Let’s face it—most of us obsess about something, whether it’s our weight, the state of our homes, our children, marriages, being single…the list goes on. When you make the mental effort to include small steps toward the changes you want, you will eventually get to your goal—especially if your goal is losing the body clutter. Your body took a while to accumulate its body clutter (the stuff on your hinny and the stuff between your ears!), so cut yourself some slack! It takes consistent effort to make things happen. Don’t give up; jump in where you are.
That said; understand that you will crumble to the siren’s call of harkening back to what you know. I know what it is from personal experience to take 3 steps forward only to fall back 10! It’s discouraging as all get out and for us perfectionists, it’s the ideal setup for failure…that is, IF we don’t recognize the perfectionistic setup of not doing it perfectly.
So stop wringing your hands if you blew it and let’s get real. Here are some tips to help stop that downward spiral:
1) Stop, Drop, and Roll. Yeah. Think about it like you’re on fire. If you panic and run around like a chicken with your head cut off, you’ll burst into flame. Stop it! This doesn’t mean you’re a failure; you just need to reassess! Do you need to change things up? Are the steps you’re trying to incorporate too hard? Make it EASY on yourself. Add things slowly, let them become a habit and remember it takes 3 weeks to make it a habit, so hang in there!
2) Plan, Plan, Plan. You can’t take a walk if you don’t have decent shoes to walk in. You can’t take a walk if you haven’t added walking to your daily routine. You can’t eat well if you haven’t shopped for good food. You can’t eat well if you don’t have a menu! Do you see a pattern?
3) Water, Water Everywhere. Ladies bottoms up! You gotta drink water and you gotta make sure that’s your beverage of choice. I’ve told you before, taking out ONE soft drink a day from your diet will eliminate 15-25 pounds in a YEAR! That’s easy body clutter decluttering! For me, I drink coffee in the morning, and water all day long and that’s it (I will have wine on occasion). Those are my ONLY beverages. NO juice, diet drinks, nothing. This WORKS.
4) Move It, Ladies! I don’t care what you do, how you do it, how long you do it for, but you gotta move. If you just start walking for 5 minutes and then have to get yourself back, you’ve got 10 minutes of walking where there once was none. The key again is just starting. Don’t worry about the weather—if it’s too hot, rainy, cold or whatever, just march in place while watching TV at the commercial time—it will add up! There is a way to get moving, just do it!
5) Enjoy the Process! I am dead serious about this one. If you can consider your body decluttering to be an adventure, you can enjoy it. Get on the scale weekly or daily if you can remember there will be fluctuations. This is your compass, watch what happens as you take care of yourself! No, it’s not going to be instant results, but you will see the scale stop moving up, you will see it begin to move down, and most importantly, you will know where you are and where you are going when you start with this benchmark.
Taking care of our bodies enables us to raise our children with the healthy standards they need for their lifetimes. It will improve our moods, help eradicate PMS (YAY!), and give us the attitude and ability to stop obsessing and enjoy the process of having control of our own bodies. It really is that incredible of a ride!
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