Contol what we can, deal with what we can't!

photo taken by my neice: Tarah Elise Duarte

If you are new to this series, you can read the first in the series here.

Last week I wrote about making this our mantra:.

"we must stop making a distinction between

 a healthy lifestyle and our normal life."  

Did you pray about it?  What do you think?  Were you able to begin to grasp the idea of a healthy lifestyle as normal? Research says it takes 21 days to acquire a new habit and it has only been seven days since I wrote that post!  So, if you are not yet thinking of your healthy lifestyle as normal...hang in there and don't worry...change takes time.

You know, changing our behavior really IS where we need to direct our efforts.

Our behavior is what we can CONTROL.  We can't really control our weight, our body fat percentage, our cholesterol, our blood pressure and certainly not other people.  We can do things to help our weight, lower our cholesterol and blood pressure, reduce our body fat, but we cannot really CONTROL these things. As for controlling other people...let's not even go there!   

But...we CAN control our behavior.   

We can control the food and exercise choices that we make. 

And to change our behavior we must be 

willing to make some changes in these areas.  

And...and this is a BIG AND...

we must be willing to make these changes for the long term.  

I used to tell people in my Weight Watchers class that 

whatever we do to LOSE the weight, 

we must be willing to do to MAINTAIN the weight loss.

This really came home to me when I had a member that was exercising 3 hours a days.  She went to the gym after dropping her kids at school.  She did an aerobics class for 60 minutes, then she lifted weights for an hour, then took another 60 minute step class.  Yes...she lost weight, but could she realistically maintain that level of activity for the rest of her life?  The answer is NO, she could not and when she reached that point she had some serious work to do re-aligning her healthy lifestyle efforts.

So, please...while thinking about changes to make, consider how and if you can make these changes for the long term.  It is important that you be able to do so.

I am NOT saying that extra exercise is a bad thing.  Sometimes it is a good thing...but not everyday, week in, week out - just to lose weight.  Nor am I saying that completely giving up a certain food or foods is not the right thing...sometimes it is the right thing. But what happens when we can no longer maintain that level of exercise or avoid that food?

When we are trying to change our habits and our attitudes we are not focusing on avoidance, restriction or excess.

And one big thing to remember...

We must want to change our lifestyle for US.  Not our spouse.  Not our mom, dad, employer, kids, job, whatever...we must want to do this for ourselves.

Lord, I ask that you bless the people reading this blog post.  Give them the courage they need to make healthy choices today. Help them focus on you and the courage and strength they can get from you to win this healthy lifestyle battle.  And Lord, I am asking that you specifically bless and give strength to some women that I know are trying to make some positive changes.

How can I pray for you this week?  Please send me an e-mail or let me know in the comments.  I promise to pray for you. 

I'm linking with Mary Beth at New Life Steward 

for Work in Progress Wednesday