Then It Hit Me…

There is a financial principle 10-10-80. Save 10%, Tithe to our local church 10%, Live on 80%. We implement this with our kids, our 2 older ones. We have a system in place and every piece of money they get goes 10-10-80. It just is. They don’t know any other way. We have a notebook and we track it and initial it. Let’s jump topics for a moment…

I started posting the minority report before I got pregnant with sweet little man. I was not in a great place physically when I got pregnant and knew I would be paying dearly for that post partum. The time has come. I am not alone with unreached fitness goals. What is it that has an estimated 72 million Americans living a life of obesity?

I am a huge fan of Biggest Loser and watch it and cry almost weekly. I want to gain weight to get on the show? I’m kinda not kidding. O.k. I am, but I honestly would love to experience the lessons that show has to offer. I don’t have hundreds of pounds to lose, but I have a horrible relationship with food. I am determined to get it corrected. I would love for Jillian Michaels to scream in my face and I would love to hug Bob at the end of a throw up producing 6+ hour work out.

I received SO many responses when I started writing about the food topic. I am thinking I am not alone in this quest for health. I think it should be party time. A Linky party, a facebook party…men and women…whoever. More details to come on this, but I know I’m not alone in this issue of health. Everything’s more fun together…stay tuned. It will be coming very soon.

I have “started” to get serious about baby weight and then had one drama after another that gave me REASON to wait a little bit. My latest drama is the day to begin, I receive the flu complete with 101.1 fever. Next my 10, year old, then my 6 year old, I literally just finished a carpet scrubbing after my 12 year old. My little guy is teething. Reason enough to wait? I’d say so, but my little man is 4 months and 1 week and it is TIME NOW!  I was thinking about my biggest hurdles yesterday and what throws me off track of putting my health at the top of a priority list. I can give you probably 100 reasons and they are all valid, but at some point it just doesn’t matter. It has to be done. Sheer discipline must come into play.

Back to 10-10-80…I have heard people say I can’t save money because I don’t make enough. WELL Could it be said that you spend to much? I mean if following the 10-10-80 principle, only 80 % of what you bring home is spendable cash. So, if you are spending more than 80% you really aren’t following that principle. Right? You have to remove the 10 and 10 as if they don’t exist and then work with the rest.

So, then it hit me. I feel like I am too busy to track points, measure food, work out, etc. I am a great extremist. I can follow a 2 hour boot camp program like no other, for a period of time. I can Atkins, or extreme diet with brilliance for a certain amount of time, as well. I suck at the middle ground, though. The balanced road. The healthy lifestyle. It’s the consistency day in and day out that I ultimately do not “have time for”. I am caught in an up and down cycle. I am pretty sure somewhere there is a yo-yo diet named in my honor.

I need to change my thinking to start with. Start retraining my head to maintain the balance that I am after. I will begin with the time/discipline issue. Why can’t I apply the same type of 10-10-80 financial principle to my day?

Do I have you confused yet? I have 24 God given hours in a day. He does know what He is doing, so it must be enough time to accomplish what I need. I need to figure out the things that are must do’s each day FIRST. Whatever time is left over is spendable. This may mean there may not be time for another kid’s sport, more school projects, more birthday parties, vacations, or even church volunteer work. I do not believe that God calls us to take care of the body He gave us as a last priority. All those things are good things, great things even. However, my priorities must be in place. God, husband, kids…etc…etc…right? I want to have time with God daily, time with my spouse and my kids, get enough sleep, exercise, eat the right food. Whatever time is left is my “Spendable time.” Why do I live so often the other way around? I do all the “extras” and the “priorities” get put on the back burner.

Just some thoughts I’m trying to process, not from a soapbox, but a girl whose heart is in the trenches trying to fix it in my own life. I will grow old gracefully. I will not let food, or the lack there of, consume my life. I will be able to run, jump, and play well into my senior years and I want to run a big ol long race holding hands with my husband across the finish line when I’m like 75. Who is to say that I can’t? Did you see that guy Jerry on Biggest Loser? Geez if he can do it…what’s stopping me from doing anything?