Think long road, big picture.

It's been a month since this Healthier Me journey began and over the past few days this has been my internal conversation:
   Impatient Brain- "It's been a month! Why aren't things happening?! I've been working out 4 to 5 days each week and have been watching what I eat so why am I not wet suit/long board ready yet?"
    Rational Brain- "It's ONLY been a month. I've worked out 4 to 5 days each week and am eating better. Things ARE happening...in small, healthy increments. Have patience, young Padawan, and the reward will eventually be mine."

As much as I want to be farther along in this process, I realize the old expression "Rome wasn't built in a day" holds true here. I knew going into this it was going to be a long process, which is why I gave myself almost a year to accomplish what I want to do. I just need to stay the course and victory will be mine.

So, my goals for the month of September will be:
    1- Continue working out 4 to 5 days each week
    2- Watch my calorie intake daily
    3- Adopt patience as a virtue (or at least become it's foster parent for the next 10 months)

Stress eating, I own you.

So, I faced a few speed bumps this week.....

1- It was the first week back with students at school which is always exhausting. It's hard to readjust to getting up at o'dark thirty every morning and being on the go with little humans all day long.
2- Family drama reared its head. Shocker, I know!
3- Dental appointment resulted in me being told I need TWO crowns, to the tune of $622 each.

Ordinarily, my reaction to the above would be to bury myself in the land of brownies and salt & vinegar kettle potato chips (I'm fairly certain stress eating is the major contributor to my current physical status). But, rather than going over to the darkside, I used the Force (aka my Bestie's words of wisdom) to amp up my will power and avoided all snackage, except for occasional 15 calorie, sugar-free Popsicles.

In addition to thwarting the junk food monkey on my back, I managed to fit in 4 days with workouts as well as make a life changing decision that will *fingers crossed* successfully impact my journey to better health.

All things considered, I'm putting this week in the "Winner Winner, Chicken Dinner" category.

Weekend warrior.

Ok, here's the thing....weekends are sacred sleep time to me. It's the time when I try to spend as much quality time with my pillow and blanket as possible to regain some of the sleep I lose during the workweek. So, for me to literally leave my comfort zone to go to the gym, it's BIG.This weekend I did it not once, but twice! Since I wasn't able to exercise Thursday or Friday, I had to go to the gym this weekend in order to meet my 5 day workout goal for this week. So, despite every fiber of my being whining "I don't wanna go!", I went (and dragged The Bestie along with me). The good news is that I was able to increase my times on the machines as well as the amounts of weight I lifted. Don't get me wrong. I still sweat a river and huff & puffed enough to blow the third pig's house down, but without as much of a struggle as in the previous workouts. I'm taking it as a sign that I've conquered the first hurdle in making working out a routine thing for me.

On the flip side, although I experienced success with my exercising, my diet...not so much. Back-to-back meals with out of town friends were amazing and fun, but they put a crimp in my healthy eating mojo. Bottom line....carbs AND cake(in various shapes) were consumed. But, I'm okay with it. The opportunity to spend time laughing and eating with people I adore far outweighs any guilt I may feel about slipping on my diet goal. As long as I make sure it's not a regular occurrence, in the end that scale number WILL drop.

Goals for this week:
~survive the first week with kiddos back at school (7 am duty days are not my friend)
~at least 4 days of working out
~avoid pre-packaged/processed foods (as well as school cafeteria meals) for lunches

Checks in the win column.

3 days at gym.......................check
2 days at kickboxing class........ check
No junk food consumed...........check
Lower number on the scale.......check

I don't know what I am more excited about this week, staying on task and meeting my fitness/diet goals or finally getting to move on to Book 3 in the Game of Thrones series (both have been equally exhausting, haha).

It feels good to have another successful week on my journey. Next week will be my first major speed bump....going back to work. The new school year begins on Monday which means sleeping late and middle of the day workouts are no longer an option. So, my 5-day workout goal this week now includes establishing an after-work exercise plan. Que The Little Engine That Could...."I think I can. I think I can."

3-word geniuses.

Dear Nike~
        I'm just wondering, is your entire marketing division restricted to using only 3 words or are you just lucky enough for lightning to strike twice?  First, it was "Just Do It." Now, it's "Find Your Greatness." Both powerful. Both effective in helping me maintain my motivation on this journey. Well done.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_hEzW1WRFTg


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LsXRj89cWa0 -(this version made me cry)

Sincerely,
A person who will take all the help she can get to cultivate her mental toughness.

PS: Why can't I buy this slogan on a t-shirt yet?!

I'm a carrot girl.

*No worries, this isn't about the health benefits of those orange vegetables (yuck!)*

As you can tell from my blog entries, I'm one week into this new journey and it's been successful so far. I exercised 4 days this week and significantly improved my eating habits. (Haven't quite mastered stopping the brownie & ice cream cravings I get each night, but at least I'm not acting on them). My plan for this week involves 5 days of working out. Given my current bout of insomnia, I know my exercise motivation will suffer.  In order to increase my odds of being successful, I know I need to start dangling a few carrots in front of myself. First up, meet this week's goal and it's a back-to-school mani/pedi for me on Friday. I mean, all the best teachers have cute toes, right?

Wonder Twin powers...Activate!

Form of.....a Bestie that makes you drag your ass out of bed to go to the gym.

I started going back to cardio kickboxing classes yesterday and this morning I awoke to my arms saying "WTF were you thinking?!?" They felt like weights were attached to them and hurt to move. Couple that with not being able to fall sleep until 5am and you get one very cranky, unmotivated exerciser. I thought to myself, "there's no way I can go to the gym today."

Que Bestie's morning text: "We heading to the gym?" To which my reply was 160 characters of pure whining. She was sympathetic to what I was feeling (her muscles hurt too), but simply typed "C'mon. You can do this. Let's go burn this candle down." And we did. I dragged myself out of bed and met her at the gym where both of us completed our workouts.

Afterward, my muscles were still protesting a bit, but I felt energized. My mind had switched out of whining mode and into "I can do this" mode. I know this won't be the last time I need my motivation jump-started, so I'm very thankful I have a friend on this same journey who's willing to guilt, cajole, or threaten me to press on.