Team Sports

I am not a natural athlete, I'm not an athlete at all. Hold on, maybe I am and I never gave myself a fair shot at it. What makes an athlete? I can run - I am working on my endurance right now and I started at 5 1/2 minutes. I know, not a long time, but I am just starting. I can't do 10K right off the bat! But I lift weights, do classes, play soccer recreationally, soon to be league, I love to play badminton and tennis and I love to swim. So, am I an athlete? I love being active, I love being involved in sports and I am starting to think that I may be an athlete after all. I think that for so long I thought I wasn't an athlete and that just kind of stuck with me. But maybe it stuck because I never tried anything, or stuck with anything long enough to enjoy the athletic aspect of it.

My point is that I have started to play soccer, and for once in my life, I feel athletic. I never knew that team sports could make you feel so good and work me out harder than I have ever worked before. I think that so many people try to lose weight by themselves, I know I did. We think we are pushing ourselves so hard and that we are doing the best we can. Turns out, I wasn't. One 2 hour practice was harder than anything I've ever done before. And that is compared to taking an hour long class and then running or going on the elliptical for 30 minutes. I had to be accountable to other people for once and I worked harder knowing that they were counting on me to do so. So that's my new weight loss strategy, I am going to train myself to keep up with these other athletes. One day I might even be able to say that I am truly an athlete myself.

The Eat Clean Diet by Tosca Reno

I've just picked up this book and another by the same author, The Eat Clean Diet for Family and Kids. I have just started to read them and they are making a whole lot of sense so far. It's not rocket science, it's all about eating clean, meaning natural foods. Nothing processed, which, as far as I'm concerned, processed foods are the devils work and will wreak havoc on your body. So why do we eat them? Well in one word, a lot of those foods are YUMMY! Chocolate bars, french fries, fast food, do I need to go on? It's a really simple idea, eat foods that are just what they are, fruit, veggies, meat, whole grains.
I'm not an expert on this..yet, but when I know more, I will post that too. It just seems like a really good thing to do. Put good fuel into your body and I think good things will happen. Put crap in your body and you'll look and feel like crap. I am tired of looking and feeling like crap. My skin won't clear, I have trouble losing weight and I am so bloody tired ALL the time. There doesn't seem to be anything medically wrong with me, so let's see how I feel once I start eating better. I've been trying really hard to eat better, and because it's a work in progress, it's a slow process. You can't just change everything overnight. Well you could, but the chances of it sticking are slim to none. So I start with breakfast, then lunch and go from there. Some days I remember to eat just fruit and veg for snacks, and even that helps. Both books have lots of recipes and after the kids go back to school, I'll let you know what I've tried and liked.