THE JOURNEY BEGINS

Welcome to my journey to getting fit and healthy both physically and mentally. I am by no means an expert. I have read a lot of articles and studied different ideas about getting healthy. I can tell you what to do but obviously have not managed to maintain it for myself in a consistent manner. I do well and then I backslide.

I understand the difficulties that are involved. There are so many variables in ones life along with stress caused by careers, children, relationships, financial hardships and other obstacles.

There are a lot of things that can definitely side track your progress. I started gaining weight years ago. This was very difficult for me because I had always been very small. I had even been taunted about being too small. I was called bony and skinny and miniature. Let me say that I was not bony or skinny. I was small but I had a small frame. I actually weighed more than others my size because of my muscle mass.

I was an extremely energetic person. I was, in my opinion, a very fit, extremely athletic fine physical specimen. I would water ski, run and physically challenge myself constantly. I wasn't trying to be athletic I just like challenging myself. I tended to get bored easily.

I also ate like a horse. I wasn't too great on the breakfast side and typically tended to not partake of it. However, I would ate a huge lunch and was constantly snacking and ate dinner. My snacks were not junk though. I would grab celery, lettuce and olives. Not because it was healthy but because I liked it. I did drink a lot of Dr. Pepper and loved Hershey's chocolate almond bars. Still like them but have now discovered how wonderful dark chocolate is.

I used to think dark chocolate was too bitter. Once I ate a few though my perception changed and milk chocolate became too sweet and not very tasty to me. They say a small portion of dark chocolate is good for you just as drinking small amounts of red wine each day are.

So my plan of action is to quit procrastinating. Get moving and get some exercise. Prepare my foods in advance if needed and try to find some happiness. The happiness part may be the hardest. I am not a totally miserable person. I do have joys in life but they seem to get over shadowed by these other complications.

I know that if I don't make these changes now that I may not be around long to enjoy anything. I am topping the scale at 215 and I am only 5'3". I smoke and I stress and I don't sleep enough. Sounds like a time bomb about to blow at any moment.

Until my next post I will be Screaming For Chocolate.........