Ok, I’m not a Trekkie.
I did see Star Trek this weekend with Lisa. but that’s not what inspired tonight’s post.
We had the honor of being asked by Paula Renfro of Alive to speak as a family about our fitness in an interview tonight.
It’s hard to believe that when I look back at the chubby frumpy family we were just over a year ago.
I never really looked at us as being unhealthy.
We ordered pizzas about as much as our friends, ate a fair amount of vegetables, and tried to exercise two or three days a week.
Sure the bread bowl was often refilled a couple of times when we’d go to restaurants, but it was healthy low carb bread like sourdough and pumpernickel, so no way it was doing any real damage.
Sometimes we’d reward ourselves after an hour long walk on the treadmill, a two hour work out at the gym, or a day of yardwork, by getting a box of donuts, or maybe getting the refill at the movie theater of the popcorn.
But that hardly qualified us as being unhealthy.
That’s the way I used to think.
Up until March of 2012, when Lisa started with a personal trainer at a gym called Alive.
I wasn’t crazy about the idea at all.
The idea of some young trainer name Matt with my wife, examining her every curve on a daily basis was unsettling.
Once again, someone else would be helping my wife to make another major change in her life.
It was infertility all over again, and some of those insecurities popped up at first as I heard about this trainer every day.
At least it didn’t involve her being naked from the waist down with an ultrasound wand nearby.
I was just skeptical after seeing Lisa try to lose weight for ten years this would be any different.
And I certainly didn’t think that I would benefit.
Or that Elliana would benefit.
Once I got past my initial resistance, I decided to join Lisa.
The idea of giving up the bread bowl, trashing everything in a box in the pantry, and not getting take out anymore was tough.
But I also didn’t like the way I was feeling.
At forty-five years old, I was having too many health issues.
Fatigue in the afternoon.
Bowel and stomach problems all the time.
Difficulty getting up before 11am on the weekends.
Around month three of training, Lisa’s Grandma died.
She’d had heart problems for most of her life, and I knew it scared Lisa to feel like she was on the same track as her Grandma healthwise. Lisa had doctors all but guarantee her that her genetics were hardwired to eventually succumb to diabets and heart disease. It was a chain that couldn’t be broken.
Apparently, my wife is a chain breaker.
Not long after her Grandma’s funeral, Lisa was off the blood pressure meds.
She’s been off of the meds now over a year.
I don’t feel fatigued anymore. Except if I go more than one day of rest from working out.
No more bowel problems or stomach problems.
Then there is Elliana.
It broke my heart every time she said “I’m fat” when she was around her friends at dance.
We just didn’t see it, but then again, we weren’t even taking an honest look at ourselves.
How could we really see what was happening to our daughter, if we were pounding down the bowls of cereal before bed, or grazing on chips and granola bars when we weren’t even really hungry?
We were on a track to shorten our lives, because of food and a lack of exercise.
When I think of how truly selfish that was, I shudder.
We have one child.
We had her late in life.
Why wouldn’t we do everything possible to ensure a long healthy life so we can watch her grow up and do all the amazing things we know she is going to do.
But not just watch her from a walker.
Watch her as we walk next her, or run next to her, or run next to her kids at the park.
It even goes beyond that.
I don’t want Elliana to be a part of a generation of kids that may not outlive their parents.
That chain has been broken.
Elliana is confident in her looks.
She even fears going back to eating the way we used to, because ‘she likes the way she looks.’
That’s when it struck me–Elliana has this harder than Lisa or I do.
Paula asked her “Do any of your friends eat the way you do?”
Elliana politely shook her head, and with a little bid of sadness in her voice said “no.”
I realized in the moment that Lisa and I have become the ONLY example she has for clean eating and exercise.
We will continue to be an example for Elliana so she never feels like an outcast, simply because she wants to avoid junk food, and get more exercise.
Just like we had a passion to bring Elliana into this world, we have a passion to be here in the best possible shape so we can enjoy going on life’s adventures with her as she grows older.
Paula asked us how we would sum up why it is we made this change.
I would say, it’s because we have a passion to live long and prosper.
Not just individually, but as a family.
The passion will never go away, as long as we have this love and vision for a long, healthy future together.