Day 18

There was no time for me to take "mud" pictures today so it will have to be blogged about another day.

Exercising is not something that I love. When I was doing it very regularly, however, I was an extremely happy person. If I go for long without it, I can feel myself slipping into a nasty funk. It's an absolute necessity. I've probably mentioned before that while exercise is good for physical health, it is imperative for mental health. So, I am getting over a huge hump (a mountain) , one that I built myself over months of neglect and complacency.

Not only is this mountain going to be overcome by moving my body, but by eliminating some things that are slowing me down. Sugar is bad, ok. It just is. As much as all of us love a cookie or a cake, even a bag of skittles, it is bad bad bad. When I lost the weight a few years ago, the first thing I cut out of my life was the white stuff...sugar, white flour, white rice etc. For years I had experienced shaking hands, lightheadedness, irritability and exhaustion periodically through the day (when I hadn't eaten in a while). Then, Dr. Oz explained on an Oprah show that those symptoms are not hypoglycemic at all but withdrawals. This was a huge eye-opener. Withdrawals? Seriously? I'm an addict??

I heard someone say today that a fight doesn't mean your weak, it means you're a warrior. It's when you give up and give in that you've lost the battle. So, if I dread the 30 minutes on the elliptical, it only means that I'm fighting and that's a good thing. My sister-in-law says, "if it were easy, everybody would be thin." She's pretty smart.

While I am on the uphill part of my journey, I am promising myself to fight well. I am telling myself that He is God, and I am not and giving myself a small break for not being perfect. If I live my life with no mistakes, no battles, no trials, what have I learned? And if I've learned nothing, what can I teach? This really isn't about being thin, it's about being happy. It is about taking care of this vehicle that God gave me to move about this earth. And, along the way, my prayer is that I can inspire a few souls to do the same.