Fake It Till You Make It

What I once called rabbit food
I now call breakfast

My husband hates the saying "fake it till you make it" but when describing my journey to better health I did some major faking it(going through the motions of being healthy) before I made it to being enthusiastic about my own health. Unsure what I mean?

January 1st I HATED exercise. Today I pumped out 30 minutes of free weights and 30 minutes of running that included sprints AND enjoyed myself.

January 1st I felt sick drinking more than 2 glasses of water. Today I've nearly tapped off my gallon for the day(Gallon Challenge baby!).

January 1st I averaged 1 serving of veggies(if that) and at most 2 of fruit a day. Today I've had 2 full servings of spinach(that's practically a whole bag by the way), raspberries, blueberries, strawberries, 1/2 a banana and carrots. And it felt natural, like any other day.

Why do I share this?? Because the contrast didn't happen overnight and I was "Faking It" for months and months. I was making healthy choices but my heart wasn't really in it; like my commitment was rather fake, probably not going to last.

To start out I had to do things for the fit challenge that felt unnatural and ANNOYING! I knew I needed to but I didn't like it anymore than before I started. But I was a part of a team so I just did it. In other words I faked it. About month 3 I found the basics to feel more natural BUT it took until month 6(now) to say this way of life is finally feeling normal, natural, the way it was meant to be all along; like I can happily live like this for the rest of my life.

I'm not saying I've "Made It" but I can say I'm not "Faking It" anymore and there is one key factor that I credit with the progress I've made... support. Or more appropriately:

SUPPORT!! SUPPORT!! SUPPORT!!

I for one love a crowd of friends. If you know you need to make some changes in your health the most important suggestion I could make is to recruit a network of support. In my case I signed up for the fit challenge I mentioned with my best friends. Somehow knowing they were in it with me helped me step into the scary world of taking health by the horns.

I swear it was 3 weeks before my motivation for exercising, getting my 5 fruits/veggies in, drinking my water, etc. had ANYTHING to do with me. I had signed up because I knew I needed a kick in the pants but I spent at least the first 3 weeks doing those things because I didn't want to disappoint my friends or fail my team. Sure that is sad and pathetic but that's where I was at. Making healthy choices for myself wasn't good enough at the time.

That has gradually changed and I feel MUCH differently now. My point is it doesn't matter at first WHY you are doing the right thing. I believe anyone who is consistent with making healthy choices(even if begrudgingly at first like me),will find their emotional health and motivation improves as their physical health improves. Keep in mind I'm not talking about 1 week or 1 month. For me it took many months of consistency to truly transform my attitude and commitment to feel fully committed to living a new way for the rest of my life.

You don't have to take my word on this. Give it a try for yourself and the best place to start is forming your very own support network. I for one would love to be on yours!! Please leave me a comment if you want.

If you want to know more about the fit challenges I've been involved in and how they work, let me know. I'd happily put together a group to do another one or you could just duplicate it for yourself. :)

Let's live healthier FOR THE HEALTH OF IT!