COLUMN: Trying to be healthy is hard
For a week and a day, I tried to eat well and exercise.
I weigh about 158 pounds on a good day, and regularly eat an assortment of bacon cheeseburgers, ice cream, and all sorts of crap that I know is terrible for me, but I love it all regardless.
If I managed to convince myself to do some push ups two days in a row, or take a run with a friend once a month, I felt accomplished. My body has been handling it well.
But it won't be that way forever.
I decided that for eight straight days I was going to eat nothing but healthy food (with least one serving of each food group), do 25 push-ups daily, run twice a week, and record the results after the eight days were done.
The first couple of days went well enough. I would start the morning with a bagel with a smidge of cream cheese.
Grapes and carrots became my best friends. The closest thing I had to a dessert was a small serving of macaroni. All and all, I was pretty happy with how it was going. Until day three.
On Wednesdays, I have a six-hour gauntlet of classes from 4-10 p.m. I began to grapple with the thoughts of chocolate and cheeseburgers.
It got to the point where I almost texted a friend of mine to PLEASE bring me some Rally's, but decided against it.
By the end of that third horrible day, though, I realized something: I couldn't remember the last time I felt this good. After three days, I had more energy. I caught myself smiling more. No longer did I need to take three naps.
I wish I could just end it there. Say that it all went well, I hit all my goals and continued eating right and exercising after the eight days were over.
But that would be a lie.
After hitting my goal of 25 push ups for the first two days and deciding to up it to 50 push ups a day on the third, I forgot to do a set on Thursday, with only some sporadic exercise on the following days. I never ran, and, on day six, I had dinner at a friend's house and ate roasted chicken, blueberry pie and a bowl's worth of potato chips.
Despite these small improvements, I learned that in order for this health thing to stick, you have to continue at it. You can't start for a week and then stop.
To be healthy and in shape you have to continue to eat the right food and stay fit. Now that I know this for myself, maybe one day I'll be able to continue that process.
Now, if you'll excuse me, I have a cheeseburger I have to attempt to ignore.
