Beach Body?

Beach Body?

Getting beach body ready this time of year is a challenge. A challenge I gladly accepted for a chance to get away on a tropical vacation with friends, especially as temperatures drop and winter approaches here in the northeast.

But, I have to be honest, my initial goal with this post was to detail my journey as I used my new membership at CHHRC to get in better shape in the weeks leading up to our departure. The problem I encountered is that I have been All. Over. The. Place.

Had I written last week, I would have told you I was killing it. I was at the gym more that I had been in months—weekly class on the Pilates reformer and cardio on the elliptical—and really managing my diet well, which is not an easy feat this time of year.

I then decided it would be really fun to make gingerbread cookies with my mom and daughter, and to make them gluten-free so that I could enjoy them, too, which I did.

We came to the gym as a family on Saturday—my husband, daughter and I. I got in some much-needed cardio, but the gingerbread cookies were the start of my diet downfall. Late Sunday, my daughter and I baked cookies with family, an invitation that I lovingly accepted. I decided to get a leg up on baking and make some cookies of our own before we left, which then accidentally became my breakfast, and it was just downhill from there. Ugh.

I share the details because as I’ve gotten further into my 40s, I’ve realized that what I eat has a dramatic effect on how I feel—physically, mentally, emotionally. I have experienced first-hand that there is a lot of truth to the saying, “you can’t exercise away a bad diet”.

Being diagnosed with a gluten intolerance has changed my outlook on food, and not just gluten. I am now keenly in tune with how food makes me feel.

With our trip quickly approaching, I am happy to say that with the start of this week, I have cut out the sugar and headed to the gym feeling stronger and more focused, which I am convinced has a lot to do with my diet.

So, while I may not be much physically stronger or weigh any less than I did a few weeks ago, I am leaving for vacation feeling good and grateful for my body and its ability to heal, family to bake and enjoy time with, and the ability to take such a vacation with my little family and our friends, and that matters so much more to me.

So, Merry Christmas, and Adios, New Jersey!

 

Photo credit: http://clipart-library.com/clipart/816320.htm