Our family joined the Fit Family Challenge because we committed to permanent lifestyle changes in 2016. We want to be healthy consistently, not just on or off a “health kick.”
We’ve made incremental progress toward a healthy lifestyle during our 12 years of marriage, but when we get busy and stressed, unhealthy habits creep in and take over because they are comforting, easy and familiar. It’s always amazing to me how quickly pounds come on when you just aren’t paying attention.
Since December, we’ve both lost weight and began exercising regularly again. We use a fitness app to set daily nutritional intake goals and to track what we eat and how much we exercise every day. Focusing on tracking our food and exercise instead of how fast the scale is moving has really helped us both stay motivated so far.
I’ve always heard tracking is a key to weight loss, but it seemed like too much unnecessary work. We forced ourselves to start doing it this year, and it has made a tremendous difference in our results. Tracking food and exercise is within our control every day. I can’t control the scale. It’s up, it’s down, it’s stuck … and when it’s not moving down it’s de-motivating. Now that I’m tracking, when the scale doesn’t move for even a few weeks, I can relax knowing the scale will reflect consistent habits over time.
The kids, of course, would prefer to eat pizza with a side of sugar for most meals, but I’ve been amazed at how they’ve picked up on the changes we are making. Our 7-year-old son is now reading labels and asking how many grams of sugar are in the foods he’s eating. He points out when other kids (especially his sister!) are eating “junk” and he’s eating healthy. It’s motivating to see how much our kids mirror our habits and how much they learn from just watching our behavior.
We hope during the Fit Family Challenge to take our workouts and nutrition to the next level and to solidify healthier habits. We are excited about working with a trainer and hearing some expert advice on nutrition and exercise. We can’t wait to see our results after the Fit Family Challenge!
— Courtney Rose
