My new health mantra

Bari life is not easy

 

It has been 2,5 years since my surgery and I am maintaining a healthy weight. I won’t lie, it has been a bumpy road. Not every day is perfect, sometimes I am struggling. I can eat more than I should or I don’t eat anything at all. It all depends on my boss, the Stomach. But all over, I have to say I am doing pretty good. I will tell you my secret: my health mantra and how I work with it.

Most often I am on my “lucky” streak when things are going great, I eat what I should, I meet my protein goal, I drink enough liquids, I don’t overdo coffee and I feel fine. On a day like this, it is easy to keep my spirits high, my morale is boosted through the roof, I do my exercise and I feel fine. I love days like these. 

Not every day is great

Things certainly happen, sometimes I have a bad day, like everybody else. I call them “butt-first” days. You know them. You open your eyes in the morning and know right away that this is a no-no day. I know that things won’t be great when I try to drink my morning coffee. If it doesn’t go down well, I am doomed for the rest of the day. I will be lucky if I drink enough not to end with a nasty headache from dehydration. And forget about food. Today we don’t eat. Ok, boss. Mr. Stomach is the one who rules here anyway.

What is more, on a day like this, things tend to accumulate. So I can’t eat, I barely drink, my cat decides that I am a great object for him to bite, it is heavily raining, I miss my bus and in the office, there is an atmosphere that could be sliced with a machete. Plus a coworker brings something nasty smelling for lunch and they park the box with donuts on the corner of my writing desk. Sigh… how to survive this day without screaming out loud? 😀

Life like a minefield

Bari life is hard, no doubt about it. Sometimes things are reasonably easy but sometimes it is like crawling up Mt Everest on your knees without an oxygen mask. Temptations are everywhere. I know that people don’t mean it, but they can make life unbearable. Imagine you are craving something sweet the whole morning and your coworker brings a cake because it is their birthday. Have a piece, it is nothing. 

But you know that you already had the yummy creamy latte, you have “sinned” enough and it would be the wisest of options not to give in to the temptation and stay strong saying NO! Easier said than done, right? Everybody has been there. Days like these happen more often than we like 😀

So how to maintain a spirit high and keep doing the right things? Without knowing it, people can make our day-to-day a real minefield 😀 sometimes we are literally jumping from one floating ice to another in a flooding river. At least it is our perception. 

Things under control

I am a friend of having things organized, quite visual, ordered, and under control. That is why I write my diary, I keep logging into my food app, cross out my workout routines in my agenda, and go back every week and check how I was doing, what happened, if I did everything I should have, where I can improve and where I did outstandingly well. I check for things that can be improved but I also praise myself for the good things. It helps to be aware of what is going on and if I am on track. 

No, even if it looks like a military strict routine, I learned the hard way that if I stop doing things like these, I will start slacking and things go out of hand faster than I can realize. And boom, the weight starts to go up. It happened to me. I gained 10 pounds and I had to lose them again. It was not a lot of weight, but I had them lost and they came back. Silly me. 

Serves me right

And all because I stopped using my calorie counter app. I was doing things more or less, and it was not working at all. I was eating more than I should have and I paid the price. Lesson learned. The next time I will be wiser. Ehm, the next time is now. I know what happened and I know what I have to do to prevent it. It works for me, so I keep doing it. 

Next time better

As I said, I have my agenda, diary, calorie counter app and I have also my mantra. This is new. I came across this short paragraph in my old journal from years ago, when I was still studying at university. I was looking for some information from that time and I bumped into this. I wish I knew where it comes from. I wrote it down that time, most likely from some book I was reading that time. And I stayed in my old journal for me to find it again now.

My health mantra is:

“You are losing nothing and you are making marvelous positive gains not only in health, energy, and money but also in confidence, self-respect, freedom, and, most important of all, in the length and quality of your future life.”

 

The moment I saw this, I knew that this was the one. I copied it out carefully from the old notebook (at that time I was still writing these things on paper – now they are all on my laptop) and I placed it on my writing desk. I didn’t know where to put it to have it all the time at hand. It was there for a week or so. And then I got it. 

Always visible, always at hand

I found a perfect place to be able to check it often and have it at hand. My bathroom mirror. I am so lucky I have my own bathroom, so I can do anything I like there. So I made it nice, printed that out, and laminated that. Sure, it can be quite humid there, so I might destroy it in a week. Nothing like that. I taped it on the top of the mirror. I am short, so it is not interfering with anything. Simply a perfect place. And it is large enough so that I can read it even without my glasses 😀

I read it aloud every morning. Before the water in my shower heats up, I have it read, and I can contemplate the meaning while showering. As I am preparing for the day, I am reminding myself why I am doing all this. How things are going, what is easy, and what is not as much, where I can push a little harder, and where I am a champ. 

Great crutch to walk ahead

I have to say it helps me a lot. I really don’t have to eat the cake my coworker brings. My clothes fit me great, I am healthy, my weight is under control, I don’t take any medication I used to, I can do my exercise, I can walk up the seventh floor easily, and my bloodwork came back flawless. I am winning in life. I used to be sick and had a lot of weight-related problems. Not anymore. 

I am doing great. My health improved so much it is beyond believing. I would never thought that I could reverse all that. It happened. It took me some time, but I did it. I am incredibly grateful and I am living my second chance at my best. I don’t want to mess things up. I want to live for 100 years. The same as my grandpa did. 

I don’t take my health for granted. I almost lost it and I know it took me quite a lot of work to get it back. I was scared, I remember that clearly. And I don’t want to forget. I was lucky, I could save myself. At a cost, but well, nothing in life is for free. I had to pay for my regained health with bari restrictions. They will be with me for the rest of my days. Still, I am grateful I was given the second chance and I will do my best not to let myself down. 

Remember: “You are losing nothing and you are making marvelous positive gains not only in health, energy, and money but also in confidence, self-respect, freedom, and, most important of all, in the length and quality of your future life.”