Mantras Matter

The fat chick is goin' down! In the past, this was my chant, my mantra for fitness. The fit chick says it when I let her exercise. Which hasn't been often enough lately because she can barely swing a pom pom.  Without motivation, my willpower seems to be withering and apparently that is what fuels fit chick.  Fat chick on the other hand, well, I mean seriously, if you are reading this, you are well aware of her needs as well as her aggressive tendencies. She is relentless in getting her way.  She behaves like a fit throwing toddler facing the tantalizing rows of candy in the grocery store line.  I've gone against all my natural parental instincts to ignore the begging and just shut her up with a small bites occasionally. But that is never enough! I should know this by now. I am aware of her methods.  She is ruthless in her pursuit of sweets! 

Fit chick has been on a siesta of sorts since I've been traveling for work.  Consistency on the road is tough. Traveling is exhausting in and of itself. Often my body feels that the trek through the airports pushing, pulling and dragging overstuffed luggage is equivalent to hiking Everest in full gear! Ok, that is a slight exaggeration, just a tiny insight into my actual current fitness level.  So, I joined a fitness support group online for accountability and encouragement.  In the beginning it really helped hearing others struggle with similar situations and sharing strategies. Then those diligent members who started on New Year's Day have been posting all their "look what I did!" photos and instead of being inspired by this, I've been hating on it. I'm not proud of this feeling, but it is where I am currently.  

When my fitness support group leader asks, "How are things?" I typically reply, "Good!" which translates to 'I survived a workout session' or "Fine" meaning fat chick rolled over on top of fit chick but we’re handling it! Until one day I decided that I wasn't fooling anyone but myself with these lies so instead of backspacing over the original thoughts that spewed out in my text response, this time I hit the send button.  Here is my honest answer to "how are things?"….

'Things are things….getting caught up in the craziness of work, sucked into the bad food habits of my surroundings which gets my inner fat chick super stoked which then spins my dwindling willpower fit chick into a depressive spiral which fat chick takes full advantage of and eats every fucking sweet treat she can get her chubby hands on! Meanwhile, defeated and depressed fit chick continues to search for strength strategies to combat fat chick cuz she really needs her ass whooped! Other than that, I'm fine!' 

Humor is how I handle most things in life that cause me stress.  It allows me to take a step back, look without so much self criticism and realize that I am human after all. I decided to put both chicks in time out tonight.  At dinner, I chose foods that were healthy yet satisfying. I drank lots of water and took the stairs instead of the elevator as often as possible.  I stretched out with some yoga to release the tension from the day then decided to meditate. This is where I invited both chicks in for a post timeout pep talk. I gave them an abridged version of  the famous Notre Dame coach, Knute Rockne's pre-game pep talk and channelled a little bit of Rudy's spirit in there with this speech....

"Now girls, the success of any team is based on team-play and sacrifice; unselfish sacrifice! These sweets...they say are pretty good; but I think we're better! And I think if we get ourselves keyed up to a point, and when we're confident of that ... why-y-y the results will take care of themselves! Now, I want you to go in there and fight, fight, fight, fight, fight! What do you say, girls!

I say, WE HOLD THE KEY!