Dear Food…
This has been a long in coming letter to you. I’m sorry I’ve had to make some abrupt changes in our relationship. I’m sure you understand. It couldn’t go on like this forever. One of us had to make a change and it seems that you were happy living a stagnant life of just being shoved into my mouth with no thought to how this was going to affect my weight down the road.
I don’t want to hurt your feelings. We’ve been together a long time now. Good times. Bad times. Every holiday together either enjoying each other’s company or over a toilet bowl wishing we’d never seen the likes of one another. You’ve been with me through every break up and every death I’ve had to endure. And yet, here I am letting you know I’m unhappy.
Don’t think of this as goodbye but rather a break until I can figure out how we can have a friendship together. One of mutual understanding. Friends with benefits so to speak. You’ll find someone else to love you the way I did. Trust me…you’re a hard one to resist.
I had a friend ask me today to be their accountability support today.
Me.
I can’t even begin to tell you how honored and shocked I am that someone would think I was deserving of this. People around me are moving more. I’m not forcing them. They’re doing it for themselves. People are reading my blog or seeing me take the stairs and they are following suit. Being on a life changing journey really does start to affect those around you. They start moving more and all of a sudden you feel a sense of responsibility…accountability. People start to ask little things “how did you start” “what’s the name of the podcast” “how do you stay motivated” “can I walk with you” and before you know it they are forging their own journey. It is such an honor to be a part of that. Even if it just for a moment. The more I move. The more you move. The more you move. The more I move. Round and round we go! I want more people to move. People are starting to ask about my runs and what’s my weigh in is going to look like the following Saturday. Talk about incentive. It’s not only about not letting myself down but now it’s about making sure other people aren’t let down as well.
I have another friend that said she walked yesterday because I walk more. So I did the only thing I could think of. I dedicated my c25k run to her today. It was a hard run but I didn’t want to come back and have to say “sorry, I didn’t do it today” There was no motivation during the run. Just determination to get it done for myself and my friend.
Today was the last run that included any type of walking interval mid run.
Did you just read what I wrote?
No more walking intervals from here on out. Friday is 25 minutes. Next week is all 25 minutes sessions. Week #8 is 28 minutes and the last week is 30 minutes.
*deep breath*
Don’t panic.
Never in my life (previous to Dec 29th 2009) did I ever think I’d be this close to running for 30 minutes straight. Week 1 and 2 seem so far away and if I were to run for 60 seconds now, I’d be like “is that it?”…
1 minute 6 weeks ago.
10 x’s that today (twice)
That’s amazing.
To all my friends that are moving a little more today than yesterday…
You’re amazing.
Aw, your letter to Food was so sad. I love food and will always love food. I’m trying to find ways for it to love me back though, and so I’ve been cooking a lot more and experimenting, and the thing I’ve found is I can eat almost EVERYTHING and have it fit my plan. I hate feeling like I’m eating the same damn thing day in and day out. I hate feeling like I have to only eat wheat and oats (horse food) or salads (rabbit food). Food was put on earth for us to love. My challenge this time is to find ways to love it. And it’s been a smooth ride so far because I’ve channeled my love for food into cooking. It makes every meal that much more rewarding 🙂
But anyway, back to you. I’m glad you’re seeing the people around you become motivated! That means you’re doing something right! That means people are noticing the change. They might not say it, but they’re sure as hell thinking it. And to be somebody’s accountability partner, that’s saying something about you! That person admires and relies on you. That’s huge!
Yay! Take a picture of your 30 minute straight run when you get to it 🙂 Keep up the great work! You’re awesome.
Awww Jess, it wasn’t meant to be sad. It was more of resolution that my old way of eating had to end. I’ve been having a lot of fun experimenting with clean eating and making healthier alternatives. Oh I’m still eating pretty good, don’t get me wrong. I have an executive chef in the house that is all about challenging himself to go from saucy/gravy to clean and healthy.
Yay! You’re past the intervals!
Yay and OH MY GAWD WHAT AM I DOING feeling.
I’m trying to C25K thing as well. Whoever decided that running on the elliptical is just like running on the treadmill stinks! I can do 30 minutes at 7mph on the elliptical on a good day, but I jogged at 5mph on the treadmill today and nearly died after 4 minutes. *sigh* But I’ll get there!
It’s great that people are relying on you. I’m hopeful that I can also be an inspiration to people once I get closer to my goals.
Well Lauren, just know that if you’re on my blogroll you are an inspiration for sure!!! And I can’t even think about doing a treadmill 5k, I run so slow. I think I’m doing like a 15 minute mile easy.
I think I need to write this letter, too. Isn’t it amazing how something that truly does nothing for us but provide momentary pleasure can alter our lives so much?
I don’t know Jer, I think it did more than momentary pleasure…Food never yells at us or calls us fat. It never turns away when we want to spend time alone with it. It’s always ready to listen to us. It never tells us our clothes are too tight or that those stripes make us look ridiculous. It never slaps our hands away when we want to put something in our mouth. I’d say that’s pretty much BFF status!
You are amazing! Inspiring others to get moving is HUGE!! Just imagine how you’ll feel looking back at this point in another 6 weeks. 🙂
Well thanks for that nice comment! People being inspired by me is also inspiring me so it’s a nice two fold system working here.
I love this post! I am now contemplating my own love letter to food.
It is incredible that you’re seeing changes in others as a consequence of your new way of life. I’m noticing some of the same things in my own life (the questions about the hows & whys etc.) and its an incredible thing! It definitely makes you empowered with that sense of responsibility to stay strong and keep moving forward!