Why Strengthening Our ‘Why’ is the Portal to Weight Loss After 50

Nothing gets me up at zero dark thirty, except for this one thing.

Hello Thrivers!

Have you read the Aunt Bea booklet? It’s important to read her or this blog won’t make much sense. You’ll find her to your right in the box under my circle bio. She’s supposed to land in your email, but sometimes she ends up in spam. If you lost her just let me know: Wendy@TheInspiredEater.com and I’ll shoot her right to you! ♥

Onto our pearls!

Pearl One  

Why and how to deepen your ‘why.’ If we’re not chewing on our ‘why’ several times a day, we’re not strengthening our ‘why’ and receiving the full benefit. We want to be one with our ‘why’ because that is where all the motivation comes from.

For example, I’m not getting up at 5 in the bleeping morning for any reason. I need my sleep without it, I’m a zombie.

Period.

Oh, right, except for that time when I excitedly woke up super early before the kids, packed the minivan with The Scarfer, put our two little Firecrackers into their car seats, and set out for Florida’s Legoland.

You see? I had a strong ‘why’ for getting up when it was still dark.

These days The Firecrackers are 19, and trips without them are my new ‘why.’ (Haha, I kid.)

But my current ‘why’ for staying on the Smart Eating path has changed a bit. Today my overarching ‘why’ is that I want to be as healthy and strong as possible for my future family: the grand dogs, grand kids, The Scarfer, my boys, everyone.

Which is a tough ‘why’ because working for something that happens years in the future isn’t that motivational for me on a day-to-day basis.

So, since my today’s ‘why’ can be a tad nebulous, I add a strong amendment. I don’t have health issues that are made better by sitting on the couch and watching Hulu (sadly), so it’s imperative that I maintain an active lifestyle.

(That’s another thing: what I once called ‘working out,’ I now call ‘an active lifestyle.’)

Recently a Thriver wrote and said, ‘We don’t have to work out, we get to work out.’ I love the distinction. How we think about an activity and what we call it forms the basis for how we engage with the activity.

The Takeaway

Journal-write about your ‘why’ and write long enough that you get down to the nitty-gritty on why your ‘why’ matters so very much to you. Plan to write (or type) for a while before the real gems come spilling out.

Journal-writing about our whys and wants and questions and frustrations is the most inexpensive form of therapy available – and quite possibly the most powerful. ♥

Pearl Two

A good question to ask yourself before diving into food: Is this behavior adding to my Smart Eating habit or subtracting from it?

Take me this morning. I woke up on time, had my fun little breakfast – see Brownies for Breakfast for more info – and all was well in my world. After two hours of writing I made coffee and proceeded to go on the hunt for something cake-ish.

At that, my prefrontal brain took over saying, no, you’ve already had breakfast.

So, then the cave woman in me replied, who would even know? It won’t hurt anything to have a cupcake.

Prefrontal brain: If you eat a cupcake now, you won’t be hungry for lunch. And that’s the deal: you can have what you want for breakfast, but you have to stop by 9 a.m. and be hungry for lunch at noonish.

My cave woman: Big damn deal.

Prefrontal me to cave woman: Ask yourself, is having a cupcake adding to my strong habits or subtracting from them?

Cave woman: Subtracting.

Prefrontal: Try playing with Max – our attention-hound kitty – for ten minutes and then see how you feel.

Ten minutes later: I don’t want to ruin my lunch.

And with that, the prefrontal brain is back at the command center. ♥

Pearl Three

In June, I’m keeping this slot for talking about the poison of perfectionism. It appears to me that while our culture — in public — trounces ‘perfectionism,’ in private it’s a whole nother story. We drive ourselves nuts attempting to be perfect. Because if we worry that if we’re not perfect a catastrophe will descend.

Perfectionism is dangerous because it worms its way into our Smart Eating lives in stealth mode; we don’t even realize what’s happening until perfectionism has become a way of life for us.

And getting a handle on our own perfectionism is no picnic. Our neighbors drive slick cars, perfect people are everywhere on TV and social media; our homes look lovely (as long as nobody goes upstairs) and so on.

I once knew a mom in our kids’ playgroup who wore her one-karat diamond engagement ring with pride. Until another mom moved into her neighborhood with a two-karat. So, guess what one-karat did? Yep, she started appearing with her own two-karat (attempting to be perfect lead her to buy the two-karat).

Given that our culture is oriented to having things and more things and more and more things, it’s no wonder that we’ve fallen into the perfectionism trap. So let’s not be hard on ourselves. The perfect (seeming) world is all we’ve ever known.

Beginning to notice perfectionism appears in your life is the first step to rooting it out. I doubt it’s human to entirely rid oneself of perfectionism altogether. Wouldn’t that be us trying to be perfect in ridding ourselves of being perfect?! lol!

Just start noticing when you’re being particularly hard on yourself and journal-write freestyle about how perfectionism has taken root in your life. ♥

Pearl Four  

Back in the ‘80s and ‘90s ‘the experts’ seemed to work overtime to find fault with coffee; they were trying to figure out which horrific disease or terrible disorder coffee caused.

Each time a new study came out, I held my breath and when nothing came of the latest study thought, phew. Made it through another one.

Fast forward to May 2022, and a study on coffee came out that followed a whopping 171,616 participants (mean age of 55.6 years), and reported phenomenal news.

Among other benefits, regular coffee drinking decreases cardiovascular disease, Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s disease, Type 2 diabetes, and three cancers (colorectal, uterine and liver).

The Mayo Clinic recommends drinking at least two cups a day, adding that four cups – a max. of 400 milligrams – is even better.

Of course, this study isn’t referring to milkshakes bought at Starbucks, this was a ‘black or a teaspoon of sugar in your coffee’ study. (Yes, you read that right. If you like one teaspoon of sugar in your coffee you’re also good-to-go.)

So, that’s a no to Starbucks and a giant yes to home-coffee! ♥

Pearl Five

Be a warrior, not a worrier.” – Elizabeth Archer ♥

Below you will see my first foray into kayaking. Very, very fun.

I highly recommend doing something outside of your wheelhouse.

Have a beautiful journal-writing weekend, everyone!

♥, Wendy

P.S. Are you new to the Inspired Eater? Welcome!! This blog won’t make much sense until you first read the Aunt Bea post (and you’ll find Aunt Bea on this page to the right under my short bio). After you enter your email address, the Aunt Bea article will be sent to your email’s inbox. If it’s not there, you might check the spam folder. And always feel free to email me at Wendy@TheInspiredEater.com and I’ll get Aunt Bea right to you!

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