Living a life-style

I recently returned from a week’s vacation in Nashville. Had a fabulous time with my husband and meeting up with friends who both live in the area and others who flew in for the day for a concert… yup that’s how it’s done sometimes!

Balancing vacation with a healthy lifestyle sometimes becomes a tightrope. I know many people obsess about how they will “behave” on vacation.. They worry about if they should “stick to their diet”,” go crazy and forget about it”, “go crazy and track it”. Me personally, I do not diet. Rather I live a healthy lifestyle which means listening to my body and sometimes overruling it when the need arises. On vacation it seems overruled is uttered far more often than sustained without regret or remorse. Generally I know one meal a day will be out of the ordinary so I eat other meals to create balance but, sometimes I tip the scale, literally and figuratively.

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I went to a concert, I listened to live local bands, I went hiking and searching for waterfalls, I spent a day on the lay, soaking up the sun, reading and swimming. I ate the fried chicken and the biscuits with sausage gravy. I had the cocktails. During this vacation, several “sides” of me emerged… the healthy hiker girl who packs nutritious snacks and works up a sweat and loves every sparkle that appears on her skin, the always thick-waisted girl (even when I was 98 lbs) who wears a two piece bathing suit that doesn’t cover up the little bit of fluff in my midriff or the stretch marks that remain from childbirth and past yo-yo dieting, the girl who rocks a cowboy hat and lets the music light up her soul.

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Our flight home got canceled and we stressed a bit until we secured an extension in our car and a roof over our head and then we proceeded to make our bonus day amazing. More waterfalls, fishing, fantastic food and a lovely sunset.

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Came home and the scale was up 2lbs from the week before. The next day was exactly 4 weeks from my birthday which will bring me closer to 60 than 50 and for a brief moment I thought.. oh if I blah, blah, blah… I can lose blah, blah, blah by my birthday.

I quickly erased that thought.. this girl is not about that. Nope, I went back to doing what I do and those 2 lbs came off.

The number on the scale does not define me, if I sit and my belly appears, oh well. I can lower the scale a few pounds with a few modifications in my eating choices. Could I “work really hard” to tighten up my abs more, absolutely but honestly that time can be better spent at the moment. Besides, I do not expect to ever look like a magazine cover model, I don’t own an air brush. I am fit, I am comfortable in my skin, I can do all the things. If I had to pick a body part that I was most proud of, I would say it is my heart. Maybe all these hearts I am finding on my hikes and walks is a reminder of that very thing. Live your life, enjoy all the things, find your balance. Namaste.

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