Body Clutter Book Review

I posted this on our Lean But Not Mean blog, and thought I would put it here, too.

I am reading Body Clutter by Flylady. I am not sure if all of you know of the Flylady, but she has this whole wonderful philosophy of taking care of your home and your SELF- FLY stands for 'Finally Loving Yourself' and she helps you get free from the burden of clutter and cleaning your home with small BabySteps. I have found it a wonderful part of my life.

I really like the term- Body Clutter. To me, that says it all.

Anyway they have written a book on loving our bodies. I found the intro of the book very moving. A third person (Kelly) helped Flylady and her side kick write it and as she was talking with them, she realized things needed to get deep. For example FL and her cohort were saying how all the diets were out there and 'none worked'. Kelly said- "Yes they do, if you do what they say."

Flylady was speechless. Yes, they do. So it is deeper. Why can't we do' what they say'?

Well, I can't summarize the whole book, as FL got very deep into her life as she and her friend tried to discover 'why' they eat like they do. I found much of it very helpful. This is not a gloss-over book, but one that gets real.

Also, in keeping with her principles, FL talks about how to take BabySteps to get rid of our Body Clutter. Very small steps- do able steps, to help us eat better, move more, love ourselves.

I decided to follow it through (even though all of it didn't relate to me, much of it did) and did the journalling they ask etc. It was helpful as I have eating problems and know I eat when I don't need to. Why do I do this?

For my BabyStep this week, I am working on the habit of not grazing. Many small meals, but afternoon and evening are my worst. So my BabyStep is to plan a snack at 3:30. (don't skip!), then not eat except for dinner. This is a big step for me, as I graze, snack all the time, while cooking for others, etc. So, that is my goal for now.

Make it Fun!
So how can we make moving fun for
us? First, by letting go of our perfectionism and that internal need to compete
with some imaginary foe. Moving is not a battle to the death; it is a habit we
are practicing to help us live long and healthy lives. If we start out tyring to
kill ourselves to get in 'shape' we will not stick with our moving routines. It
becomes too hard. We can't live up to our perfectionism. One way we can make
moving fun is to find something that we like to do: dancing, walking, swimming,
aerobics, yoga, tai chi, gardening, fly-fishing, hiking, etc. If you're not
sure, think back to when you were a child and the activities that you liked to do
then....