You Are Not Broken

As someone who struggles with weight, I have always just thought of myself as someone with a slow metabolism who will either have to be overweight their entire life or give up delicious food forever in order to be thin. I know I could be more active right now, but with my schedule it is pretty much impossible. And even if I ran everyday like I used to, I would never be able to outrun what I can eat, I love to eat and feel full. When that eating included trips to Whataburger where I could down two burgers, chicken strips dunked in sauce, a large onion ring, and a large milkshake all in one sitting, there is no amount of working out in the day that can counteract that. Diet, what you eat is the single most important factor in being healthy. As Ray Cronise puts it, your body is like a bank, your caloric intake in a day go into an account waiting to be withdrawn, if you do nothing else than consume less that your body will burn naturally, you will lose weight. This is not a daily thing, you need to focus on the long term, it’s about stacking healthy day after healthy day in order to see the results. And forgiving yourself for not being perfect. Katie and I were TOTALLY off plan last week for vacation, it was amazing, but I gained 14 pounds in that week. For context that’s not real weight gain because of the extra salt intake there is some definite water retention mixed in with that number, so maybe 10 actual pounds gained. But after just three days of clean eating I am back down 6 pounds. If you are like me you spent years blaming slow metabolism, but that isn’t the problem, I just eat too much. That’s what I love about plant based whole food eating, I get to eat physically as much as I want, and still lose weight, you are never going to eat too many calories of spinach in a day than you are going to burn. Our mindsets are what are broken, our connection to food is what we all need to fix. And if I have a bad meal here and there, I just remember that I can forgo the next few meals, my body's savings account of fat has plenty of calories to dispense when I need it.

-Matt