thank our sponsors, MGH, YMCA, and the Chronicle-Tribune for sponsoring us in The Great Weight Off. It has changed my life in so many ways. It has not only helped motivate me to lose weight, it has changed my whole outlook. Thank you for giving me back my life.

Julie