As a I check my twitter feed this morning I noticed a tweet from Nike Women that simply read “What are you training for?” — To which I replied, “a better me.”

@infamylives How are you improving yourself today? #mymoment #nikeplus

— NikeWomen (@nikewomen) October 24, 2012

They replied with a question I’ve been asking myself for months now. “How are you improving yourself today?” Honestly, it was hard to come up with something to say. Until I realized that I was overwhelmed by such a question because I wanted to have something grand to say. And I don’t. All I have is today, what I’ve put in my body and what I want to put that body through in order to see results. I have today.

@infamylives One foot in front of the other. Keep pushing and be sure to share a pic of your progress with us. #mymoment #nikeplus

— NikeWomen (@nikewomen) October 24, 2012

This is something I’ve struggled with for most of my life. Not weight gain or weight loss but simply having the discipline to work on my health through proper diet and exercise. I believe I was 10 or 11 when I learned the correct definition of a diet. Since then it has bothered me that it comes with such a negative connotation for most people. It’s a simple word with a simple meaning. Has nothing to do with cutting carbs or counting calories. Your diet is simply what you choose to consume on a daily basis. When you look at it that way I think it becomes a little easier to digest. Pun intended.

With most any other thing in my life applying a “Just Do It” attitude is no problem. It comes naturally. My mother insisted that unless it affected another person directly in a negative way I was not to ask for permission. This was, of course, if I had thought through and was willing to live with the consequences. So for years now I’ve been unable to wrap my brain around why working on my health isn’t something I can just do. Am I concerned? Of course. Do I think I need to get on that already? Damn right! Well why can’t you get off your ass and workout? Put that burger down while you’re at it! I know, I know. Well, no I don’t. I don’t know why I can’t do it other than I don’t have the discipline to stick with it. So then, I’ll start there. I’ll learn some self-discipline.

At the very core of it (the exercise part anyway) is that I don’t enjoy it. Big whoop, right? Join the club. Yes, but I’ve done lots of physical activities in the past that I enjoyed so much I forgot I was getting a workout. Then comes the food. I love food. LOVE food. Yes, yes another club I can join. This, however, is something I’ve found I’m much more disciplined about. So long as I don’t get offered bad stuff I’m okay. For some reason as soon as someone else mentions it I can’t resist. So baby, stop it. Thanks, love you! Now portion control? Yeah, my body rejects this notion completely. So I’m struggling with not constantly being hungry all the time. Which actually means I need to eat more, just more of the good stuff. Bring on the fresh fruit and greek yogurt! One minimal accomplishment is that I’m now a salad eater. It’s dumb but I used to hate them, with a passion. My current range when it comes to salads isn’t even a range (Chicken Ceasar, please!) but it’s a step in the right direction. I actually crave salads the way I (still) crave burgers and fries. So I’ll take it.

So what’s my ultimate goal? I’d say its to fit into that red Zara dress I bought earlier this year without wondering where I left my Spanx. It’s deeper than that though. If you’re reading this thinking “Are you serious? You’re not even fat!” This isn’t about that or the fact that *gulp* at one point this year I didn’t fit into most of my jeans. It’s about being a better me. No settling because I’m doing better than others. Because the fact of the matter is I’m not and even if I was… their progress (or lack thereof) should not affect my own. I want to be happy in the skin I’m in. I want confidence and comfort in my own body. There are a lot of things concerning our health that we cannot help, but even more that we can through proper diet & exercise. I want to control what I can and let the rest of the cards fall where they may.

This was a really hard post to write. Mostly because I’m actually ashamed to admit most of what I just said. However, to get what you’ve never had you’ve got to do what you’ve never done. So here goes, one foot in front of the other.

#justdoit

(p.s. I just realized this almost comes off as a Nike advertisement but it’s not. They simply provided the motivation.)