2012: The year to be heathy and happy!

The New Year brings many changes to the Cooking With Pat Blog. 2012 sparks a healthy new lifestyle for Cooking With Pat and hopefully for many of the Cooking With Pat followers.

Staying in shape and being healthy is very important. As much as I like food, I know that I would like to lose weight not just because I wanted to look good, but because looking good leads to feeling good and when you feel good you make more important healthier choices in the foods that you eat.

I know that it is hard to put down the donut and pick up an apple.  I for one have a major sweet tooth and really love to just snack all day. But I have children and I want them to see mommy and daddy eating properly. Hopefully they will make the right choices for the rest of their lives.

I have been known to say that I would rather eat what I wanted then be miserable in a diet. I knew that I would just gain all the weight back.  So I refused to diet. Then I realized that I didn’t have to diet. Diets end and that was one reason why I gained all my weight back. 

I knew that if I wanted to lose weight and keep it off I had to not diet, but make a lifestyle change.  This had to be something that I could do and it had to be permanent.  It had to be something that I would make me feel good about myself and not make me miserable.

I decided that I would eat healthier and try to get in at least 30 minutes a day of activity, like walking around the block or on the treadmill.  I knew that I also needed to incorporate some weight lifting and yoga to tone my body.  At first I didn’t see any weight come off and I was a little discouraged. However, I knew that I still felt good being more active and I noticed that I had more energy.

It doesn’t take much to be healthy and to do what’s right for your body.  Trust me, I am no extremist.  I do occasionally give in some days and have ice cream and on Holidays, I might pig out a little (hey, I’m only human. Yet, the next day I get right back on that treadmill and continue my healthy lifestyle.

Make that choice for yourself.  It is so easy to eat right and get in 20-30 minutes a day of cardio activity.  You can chose to go bike riding or you can just work out in the comfort of your own home.

Join Cooking With Pat in 2012 and make this year a healthy one!