Lead By Example

Today I was quite the happy camper because I woke up to find my dad re-vamping our home gym in the garage. A little back story--- I don't know if you could tell by the picture on the about me section of my blog, but my dad used to be over 300 pounds! He was heavy my whole life and at my 10th birthday party, I had a horse party and he saw a picture of himself on a horse. He could not believe how heavy he looked and was inspired to change. He bought a home gym machine (it is basically a pully system with your basic needs: lat pulldown, squat, dips/lower abs, leg extension, chest press, military/shoulder press) and also a punching bag. We also have a recumbent stationary bicycle and elliptical machine. He pre-portioned out healthy meals of chicken breast, vegetables, and brown rice. We swapped our whole milk for 2%, and switched our white bread for whole wheat. My dad also got a gym membership. In a span of 9 months, he lost over 70 pounds! He said he decided to lose weight because he wanted to be around for a long time (awww). That was quite a few years ago, though, and he has had a few promotions since then so although he still went to the gym regularly, he did not work nearly as hard as he used to, let up on his diet, and age is now working against him.

Well anyway, he dusted off the old pully system and got it ready for use. In a previous post, I mentioned that my dad joined a weight loss contest at work and he has to lose 45 pounds by June. One thing I admire about my dad is he never does anything halfway. He started using my food scale to weight out portions and is even using a calorie counter app! He plans on going to the gym in the mornings and working out at home here in the evenings.We went to the grocery store (again!) today to buy some more healthy ingredients and for dinner we made delicious fish tacos (the whole meal was less than 400 calories!) I'm so glad that my dad is following what I'm doing. There are still many things that he's skeptical of (supplements, this food vs. that food, chia seeds...) and he's right to be a skeptic. The weight loss industry has boomed and therefore people are constantly trying to scam you simply because you're trying to follow your goals.

Unfortunately, my mom falls for these scams all the time. I've tried to tell her time and time again, there is no "get skinny quick" plan that actually WORKS. Crash diets destroy your metabolism. Whatever you do STAY AWAY!!!! There is no miracle pill that helps you lose weight. Now, there are supplements, and they're called supplements because they SUPPLEMENT a healthy diet and exercise. My mom, on the other hand, gets discouraged easily and finds excuses not to exercise. I try to tell her that exercising will not only help her lose weight, it will strengthen her muscles which will in turn help her pain! It relieves stress, helps you sleep better at night, and strengthens your heart. Why else wouldn't you want to work out?!? And don't get me started with our constant debates about strength training... Either way, even though what I was telling her for months was confirmed by her doctor, she still doesn't find credit in what I have to tell her. She thinks that weight loss should be easy, and it's not. She's stuck on the time that we both tried South Beach Diet and saw great results. We both also gained DOUBLE the amount we lost RIGHT BACK. I lost 15 pounds last year and kept it off, although I do weigh more than my slimmest last year. My dad still won't take my advice and although I am proud of him and have faith in him that he can do this, I fear that he might not perform like he wants to.

So what do I do? Simple. Lead by example. 60 days from now my parents will see that Insanity was a great investment. 6 months from now when I have a gym membership and have a great body (thanks to weight training), she'll see that I know what I'm talking about and hopefully I'll inspire her to do the same! I'm just worried about her health. My mom is not obese, but she is overweight and we have a bad history of stroke and heart disease in our family. Her oldest brother, her older sister, and my grandma were all taken by heart disease and stroke, and they were not even overweight. I worry about her health constantly and I hope she soon decides to make more healthy, permanent lifestyle changes instead of quick-fixes. The reason why I started going to the gym 2 years ago was because at 19 years old, I already had high cholesterol and high blood pressure, although I was a college athlete and ate fairly healthily. The doctor told me that exercise would fix all my problems, and it did! I only hope that I can convince my mom of this as well, before it's too late.