How To Live Healthy

HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAAAAAAAA.

ME? Doing a tutorial on how to be healthy? THAT IS HILARIOUS. I know. But see, this tutorial is aspirational, inspirational, motivational. It's what I know I should do. What I'm trying to do. Not what I think I'm a master at. At which I think I'm a master? So don't laugh at me. Only I can laugh at me.

HAHAHAHAHAHA.

Ha.



How To Live Healthy

1) Develop a routine. I've read that it takes 21 days to make a habit, and habits are what I want. I want exercising and eating right to be my natural behaviors, my default. I want to wake up in the morning and know how my day is going to go: there will be work and exercise and reading and writing, time for myself and time for my friends and family, time for relaxing and time for productivity. I want to live a fulfilling life that makes me happy and whole. Yoga is starting to become a habit again, as are making healthy choices and having good options on hand at work and at home. Ultimately I think it would be so nice to wake up at the same time every morning and start off my day with a routine, a schedule, breakfast and a workout like that's just the way I live. That's what my mommy does.

Maybe not quite Bateman status.

2) Eat things that grow. Plants. Animals. Nuts. Etc. Limit things that have too many unprounouncable ingredients and come in plastic packaging. I need to stop it with the excessive Lean Cuisines and frozen Trader Joe's dinners. It's okay every once in awhile, but they should not be making up the bulk of my diet, and they do. I eat at least a couple LCs for lunch every week 'cause they're so marvelously cheap, and dinners are often out of the freezer too. But if I make recipes and freeze the servings, I can make my own frozen meals. IMAGINE THAT.

Nomnomnomplants.

3) Get moving and have fun. The first time I lost a significant amount of weight when I was eighteen, I didn't exercise at all, and never really felt any different. Again, imagine that. I'm loving yoga again, and I know there are other ways I can burn calories while still enjoying myself. I used to think exercise was punishment for being fat, but I now know this isn't true. It's important to get to the point where physical activity is a gift you give to your body, not something it must endure as punishment for eating. And that old cliche everyone spouts off is true---exercise truly is a guaranteed mood booster. As much as I hate to admit it, my mother is right: I always do feel better after a workout.

This is how I Zumba.

4) Don't be so hard on yourself. I know, I know, I'm not there yet, so this one is particularly hilarious for me to promote. But I do believe I'll never be able to maintain a healthy lifestyle permanently unless I get to the point where I allow myself the freedom to make mistakes and be flexible. If this is really a "lifestyle change" and not a diet, perfection is impossible and I have to learn to go with the flow and know that every choice I make and every action I take is inconsequential in the grand scheme of my life. I need to get over being so damn critical of everything I do and accept that I am human and in the course of my life I will often fuck up. The goal is to always move forward and treat myself with love and kindness.

If I don't love myself first, no one else will. 

5) Take it one day at a time. This is more of the same as above. I'm going to use that phrase "lifestyle change" again, as cliche as it may be, but it's so apt. This is not a race, there is no finish line. There is no need to pile on the pressure and try to make a dozen changes all at once. This is for life, and every day is another chance to get it right. A mistake doesn't ruin my day or my week, one bad meal isn't going to make me fat or ruin my good habits or progress. Each day is a new day to make healthy choices and keep on keeping on.

Swim on!