I majored in public health.
We talked all the time about helping people make changes in their lives. Sometimes, I need help making changes in my life.
In my Public Health Administration class, we had a guest speaker from the public health department come show us different campaigns and projects they had underway. One of them was a media campaign to reduce diabetes through creating prevention awareness. The speaker showed this poster.
This poster had a profound effect on me. The outline of the figures was the thing that got me. I thought about the difference of introducing just 15 to 20 minutes of physical activity. And not anything strenuous like running or getting on a stationary bike. Just walking to class (which I was doing at the time) or riding your bike to work.
Now fast forward five years...to me now. Over the last year I have been doing small things to be healthier. That was something else we always talked about in classes. MAKE LIFETIME CHANGES. no crash course diets or weight loss plans. Just make small changes in your lifestyle.
Since having Grace working out has been an on and off experience for me. Last winter, I was doing awesome exercises (an exercise physiology major in my RS taught me at an enrichment activity--another reason why we should attend those) after the girls went to bed. I also had cut out dairy. With the simple exercises she taught me and the elimination of dairy and add in way more veggies, I lost all the baby weight from Grace and then some! Woot Woot! In the summer, I walked everyday with my kids to the park or the children's museum. I read a book called the GI Diet by Rick Gallop. Highly recommend this book. No counting calories and oh so simple. Justin and I started to eat even better. Again no counting calories, no eliminating things from our diets (except dairy, I was still nursing Grace). Just portion control. We made our plates look like this:
And I felt better than I ever have. I had energy do all sorts of things, and emotionally, I felt so balanced.
And then we got back to SLC, and I got out of my routine. Somehow, I have struggled to get in a normal workout or physical activity of any kind since moving back until.....I read this girl's AMAZING story of losing 135 lbs.