Dieting VS. Lifestyle Changes
Something that I feel compelled to talk about this week is my lifestyle and how it came to be. I’ve talked about this in the past but it was when my blog was new and I had a smaller following. I get asked health questions numerous times a day and I want to share all of my knowledge with y’all! I’ve also seen a backlash after my transition and it’s something that I want to address. I didn’t change my lifestyle for anyone else. I repeat, I didn’t do it to “be cool” or try and “one up” anyone. I changed because I saw that the way I was living was unhealthy and I wanted to do better for myself. It really hurts when you are trying to better yourself and other people are just out to tear you down. Flash back to six years ago, I was in college, not working out and partying every single night. On top of all of that, I would smoke cigarettes, drink countless mixed drinks (with soft drinks) and after a long night, hit up the McDonald’s drive through and get myself all the fixin’s. I was overweight, out of shape and depressed.
One day, I decided that I didn’t want to be that girl anymore. I started with walking every day. Just by adding in that amount of exercise, I started seeing a change in my body. Next was changing up my food… I cut out fast food and focused on eating the best that I could on a college budget. I quit drinking soft drinks and the glorious sweet tea that the South is known for. By upping my water consumption, my skin changed and so did my weight! I was steadily dropping pounds at this point. I met Derrek and started getting chiropractic adjustments and yall, it just all fell into place. Subluxations in the spine can hinder weight loss and once I focused on getting my spine back into alinment, I could really tell a difference in my weight. The hardest thing for me to give up was the binge drinking and smoking… this was my worst habit and the hardest toll on my body. Not saying that I don’t enjoy a glass of wine every now and then but this taught me the most important lesson and that’s everything in moderation is ok!
This has also led me to share about the differences in a diet and lifestyle change. Diets are focused on limiting what goes in your mouth and calorie intake and lifestyle changes would be focusing on fresh, organic healthy foods. Most people fail at diets because it’s such a restricting, outside of the norm routine they get “weak” and indulge back to their old habits. When people hardcore diet, yes they loose weight but it also messes up their hormones and metabolism making it harder for the body to function properly. It’s important to eat the recommended amount of calories based on your age and level of exercise. To find out an estimation of recommended daily calories your body needs to maintain your current weight, go to the Mayo Clinic website calorie counting link here. When focusing on lifestyle, you do look harder at what you’re eating, how you deal with stress, exercising and more. You are more aware of what goes into your body because of the nutritional value and not junk. Lifestyle changes are more of a forever mentality when dieting is only for a short period to receive short term results.
I am passionate about health because I look back on my journey and think “wow, that seems unreal and amazing!” And it is! I have seen first hand what change can do and it makes me want to shout it from the rooftops. I don’t know everything about everything but I can say that years of researching has taught me a lot and I love to share it so I can help others. I continue to grow and learn every single day and I hope that you can say the same for yourself. This doesn’t mean that I don’t have vacation meals and spiratically treat myself to a doughnut or Starbucks coffee. For the most part, I enjoy my daily routine and eating fresh and healthy meals. I also think that endulging randomly is ok as long as you don’t make it a habit. To all the haters and negative Nancy’s I leave you with this; why does someone wanting to be the best version of them self bother you? It shouldn’t. Point blank. Period. We should all focus on ourselves and how to grow and learn new things daily.
