Intentionally Healthy

A few photos from my effortlessly thin days

For a long time, I was naturally thin and I didn't have to do much to stay that way. I didn't intentionally exercise and I didn't eat especially well. In fact, I ate like crap. After years of that and of working at jobs where I sat for the bulk of my day, I became overweight.

This kind of scenario is what a LOT of people deal with. They weren't brought up with intentional exercise or cravings for healthy foods. Instead, we live in a culture that loves binge-watching Netflix and fast food. Where speed eating pies will get you a medal and watching athletic events while huddled around a TV eating fried food is fun. We stock up on processed food "because it's on sale" and it's "easier" to buy/store/prepare than healthy food. And then, all of a sudden, we can fit into our favorite pants. And we have the audacity to wonder why! 
Don't misunderstand, I'm totally in this camp. Now I'm working like crazy to back pedal and lose a bunch of weight so I can feel like myself again. Conversely, I can't seem to stay on track. Consistency is key and if you know me, I always misplace my keys. We obviously can't do anything about our past decisions but what if we grabbed our health by the reigns and showed it who's boss?! What if we just DID what we needed to do to make sure that we were the best version of ourselves? What if we simply went after what we wanted?


Here's an example of intentionality. I didn't get married until I was 27. If you're familiar with Midwestern culture, that is on the far end of the age range for marriage here. I went through periods where all my friends were getting married at once and then had kids at once. During that time, I did some really cool things,  but I got to a point where I was back living at my mother's house and working at a place that employed and served mostly women. Any men I met there were married fathers and therefore, obviously, disqualified. I was sick of being single and seeing everyone move along with the milestones in their lives. When I complained, well-intentioned people would calm me down and try to figure out what the rush was and to calm me by saying that I "just haven't met him yet." Dating was hard when you worked all the time and only hung out with women. I couldn't wait around for some magical meet-cute at the grocery store or something.

I had a friend that had luck with online dating. She encouraged me to try it out because one site had a free 30 day trial. Up until and even during that experience, I thought online dating was just... weird. Unnatural. Something about it didn't sit right with me. Most the guys that messaged me were 50 year old weirdos that just wanted to "hang out." Then I met a guy whose profile said he was a Christian that goes to church every Sunday. Turns out, he was a solider currently deployed in Afghanistan. He wasn't coming back for another two months, so we got the opportunity to take our time and get to know each other. By the time we actually, physically met, it was like we had known each other for years.  We both had discussed a desire to get married and thought we should continue down the path towards that goal. We agreed that if at any time we felt like we weren't going to marry each other, we would end it.

That Christian soldier became my husband 2 years later and I've never doubted our dating process. We were not satisfied with where we were in our personal lives and we both made an intentional choice to change it. There was no nonsense moving into it-- we both knew what we wanted and the steps we needed to take to get there. It was just a matter of figuring out if this was the person we wanted to walk down that road with.

We had a goal. We intentionally went after achieving it. We met our goal and have never been happier.

Think of this example in health and fitness terms. You want to be healthier/skinnier but you are currently floundering between sometimes working out and having a flip/flop diet with lots of "cheat meals." Basically, you're not being consistent. It's like dating just to "see where it goes." Trust me, I did that since I was 15 and it got me nowhere. The moment I decided what I wanted and INTENTIONALLY went after it, I found what I was looking for.

What if you invested your time and energy into being intentional rather than flaky about your choice to be healthy? What if you started saying no to dessert and soda? What if you made a choice TODAY to be the best version of you and to not let any value meal get in the way?

That's my intention as of TODAY. Work towards it. Be proof that consistency in healthy diet and exercise WORK. Beachbody workouts and Shakeology do that, and if that's something you're interested in, I'd LOVE to talk to you. I know that these products are going to help me to get to the best version of myself and I plan to prove it to you.

WHAT IF you joined me?! This is my journey to 30 and I want to be in phenomenal shape on my 30th birthday. I know many of you are staring down the barrel of a milestone in your life-- want to look and feel freakin' awesome when you get there?