By Jimmy Hays Nelson
So we have reached the 7 month stage with baby Asher, and many new activities have rapidly developed: Spitting, Army Crawling, Teething, and of course Eating Solid Food. We have decided to introduce one food item at a time to his little digestive system. Sweet Potatoes, Avocados, Bananas, Green Beans have all gone over very well. Today’s menu item is raw peaches. And as you can see in the video below, they may not be the most popular item on the menu. But I think I have found a clever way to humanly force feed my baby. Take a peek for yourself!
I’m sure you are thinking, “Ok, cute video, but what in the world does you feeding Asher have to do with fitness.” I am SO glad you asked!
Sometimes in life there are things we know are good for us. Things that we should do that will benefit us in both the short and long term, but they might not rank as favorites in our own personal menu of to-dos. The same way the peaches are nutritionally good for Asher, but he wasn’t a huge fan.
So what do we do in those situations? When we know we should be doing something like working out, or eating right, but we don’t enjoy it or lack motivation.
I have found, like helping Asher, we have to make it fun! So sweating isn’t your idea of fun- I get it! I understand! It wasn’t my idea of fun either when I was 100 pounds heavier. But I had to find small ways to make it entertaining. For me my very first step was walking around the block. At my heaviest, I had just come out of a very emotional breakup with the only serious girlfriend I ever had, and sitting around the house thinking about it was driving me insane. So I ventured outside for an evening walk, and to my surprise, I found that I really enjoyed it. The fresh air and the evening breeze allowed me to clear my head, and remind myself of things in my life I was thankful for.
As I actually enjoyed being active with my walks, I found myself wanting to try new physical activities. I started biking, and then lightly jogging. Little did I know all those little activities prepared me for the near future when a friend of mine introduced me to a home workout program. If I had not created my own momentum by taking that first walk, I would have never been open to trying a program like that. Not only was I introduced to a program, but an online community where I could log my workouts, virtually chat with other people struggling along like myself, and even win prizes for my efforts. Now this was getting fun! And of course the most fun was after 2 weeks of the program, I noticed my pants were looser! Talk about being on a roll and anxious to add the next step!
So maybe you are ‘stuck’, and you are waiting for Mr. Motivation to come strike you like a lightning bolt for you to start moving. Well, I challenge you to think of little Asher who chose to laugh, flash a big smile, and open himself up to something that he didn’t think he liked, but ultimately was good for him. And in the long run both Asher and you will live healthier lives because of it.