Keeping your eye on the prize.

I’ve discovered staying on a diet while traveling isn’t as easy as I thought it would be. Not that I’m eating unhealthy, just that the list of approved foods isn’t as readily available on airplanes and hotels as it is from my refrigerator and pantry.

Making the adjustments has been fairly easy; it just requires me putting a bit more thought into the selection instead of letting my grumbling stomach make the decision. Choosing leaner options of protein and steamed vegetables instead of higher calorie content meats and the baked potato loaded down with sour cream, butter, bacon bits, chives, etc., etc. Not that it hasn’t been tempting, but I figure I’ll face these temptations the rest of my life, so I had better start controlling them now.

I found the fitness center at the hotel and actually used it! All the while I was on the treadmill, I heard Brutal Bill in my head telling me to go faster. Up the incline! Come on! Push it! I also spent about 15 minutes on the elliptical trainer, although I probably looked like some cartoon character trying to untie the knots I’d somehow worked into my body. I am not one of these naturally coordinated people who can look graceful no matter what they are doing. In fact, I’m quite the opposite. Ask Bill at the AT&T Sports Center how many times I nearly fell over just trying to walk while extending one leg and one arm to meet!

I even came back to my room after dinner tonight and did some sit ups, and several other exercises I don’t have the name for, that Bill had shown me. They are easy to do from home, in a hotel room, and some could even be done in an office during a break. And, even I know how to walk, although not always gracefully. I’m using stairs instead of elevators now, giving me an extra boost in the exercise department. Parking my car farther away from the entrance is another good way to get some bonus walking in, but probably not at 40 below with 50 mile an hour winds.

I guess the point is that we can all come up with at least a hundred and one reasons why we can’t eat healthier or why we can’t exercise. It’s so much easier to just throw up ones hands and say I can’t do it. But your health and quality of life is so much more important than that. It is worth fighting for. It is worth the effort. You are worth the effort.

We are all in this together for the next few months and we’re sure to face some days when we wonder why we’re doing this and if it’s worth it. Just keep your eye on the prize: better health, and that $3,000 that’s waiting at the finish line.