The Evolution of Me: Winding Road to Wellness

People look at me, at my current lifestyle, and often assume that I’ve always been healthy and active, or that this version of me came naturally or quickly. They say, “You make it look so easy!” Perhaps my real calling was the stage, then, because it hasn’t been easy. My wellness journey, especially the food part, has had so many twists and turns, it looks like something a toddler drew, total chaos. I’ve been completely indifferent, frustrated, confused, given up, and had to start over more times than I like to admit. The truth is that I didn’t just wake up one day and have it all figured out. I still don’t! The changes I’ve made have not been easy. They’ve been slow and have evolved over many years.

In The Beginning

This is just one example to illustrate how my eating has changed: In tech school for the Air Force, I was scared, lonely, and very cold. (I was in Illinois in the dead of winter.) When I’m scared, lonely, and especially when I’m cold. I like to eat. There happened to be a pizza place on base and that became my favorite place. I would go get a pizza after classes and take it to my room to eat it all by my lonesome. Wash it down with two or three Cokes and all was right with the world. I did this more nights than not. Luckily, I was in my early twenties, very active, and didn’t gain weight quite so fast, but I did gain an extra 15 pretty easy. At that point, eating had nothing to do with my health. It was just comfort.

Fast forward to my late 20s and early 30s: I had started to gain weight a little easier, but I was still able to starve myself when I felt like I was gaining too much, and it would drop off fairly quickly. That was the way my diet often went in those days. I credit Weight Watchers with that “trick”. Save calories (points) by starving throughout the week, and come the weekend, it’s Katy Bar the Door. Although I have my issues with WW, I know that many people have found success with them. If it works for you, great. Let’s just leave it at that. I did work out off and on, but it was with little regard for my health. Diet and exercise were only for looks.

Throughout my 20s and 30s, I didn’t realize I was in a constant state of dehydration. Whenever I got the slightest bit sick, I would end up in the hospital with IVs. I drank Coke and tea almost exclusively. There are so many things I can look back on and see that it was caused or worsened by dehydration. That is one reason I’m so adamant about trying to get people to drink more water.

The Evolution Begins

My mid 30s I became very aware of how our health was tied to our lifestyle, specifically eating. Within a short period, five people I knew died from lifestyle choices. They were much too young. It was such a slap in the face for me. I did make drastic changes at that time, at least as far as diet goes. It wasn’t overnight, but I began reading about nutrition and I became a strict vegetarian fairly quickly, convinced it was the only way to go. I also cut out dairy and caffeine. What did I drink? Water! Finally! I was a vegetarian for two years. That became the catalyst for my later interest in health. I started learning more about nutrition and its effects on the body. I learned things that would serve me later, but unfortunately, many of those habits I let go of.

This is what I mean when I say there have been twists and turns, starts and stops in my journey. I slowly came off the vegetarian diet, adding in meat here and there, but still ate fairly well. Then, well, life happened. My marriage was dissolving, and with that came many changes. My diet became alcohol based with a little food thrown in, usually not of the healthy variety. (Still drinking my water, though.) I was running 20-30 miles a week and would have considered myself healthy. But at 39, I was extremely thin, and probably the unhealthiest I had ever been. Ironically, I was constantly told how great I looked. On one hand, I liked the attention; on the other, it made me highly aware of our culture's idolization of skinny. It was very disturbing.

Most of my 40s were a diet roller coaster. Perimenopause came along and demanded a few changes. (As only she can do.) I was really starting to feel the effects of alcohol, and weight gain was getting way too easy. I would eat healthy for some periods and yet still down plenty of chips and salsa when the occasion warranted. Exercise was intermittent. Right at the tail end of that decade is when I started to make significant changes. The changes my body was going through were too much for me to ignore. I began serious weight training. That led to a hard look at my protein intake, which led to more dietary changes.

My 50s have seen the most changes. Over the last 6 years, I completely cut out alcohol. I eat very little highly processed food. Scott and I eat out less and cook in more. I make sure I get plenty of protein, and I still drink plenty of water. My past has set the groundwork for much of this, but I’ve spent the past 6 years tweaking, changing, experimenting, and deciding what works for me. And I will continue to do that as my body and activities change.

So Here We Are

There are numerous examples I could give of tiny changes I’ve made along the way. Changing a huge bowl of nightly ice cream to yogurt. Then changing the yogurt to oatmeal. Instead of a supersized fast-food meal, just getting the burger alone. Now hardly ever eating fast food. Cutting alcohol to the weekends, then out altogether. In fact, there were quite a few things I cut back to just the weekends, then to one night, then completely out. Please don’t get me wrong, there are plenty of things I will still indulge in. Those are just few and far in between. (That bundt cake for my birthday was amazing!)

I have learned (and am still learning) much about nutrition and how it can help or hinder us. The science is constantly evolving, so there is always something new to learn. I’ve also realized several things through the years. There is no one-size-fits-all diet. We are all different and our diets need to reflect that. Remember that when someone is trying to sell you on one particular diet or style of eating. Health is so much more than a number on the scale. Many of us struggle with this. It's hard to get past years of messaging that smaller, and skinnier is better. Consistency is more important than perfection. Doing something imperfectly is better than doing nothing. Even if it’s messy or you don’t have it all figured out. Do what you can and do it consistently.

If I've made it look easy, just know that it wasn’t. So, if you’re struggling, feel like you’re having to start over, or trying to figure out which direction to go next, know that you are not alone. My journey has been far from perfect. Oh, so far! And guess what, yours won’t be either. Change takes time, effort, and it happens with one small choice at a time. Don’t worry about how fast you get there or having it all figured out; just keep moving forward. One step at a time.

Stay well, my friends.

Alicia