My best friend is getting married!!!!!! Bryan proposed to Sarah on Monday, 1/2/12 and she said yes!! It was a truly magical moment, and I was lucky enough not only to be able to witness it, but to have a part in it, as well. Sarah always said she wanted her friends and family there with her when he proposed, and Bryan was wonderful and gracious enough not only to organize getting us all there, but to let us be part of it.
Having said that..........it is now time for BRIDAL BOOT CAMP. Neither Sarah nor Bryan want a long engagement (they're shooting for this summer- mere months away), which means the ladies in Sarah's life need to get on the ball, food-and-exercise-wise. Today is Day 1! I won't be blogging every day about this, but I will be keeping up with progress, trials, obstacles, failings, and goal-achievements as the months progress. Sarah has asked that I encourage her daily to keep on her own diet and exercise plan, and to nag as much as I can so she'll be annoyed enough to actually follow through, rather than making excuses (which we both are really terrific at). I said "no problem" to both the encouragement and the nagging. Not only will it remind me of my own food and exercise choices (because EVERYTHING is a choice), but it will give us excuse after excuse to talk to each other often. And not that we need excuses, but we both struggle with getting busy in our daily lives and not talking for days or weeks at a time, even when she physically lived 5 minutes away. So this will be a good thing.
Today, as the first day, I started thinking about how I could help myself, and therefore Sarah, through this process. I'm really great at starting projects, and then slowly dropping them instead of seeing them to completion. I looked back over my previous attempts at changing my lifestyle, and I noticed a pattern with every attempt. I, like all women who decide to change their eating and exercising habits, want to see change immediately. I either don't see change and quit, or see some changes happening and start making excuses to slack off ("Well, I've lost ____ lbs, so I think I can probably handle a few cookes..."), and it just ends badly. And at this point in life, I not only gain the weight I lost BACK, but I gain plus some. NOT OKAY.
So I figured this time, getting at the root of the problem, I just might be able to make a permanent change. I need to stop seeing food as a reward, and start seeing it as what it is: FUEL. I shouldn't say, "I made it all day long without cheating, so now I'm going to have one ______". I need to just say,"I made it through today making healthy choices, my body feels great, and that's all the reward I need!" And mean it.
I think I'll keep "Food is fuel" as my mantra for awhile, maybe the first couple weeks, until I really get that mindset firmly rooted. It's going to take a lot of self-discipline and willpower to change poor habits I have created slowly over my entire life (especially the latter years), but I really think I can do this. I really think Sarah can do this. I KNOW we can do it together. It really helps that their engagement won't be extended. It will help a great deal more when they set their date, knowing specifically when our deadline is.
As for now, I'm really excited to go through this journey with Sarah- to watch her challenge herself mentally and physically, to watch her grow into her role as a fiance and bride, to watch as all her dreams come true. I know that they will.
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