I have a confession to make, and since this blog is my confessional, what better place to do it, right?
I am a total nerd. Not geek, because geeks are the new "cool". I'm nowhere near cool. I'm a nerd. I was nearly in tears last night because I couldn't go see the 25th Anniversary Star Trek: TNG event in my local theater. Yeah - I'm *that* kind of nerd. I used to play role-playing games with my friends, I love video games, and I'm a huge fan of all things Tolkien. That's why when Steve Kamb of Nerd Fitness posted "A Hobbits Guide to Walking" this morning, I was immediately hooked with the idea. Follow Frodo and Sam on their epic journey to destroy the Ring of Power? Hell yes, where do I sign up?
As you all know, I'm one week into my journey to health. I began with switching to a Paleo/Primal lifestyle. Now, I am going to add walking and a body weight circuit to the journey as well. In other words, what started a week ago as a diet change has truly become a journey. If you're interested in seeing the body weight exercises I'm doing you can find the workout here.
The journey will be difficult, long, and filled with perils. I don't have Black Riders, barrow wights, and the One Ring to contend with. My Black Riders are the many opportunities to "cheat" that present themselves along this journey. I met my first last night when my husband offered me his oil-popped, ranch seasoning covered popcorn. I managed to avoid that one with the help of a large, ice-cold bottle of water and a carrot. Did it taste as good as the popcorn? No. But it was certainly a better choice than heeding the call of my personal Black Rider and slipping on my old One Ring to disappear into that bowl of goodness. Barrow wights are my own negative voices. You know, those thoughts in my head that are constantly screaming at me that I can't do this, begging me to give into the cravings and just do the easy thing and eat that ice cream, buy that chocolate, snitch that Pop-Tart.
That leaves one thing: the One Ring. My One Ring should be obvious. Just as Frodo craves the One Ring, covets it, and even grows to *need* it - I feel that way about certain foods. Chocolate. Processed crap like pizza rolls, jalapeno poppers, and fried Chinese dumplings. I must learn to resist the whispering of these foods. I must do the most difficult thing I've ever done and "destroy" them - eliminate them from my life, as well as all of the cravings, negative thoughts, self-loathing, and self-hatred that they bring up in me. I must resist the whisperings of my inner voices telling me how sweet that extra 45 minutes of sleep will be instead of exercising. We all know that those extra 45 minutes are usually spent laying in bed checking email or Facebook on your phone, stressing about what you have to do that day, or laying there with your eyes closed drowning in guilt because you *didn't* get up.
So today's the day. I'm leaving Bag End. I'm walking into Mordor to destroy this old lifestyle and the power it has held over my life.
