Find What Motivates You

My dear 6 year old Tyler has been eating better over the past few months.  We've seen improvement but we still have a ways to go. 

Last week we signed Tyler up for football for the upcoming fall.  At the sign up we were reminded to eat right and lay off the junk food this summer.  He needs to do push-ups and sit-ups and condition himself for running in the heat.  Tyler loves sports and being outside.  I think the workout will be easy for him but he needs to improve his diet.  While we were signing up I looked him in the eyes and told him that he has to eat right if he's going to play football.

A few days later I took the kids to the drive-thru at McDonald's for our weekly fast food pick up and visit with the great-grandparents.  As I'm pulling in Tyler says, "What about my football?"  I said "What?"  What was he talking about?  We don't have a football in the car, practice doesn't start for 2 months.  Tyler said, "I can't eat McDonald's because of football."  I almost cried I was so proud of him.  He gets it.  He does listen to me.

As I sat there in the McDonald's line smiling and telling him how proud I was of him, I realized I was still in the McDonald's line.  What should I do?  I've already called the grandparents and I have their order ready to go for McDonald's.  We were in a hurry.  So I first looked at the menu with Tyler and tried to find something he would eat that was maybe a little healthier than his normal fries and chicken nuggets.  No luck.  All of the other fast food options in our town are not any better.  So this was my chance to teach "everything in moderation", which is one of my biggest weaknesses.  I told him that it's ok to have junk food once a week if we are eating properly the majority of time.  I think he understood.

What amazes me about this is that a 6 year old is capable of being motivated and driven.  As adults we search for our motivation.  My current motivation is that I don't want to gain weight while I've got this boot on my foot.  I can't do cardio and I'm motivated to not blow away my weight loss progress I've made.  To my surprise a 6 year old is old enough to be motivated.  So no matter what your age - young and old - go find your motivation!
    

The Boot

The last few weeks I revved up my cardio ...just a bit too much.  My body was accustomed to my 3.8 mile walk but I decided to run/walk 5 to 5.5 miles 3 times a week.  I was loving it!  My heart rate monitor read 700 calories burned on these excursions.  I was looking forward to pushing myself even more...  until the foot pain started. 

I was previously showing signs of plantar fasciitis in my left foot.  It wasn't too bad and I kept running.  This was causing me to put extra weight on my right foot.  My right foot said enough and I now have a stress fracture in my right foot.  I was given the oh so glorious boot to wear.  I can only remove it to sleep, shower & drive! 

At first I was devastated.  30 days in a boot.  No cardio.  How will I burn calories?  What about my workouts?  Will I gain weight?  I've worked so hard to lose weight I can't gain weight!  So what did I do?  As soon as I walked out of the doctors office I found the nearest fast food restaurant - got a burger & fries and called my Mom and cried.  (No, I'm not an emotional eater.  Ha!)  So many things were racing through my head.  How will I keep up with the kids and their activities?  What if Olivia runs from me when we are in a parking lot?  How will I chase her?  What about the upcoming wedding that both of my kids are in and how will I help get them to walk down the isle?

This self pity party lasted about 2 days.  Then I realized the cookies and junk food were making me feel like crap!  I thought about the people that don't have use of their legs and how difficult life must be.  How stupid of me to feel so bad about my set-back.  I have many reasons to be thankful!

I'm thankful I'm healthy.  At least my injury is the result of trying to do something good for myself.
I'm thankful it's just a little stress fracture.  I will run again.
I'm thankful I have family and friends to help me. 

I've also learned a few things.
Gradually increase mileage when running.
Listen to your body when you have any sort of pain. 

Time seems to pass quickly and so will my time in this boot.  I'll be back at it soon!