Each new year we make re-newed commitments to improve our lives. We promise to get better organized to exercise more to eat less or to at least eat more healthy. The challenge is not making the commitment but rather keeping it. I have so much admiration for those who are able to make the changes in their lives and to stay committed.
Well it is a new year and I along with many other am making a commitment to live better in 2009. In fact as a family we are adopting a theme for "09" and it is: "Living lean Loving Large". That theme encompasses not only the idea of a healthier diet but also spending habits, giving habits, volunteering and character.
Years ago, I went to the airport to pick up a guest speaker, a man I had admired, a person of high character with a brilliant mind. As we left the airport the sun went behind clouds as the summer rain prepared to pour on us. I removed my sunglasses and placed them on the dash board. Each time we made a turn my sunglasses would shift and fall on the floorboard. I would pick them up, continuing to talk with my passenger, and put them back on the dash board. After about the third time of this my passenger interrupted me to ask: "Do you know what the definition of insanity is"? "No", I replied. "Doing the same thing and expecting different results", he responded.
He took my sun glasses and placed them in the glove box and we laughed and continued on our way. How true it is that we make commitments but continue old habits and that makes it extremely difficult even impossible to keep our commitment. Weight loss is really simple when you look at it objectively: We lose weight by eating less and exercising more. The problem is that when it is ME eating less it is impossible to be objective. Ha.
Our Family Plan for: LIVING LEAN AND LOVING LARGE
1. CUT OUT EATING OUT. First of all it is a very expensive habit even if you just get burgers or pizza. Second we are tempted to eat poorly. We stay very busy as a family as most of you do. Often we are not even home at the same time for a sit down meal. This makes eating out very attractive. We can all meet at a set location and someone else does the preparation. It has become a bad habit for us. The other thing about eating out is that we eat way too much and usually include dessert. Eating out will go back to special occasions for us.
2. VOLUNTEER: idol time for us often makes its way to the kitchen. There are few times, in our week where we have large segments of un-spoken for time. Loving large is going to be lived out in these moments primarily though volunteering. I have already signed up in our community with "Communities in Schools" and their Tech Tot program. In addition to this I am volunteering at my local church in a number of capacities. We have told the kids to give us a list of where and how they will be volunteering this year by next Monday.
3. EXERCISE DAILY: Each day holds it share of challenges unknown to us. That is what makes it difficult to keep a daily routine. A 30 to 45 minute daily exercise program is what most experts recommend. We are asking each family member to do this, but qualifying with: At least do something each day. 10 to 15 minutes is better than nothing at all. We have bikes, a key to our community gym and some wonderful walking paths. We even own a treadmill so we really have no excuse.
4. LOG WHAT YOU EAT: This sounds like a pain but it is only for a short period of time. For 30 days we all have a little pocket notebook that we are to log what we put into our mouths for 30 days. The hope is that this will spur some critical thinking each time we open the pantry or the refrigerator. For 30 days every bite we eat will be logged. This too will start on Monday. Often what I think I have eaten over the course of the day and what I have actually eaten are two different things, the log will reveal it. Each Sunday we will review our logs in a family meeting and see what we can do to improve eating habits.
5. GIVE, GIVE, GIVE: Our family has been taught over the years that giving involves: 1. Our Time. 2. Our Talent 3. Our Treasure ( or money). We have learned that it is easier for us to give when you have abundance. With the change in times over 2008 abundance turned to scarcity at times. We are reinforcing the importance of core principal of generosity: not equal giving but equal sacrifice. We may not have as much to give away but what we do have we are only stewards of and we should not get to attached to it. Living life with an attitude of gratitude brings everything into proper perspective. We focus on what we Have and not what we do not have. As a family we are setting goals in all three areas this year of giving.
-How much Time
-How much of our Talent
-How much of our Treasure
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