Every month, I feel this impulse to set up track-able, measureable goals to get me through the month. A few days ago though, I decided I had had enough with tracking.
I know when I’m eating healthy.
I know when I’m getting enough exercise.
I know when I’m drinking enough water.
I know how to be healthy.
When I first started out, I didn’t know how to do any of these things. Tracking and counting and measuring are what taught me to trust myself and my body. But now, over 4 years into my healthy lifestyle change, I can trust myself that I know what I’m doing. I don’t need to track every little thing to know if I’m on the healthy path or not.
Don’t get me wrong though, I love seeing graphs and charts of my success. I still put a little note on my calendar every time I do a workout. I still take my body measurements and progress pictures. I still like to track my progress (or sometimes lack thereof).
What I’m not going to do is track my food, measure my water glasses, count fitness minutes, etc. Each day, I am just going to make healthy decisions. I will eat foods that make me feel good. I will get some movement in each day. I will drink enough water to stave off headaches and dehydration.
I’m going to do it this way because my health is immeasurable. Sure, I can check my LDL levels, my blood pressure, my body fat percentage, my weight. Those all give me little glimpses into my state of health but they don’t tell the doctor how I live my life each day. Neither do my charts and graphs. They don’t tell me how strong I am, how hard I can run, what I am capable of. If you measured all of these things, you could get a pretty good pictures of a person but that still doesn’t tell you the value they put on their own health.
So that is how I’m going to measure my own health – by how much emphasis and importance I put on it each and every day. Those other things are fun and all to measure but at the end of the day, you just have to ask yourself if you made the best decisions for you. As your healthy-day-tally goes up, all those other “measurements” will just fall in line.
We all know how to be healthy, now we just have to make it happen. Its easier said than done but just keep reminding yourself “I make healthy decisions.” Soon, you’ll start believing it and it won’t be so hard anymore!
You go, girl! You are right, that once you know what you need to do and how to do it, you shouldn’t need to track anymore. I just started tracking my food again to see where my glitches are…funny thing is, I don’t look at the numbers everyday. I will look at them once a week just to see if I am on track. I don’t pay attention to each meal and make sure my Macros are in the “correct” percentages…guess what…for 9/10 days, my macros were just where I wanted them to be!!! Guess I DO know what I am doing intuitively! Isn’t that exciting! I would agree with you, too that when you are starting out, you need to keep track so that you can learn where your mistakes are with your food. Great post!
Exactly! An occasional “check up” is sometimes necessary but once you learn it and get the hang of it all, its not needed all the time. I know how I gained back weight and I know what to do to get healthy again! Now, just gotta make those good decisions!
~Ang
Love this- it’s so important to be in tune with our bodies and trust them!
I just blogged along the same lines of listening to our body. I love stats and numbers but I have learned listening to my body is more important. Great post!
I love graphs and charts too! Seeing progress and “checking” things off is something I love, but a few weeks ago, I decided to chart my food, but to eat when I am hungry, not deprive myself of certain foods, and enjoy life! and move! Playing tennis with andrew for an hour is WAY more fun than an hour at the gym, and him in the daycare gym.