Making Fitness a Family Affair
A lot of my clients join Phit-N-Phat because they want to get in shape, and they suffer from a lifetime of living unhealthy. The girls are terrified they are going to pass an unhealthy obsession with poor food and overindulgence onto their kids. It's one of the things that lead me to making a lifestyle change; I saw myself unable to play with my son, feeding myself foods that I didn't want him to eat, and convinved I was going to teach him to grow up with poor self-esteem if I didn't change my ways.
This leads me to a wonderful story one of my Moderators from the forums, Lorie, posted to the site. She has two beautiful girls and a pretty hunky husband who's also lost a significant amount of weight. While they have been clients of mine and now friends, one of the things they have taken the most pride in during the journey is the fact they have changed the way their family views food. Both grew up in situations where food was fun, not a means of fueling the body. If they choose to elaborate on it, I'm sure they will post in the comments. But, this post is about a lesson their little girl has learned and it really touched my heart to know I played a small role in helping them raise strong and healthy girls.
"So, a really cool thing happened to me this weekend. Bill's family was in from out of town....and we all went to Chick Fil A. I got my usual southwest grilled chicken salad (I get the real dressing, but don't use much of it). I'm eating it, not thinking anything much about it and Bill's little nephew, Matthew, comes up to me and says (he's 7 yrs old) "Why are you eating salad;, are you on a diet or something"? Our 6 yr old fires back, "My momma is NEVER on a diet". I said, "Matthew, we just try to eat healthy all the time."
So why is this a big deal to me? It's because growing up (I love my parents) but they were either on a major diet or off a diet in a major way. I've been drug all over the country with my parents to TOPS meetings, Weight Watchers meetings, going to pick up metabolife, or herbal life...blah blah blah. Anyway, the ONE thing I want so much for our girls is to realize it's a total LIFESTYLE. It's not about being "on" or "off" a diet."
Is that not something everyone of us would love to hear come out of our kids mouths? Why does eating salads, vegetables, and grilled foods constitute a diet? It's not! It's called avoiding a ticket to heart attack alley. I'm very proud of Lorie. It's not easy raising daughters in this world slammed with negative images and unrealistic bodies. She's doing so great with her workouts and planning foods the family can enjoy. The girls are going to grow up strong, healthy, and appreciative that their mother has saved them from years of Fat Girl Thinking all because she decided she had to do the grown up thing and take control of her own life.
That's what it takes to win ladies. You have to start the change with you if you want to see the change in your family. Don't blame your husbands, boyfriends, kids, and your Momma for your own lack of control. Decide today that you will do this for you and slowly you'll see the people you love start to change, too.
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On a side note: I posted some pics to the forum side yesterday. These were pics of me looking not-so-glamorous for my before build out pictures. Well, today I want to link the world up to a few of the pictures I LOVE of me. These were taken last month in Vegas. I was a tad tipsy as we were going out dancing. In fact the photographer, my husband, was drunk so it's amazing they turned out this good. Anyway, I hope you enjoy and for the clients who saw yesterday's bathing suit pics this will show you the difference a blow dryer, make-up, and the right types of clothes can do for you. LOL!
http://chriscrabtree.zenfolio.com/p46078288 - the password is "single."