Priorities

I'm really trying to improve my health. I want to be fit. I want to be happy with my body and how I look and feel. I want my diabetes to be well controlled. I've been making those changes over the past year. In February of 2010 I restarted Atkins for the umpteenth time. I did very well.. stayed focused and motivated and I reached a goal I had set by the date I set it. I went to the gym several times a week and stuck to my low carb way of eating. I rarely cheated and felt great!

In June I started cheating more and more. I quit going to the gym. I had gotten out of the routine and it was HARD to get back into it. I maintained my weight, but I didn't feel as good. It took me a few months to get back to it. In September I quit all the cheating and started low carb strong again. I still couldn't get the gym routine back though. I lost a few more pounds in spite of that. Then in October I got sick. I have been sick for months. Recently though, I have been feeling better. I still get some fatigue and shortness of breath, but not nearly as bad as before. A few weeks ago, I started going to the gym regularly again. My weight hasn't really changed. It fluctuates between 131-134 day to day. But I feel great going to the gym again!

Thursday I went to a BodyPump class (a cardio-strength class that kicks ass!) then went to a yoga class to stretch and relax afterward. Friday I didn't make it to the gym, but I went outside and did my Couch to 5K program. I had planned on running down a sidewalk on a street near where I live, but it was getting dark so I just ran around a circle in my apartment complex so I could stay closer to home. It was cold, but I was determined to get some exercise in. My bff swears the pod people have taken over. Sometimes I think she's right! But I'm trying to stay motivated. I want to get in shape and I do actually enjoy exercise, it's just getting TO the gym (aka off the couch) that I have a hard time with sometimes.

This has been on my mind and I want to share it. The other day, someone told me that my priorities had changed. Normally I would've been proud that I'm putting my health above some other behaviors (couch potato-ing), but I sensed that this wasn't coming from a good place. They said that they were happy for me that I was happy and feeling good and I believe that, but I felt like they thought I was putting exercise above relationships. I felt horrible that they felt this way. I certainly never meant to make anyone feel like that. Just because I've put fitness higher on my priority list does NOT mean that I've lowered anything else. The people in my life absolutely mean the world to me and without them, there would be no point in trying to improve myself. Who would care? I hope that my people know just how much I love them! I've just spent most of the last 2 1/2 months on the couch because I wasn't physically able to do much. Now that I can do more, I want to get out there and do it. I want exercise to be a regular part of my schedule again and I want it to be a habit before I go back to work so that I will fit it into that schedule too. I'm hoping that some exercise will help me get better so that I CAN go back to work too. (I need some beach money!! hehe) So, to all of you out there... make your health a high priority, but make sure that your people know that they come first. Tell them how much they mean to you and that they can never lose you. Ever. =)