Spring is fast approaching, though you’d never know it by our weather here in Minnesota. With it comes the thought of digging out the summer wardrobe. Is it a bit tighter than last year?
For most of us this has been a long hard cold winter without a lot of exercise so now it’s time to “pay the piper.” I would like a quick fix. Perhaps a magic pill I could take before bed and wake up pounds lighter and refreshed the very next day. Quick and easy.
There are several of these pills on the market. I googled them so I know they exist. I also know you can’t believe everything you read on the Internet so me and my $49.95 will not be parting ways in the near future. I decided I must come up with a plan.
Because I learn from my mistakes I will not be recommending the salt water diet, the grapefruit diet or a the cabbage soup diet…all of these are real diets and all of them have severe side effects I won’t go into at this time. Nuff said.
At my age I finally have decided diets are a “bad idea.” Quick yes, painful yes, lasting results…. nope. So I came up with a new plan I like to call … “Set it on medium.”
The idea for “Set it on medium” came from a trip I took to Lake Tahoe when I was in high school. We stayed at a cabin that was absolutely freezing. I grew up getting dressed for school in front of an open oven door so if I think the cabin was freezing; believe me I know what I’m talking about.
To help me get through the cold night a lady gave me an electric blanket. I had never used an electric blanket before so I immediately cranked it onto high and fell into a deep sleep. Within the hour I woke up half-baked and nauseous so I turned the blanket off.
Of course within the next hour I woke up colder than ever! I repeated this process the entire night. On high… then off…on high…then off… it was the worst night of sleep I had ever had in my life.
The next morning my host asked me if I slept well and I repeated the story of the blanket cooking me or freezing in the cabin cold. She gave me the strangest look and said “Sandy, why didn’t you just set it on medium?”
I was dumbfounded. I didn’t know why that solution hadn’t occurred to me at some point during the night. I had been in such a rush to warm up and such a rush to cool down I never thought about “setting it on medium.”
Ah ha…now 30 years later it occurs to me I have been treating my health in the very same way.
I usually start out with an extreme weight loss plan in January. I cut calories and drink a huge amount of water every day. By day three I have given myself some kind of headache diet buzz so I give it up. Then in March I really get serious and join a weight loss program. This means business. By week four I am bored and tired of eating the same foods over and over. Hey, I like to try new recipes, it’s my job!
In June I kick it down and ride my bike like a madwoman. This I enjoy and I see great results. Unfortunately I can only ride until October so in the winter I stop working out and snack on unhealthy yet extremely yummy “comfort foods.”
By January I am right back where I started. See the pattern? On high… then off…on high… then off—I have now decided that I need to set my routine on medium. I vow to eat reasonably healthy, drink an appropriate amount of water and get some type of exercise every day. No I won’t be running a marathon or eating a bag of chocolate chips today …but I will be healthy and happy and “Set it on medium.”
We are what we repeatedly do.
Excellence, therefore, is not an act
but a habit.
Aristotle
Taste of Home columnist Sandy (Anderson) Holthaus lives on a farm in South Haven, MN with her husband, Michael, and their children Zoe, Jack and Ben. Her heart remains on the North Shore where she grew up with her parents, Art and LaVonne Anderson of Schroeder. She enjoys writing about her childhood and mixes memories with delicious helpings of home-style recipes.
Leave a Reply