5 Lessons I Learned While Getting Healthy

The last time I posted a blog was at the end of January. That is sad, but is pretty indicative of how much has been going on in my life since then. When I posted that blog, AudacityChurch.tv (the church that I love, am on staff at, and have been honored to help launch) was averaging about 50 people a week at our Worship Services. Last week we saw 113 people walk through the doors! Holy Crap. God is good.

Since that last post I have lost almost 30 pounds, renewed my focus on being a healthy person, and experienced tremendous joy in my marriage because of it. At the start of the year my wife (you can follow her on twitter @tricia_erickson) and I decided that we were getting fat, lazy, unhealthy, and stressed and we did NOT like it. We began a journey that has resulted in an overhaul of our eating habits, workout planning, and general outlook on life. Together we have lost nearly 50 pounds and are VERY pumped up about it. This is not a weight loss blog. This is not a post about why you should stop being fat. This is me telling you that your health is pretty much indicative or you priorities. If you value your health, you will make time to be healthy. If you put other things in front of being healthy, you will more often than not be unhealthy. The following is a list of things I have learned in the past 6 months:

1. Eating right is as simple as PLANNING to eat right! - If you have crappy food in your home, you will eat crappy food. Plan good meals that are balanced and then eat what you plan to eat. You can't stuff your face with cookies everyday if you never have access to cookies. When guest come over and bring desert, we will often have a very small portion and then INSIST that they take it home with them. DON"T LEAVE CRAPPY FOOD IN YO HOUSE!
2. Body composition is a measure of nutrition NOT a measure of fitness. - This one sounds complicated but is not. If you are fat, it is more often than not, because your diet sucks and not because you don't work out. We do not get fat because we don't go to the gym. We get fat because we eat poorly. Does going to the gym help? Yes (provided that you actually work out when you are there!) However, your love handles will be removed in the kitchen and not in the gym. Something to think about.
3. Couples that fight together, have fun together! - My wife and I have had SO MUCH FUN learning about fitness together. When we spend time encouraging one another in the gym and practicing a healthy eating habit together and cheer one another on when we hit weight loss goals, we grow together as friends! So, if your spouse is trying to get fit, JOIN THEM! Don't JUST cheer them on, support them by doing it with them. It is an amazing way to strengthen  (pun intended) your relationship.
4. Find something that can work for you! - If you want to get healthy and fit and loss weight, you had BETTER be doing it for the long haul. Short term diets are dumb. You need to be healthy ALL the time, not just for a few months at a time. Stop trying to use diets that are not sustainable. Pick a way of eating that is sustainable for life. Figure out how to make it work for you and then DO IT. My wife and I chose to use Crossfit.com for our workouts and we LOVE it! We use the ZonePerfect.com nutritional eating system which balances our diet nicely and is pretty easy to do on a busy schedule. Bottom line is this: Figure out what works for you, that you can enjoy doing, and get after it.
5. Make health a priority. - As a general rule, you will be as busy as you allow yourself to be. Never get so busy that you stop taking care of yourself. If you are not able to stay healthy and you get fat, get obesity related health issues, and lose the ability to do fun things with your kids, you have thrown away a gift that God gave you. Some of us have health issues TOTALLY unrelated to fitness or diet. I myself have blown out both of my knees and no amount of dieting could have prevented early onset arthritis. However, if you are unhealthy as a result of poor dieting and not taking care of your body, then shame on you. Get it right. Stop being a glutton, put down the fork, pick up some weights or something and GET AFTER IT. Make time for being healthy because it is important. At one point I would push my fitness time to the side to make room for meetings and such and I think that was wrong. If I do not stay fit physically, mentally, and spiritually, how can I ask others to do it?

Thanks so much for reading my blog. I am learning a lot these days and I would like to keep posting the things life is teaching me. However, I learn a lot from all of you as well. I would like to know:

1. What is your favorite way to stay active?
2. Do you agree or disagree that health should be a priority over most other things? Why or why not?

Please answer in the comments below! Follow me on Twitter at @JericksonD