2009 Word of the Year: Health

Christine Kane, one of my favorite bloggers, advocates selecting a word for the year instead of a New Year's resolution. I used foundation one year and it worked like a charm. My word for 2009 is health.

2009 is the year of the body.

I've tried this several times. To be brutally honest I don't know if this time is going to be different. However, I am going to give it my full attention. The body is number one on the list this year. Ironically, I came to the decision that I wanted to dedicate 2009 to the body after reading Disappearance of the Universe, a book dedicated to showing us that the body is not real.

While I get the idea that the body is not real in an esoteric sense. (Only God is real, but that's another blog.) I am on planet earth, of my own doing, with this body. I want my body to work for me. I want to be healthy, vital, strong, flexible, and full of energy. Right now my body is overweight (260+ lbs) with high cholesterol. I feel lethargic most of the day. My body is stiff and weak.

I spent the last month of 2008 researching and reflecting on what I would need to do to lose weight, lower my cholesterol, and rebuild my body into the vital, strong, healthy, flexible being.

One year I lost over 40lbs on Weight Watchers. The things that really helped me was having to track my food, being a participant in 12 week group challenges, and exercising. I need to eat healthier to improve my cholesterol and blood chemistry (I'm close to the edge for diabetes also). While I ate within the points for Weight Watchers when I lost the 40 lbs, I didn't eat optimally. I would like to establish strong healthy eating habits this year. That means lots of vegetables, whole grains, no white flour, sugar or potatoes, lean protein (bye, bye, ribeye and chicken thighs), in a nutshell, South Beach. I want to eat more whole food. I also want to learn about food and pay attention to how my body feels with the food I give it.

In 2007 and 2008, I concentrated on becoming naturally active. Until the middle of 2008, I walked to work, 60 minutes round trip. That was great. I want to be an active person. My job is extremely sedentary. However, I need to make regular exercise part of the routine. By the end of the year, I want to do cardio, strength training, and flexibility exercises on a routine basis. I also want to be able to run a 5K. I want to re-incorporate movement throughout my day: taking the stairs to my office (it's only one flight), walking to lunch, walking to church after work, walking to and from work on occasion, walking to the coffee shop or library. As you can see, walking is a big part of things. I rearranged my world so that most of my life is within a mile radius. I love walking and I want to do more of it. I want to move for entertainment, like take dance classes or go salsa dancing.

I like hefty meals. I'm not a sweet or salt lover. I spent a year training myself to only eat when hungry and until full. The problem now is that I wait until I am famished. Then I feel like I have to ravish a cow. I'm able to stop when I'm full. I don't eat when I'm bored or sad anymore. However, my mood dictates the type of food I eat. If I am in a neutral, happy, or joy-filled place, I have no problem eating the recommended healthy stuff. However, when I feel sad, I want to be comforted. If I happen to be hungry, it's very difficult for me to make healthy choices. This year I want to add the dimension of eating for nutrition rather than mood enhancement. I want to chose healthy foods, I don't do that today even as I only eat when hungry and until full. I want to eat to fuel my body optimally.

I'm a perfectionist. When I falter I tend to throw the baby out with the bath water. One day off plan and I feel like what the heck. Being a part of a group helps, but the other side of that is I'm not a rah-rah person. I just want to step back on the path without pomp and circumstance. I don't want to recognize that I failed. That, I think, is the pitfall. If it were okay for me to fail, I could recover no problem.

I don't like exercise buddies or people knowing I'm on a diet. I don't even like saying that I'm losing weight because if I announce it and I don't follow through then I'm a failure (see point above). I almost have an internal indicator that says when people notice you should stop. I also have the tendency to unravel by April. I'm not sure what the cause of it is. Resolution fatigue, goal looking too likely, fear of success. I'm not sure how I'm going to push through it. One of the things that I'm doing is setting up 13-week challenges so things don't get boring. That's no guarantee though.

Another thing that would help would be accountability. I'm thinking of telling my hairdresser that every week I'm on plan and follow my exercise regimen, I'll come in to get my hair done. I would love that reward and she can hold me accountable in a cool way. I'm blogging for the same reasons: accountability and support.

Breaks in the routine, such as colds, blah days, and vacation, jeopardize success. I'm not sure how I'm going to deal with this either. It is easier for me to eat right and exercise within a routine and framework. When it's shaken up, I get befuddled. For long term health, eating right and exercising must be a part of my life, breaks or not. So, this will be an opportunity to work with it. In the future, my life will be very flexible, I want it that way. I will have to figure out a way to eat healthy and be active as a natural course to things.

My exercise goal for the year is 15,000 minutes. I love having minute exercise goals. They are measurable and achievable. If I miss a few days I can make it up.