Do you want to be the catterpillar or the butterfly?

One of my favorite quotes is “Just when the caterpillar thought the world was over, it became a butterfly”  That is exactly how I feel about my fitness journey.  I, like a lot of women, have dieted and worked out (or attempted to) for most of my adult life.  And like a lot of other women, I have not had too much success.

So why was this going to be any different?  Have you ever heard the expression, “if you want different results, you have to try different things”?  If I was doing the same things I always did, why should I expect my results to be any different then they always were? And surprise surprise, they weren’t different at all.  In fact, except for very moderate weight loss, there were no results to speak of after almost 18 months.  So clearly something had to change.  My doctor agreed, he said that I had to exercise more.  WELL. . .I am the least active person you could ever hope to meet, so the level of exercise I was doing was far and above anything I ever did before.  But it wasn’t enough.  According to my doctor, if I could talk on the phone while on my treadmill, I wasn’t working hard enough.  This gave me some food for thought.  I realize now, I was still a caterpillar.

The problem was I was doing all the things I thought I SHOULD be doing but not doing anything that was really going to change me.  So I started reading, I started watching and I started really working out.  I mean really really working out, the kind of workouts where I had to practically crawl up the stairs and have my husband or daughter dry my hair because I couldn’t hold my hair dryer above my head. I learned the difference between dieting and clean eating (I don’t use the word diet anymore; in fact, I HATE that word).  And with these realizations started to emerge the butterfly.  
I was starting to shed the cocoon I had come to live in (BTW the cocoon weighed about 52 pounds). And I stood taller (and I am already 5’7), I walked prouder.  I know I carry myself differently.  The caterpillar crawls around, trying to be inconspicuous.  The butterfly flies high, wanting everyone to see her.  

Now, my world wasn’t over, I would have merrily continued on my life journey, but a caterpillar doesn’t know it’s a butterfly until it actually becomes one.  I didn’t know I was a butterfly; I was a fairly content little caterpillar.  What I know now is that my butterfly was always there just waiting for me to set her free.  And I know there is a butterfly in every one of you, the choice is yours, will you carry on as the caterpillar or will you set free your butterfly?