How many times do I demand the result before putting in the time or work to get it?  Far too many times than I like to admit.  I want a healthier, more toned body, but that takes planning, discipline, sacrifice, changes and LOTS of effort.  Instead, I put aside what I have to do and wish and while away my desire for this “person” that I do nothing to get.  Oh, yes, excuses – those drive me most of the time.  It’s my age or a slow metabolism or the unfairness of my genetic pre-disposition.  Truthfully, I eat whatever I want and in whatever quantity fills my desire, but I am no longer a calorie-burning teenager.  Without changes to what or how much I eat, my pants get tighter, the muffin-top bulges over a little more, my energy wanes and my health declines.  Change is needed or I will never realize my true potential.  I have made steps over the years.  I need to continue to strive to build on those changes and not becoming stagnant.

Plain and simple, neither you nor I can wish away the fat or wish we were healthier without making a plan to make that happen.  I need discipline – discipline to change; discipline to quench my body’s need for nourishing and sustaining choices.  I need to let go of the “stuff” that is robbing me of energy, mentally and physically.  I have long used food as an elixir or drug to fill my emptiness, discontent, loneliness, fear, or whatever emotion is rumbling through me at the moment.  Food is far more than a satisfier of my emotions and desires.  Food is my body’s choice for nutrients that allow it to hum along and provide energy and health.

Today begins my journaling efforts to discover what are at the roots of my discontentment and cravings.  These have deep tangling roots that aren’t really “filled” by eating my favourite foods – really.  Food is the drug of choice, nothing more.  I want to blossom in the garden of life with vibrancy and vitality.  That is going to take effort, planning, sacrifice and commitment.  I must own my food choices and how those choices reflect themselves in my body.  When I eat what I need, I have the energy (vitality) for the right amount of exercise and my body will reflect that energy to the world (vibrancy).