Don't stop... Believin'!

After talking with my best friend Beth today, it occurred to me that one of the main ingredients in losing weight is believing in yourself.  Without the confidence to know that you can succeed and you can lose weight, how are you really going to make it work?  If you don’t believe in yourself- who else is going to push you to lose the weight and get healthy?

Looking back on my journey over the past 9 months, I truly believe that while I have had supporters on this quest, the one person who believed that I could drop the weight was myself.  It always helps to have someone there during the tough times, but what it ultimately comes down to is YOU.  You are the only person who can control what goes in your mouth.  You are the only person who can get your legs going on the treadmill.

So, ultimately it all comes down to YOU.  So, if you are going to take on this journey of becoming healthy- why doubt yourself?  The second you start doing that is the second you are bound to fail.  Why not have confidence that you can do it?  There is absolutely no reason why someone cannot get fit and healthy.  You don’t even need a gym membership.  Just get moving and watch what you eat.  The guidelines are simple, but don’t sabotage yourself with a negative attitude.

Keep it positive and trust the process that you can and will change.  It isn’t an easy battle, but it sure is a lot better when the person who is changing has confidence in themselves.  So, keep yourself strong on the inside and it will come through on the outside.

Working out- even when I don't want to go to the gym...

I can't lie, I don't always enjoy going to the gym.  Its not always fun - its 5 pm, I'm hungry, cranky and tired.  All I want to do is go home, eat dinner and go to bed.  And, I've done this before in the past and it immediately gets me out of my routine and causes me to make bad choices when it comes to food.  I think everyone knows the feeling I'm describing - you just don't think you have any energy to move one ounce of your body in spin class or the thought of the treadmill just makes you sick.

But you know what?  That's when you have to "discipline your dedication" and just go.  To me, the feeling of guilty and grossness of not working out is a whole lot worse than an excuse of being tired.  I know if I just suck it up and go- even for just 20 minutes, not only will I feel better, I bet I find the energy to get through the rest of my work out.

You have to give yourself your own tough love.  Don't let any excuses come in your way of getting healthy.  There is no reason why you can't find 30 minutes to just walk- no matter how you feel.  Even if you have to go at lunch- if you work out, you will feel better.

As I told my best friend Beth, sometimes you just have to get out of your own way.  So, in my opinion, suck it up and give yourself tough love.  There is not a single excuse good enough for me about skipping a work out (ok - maybe if you are on your death bed or extremely sick- but you get my point :) ).

So, get out of your own way and get going.  No excuses!!!

Emotional Eating

Emotional eating is something I have been wanting to do more research on as it is something I struggle with greatly.  It is particularly a problem when I have something stressful or negative going on in my life, but I also find that I am an eater when I am happy.  The happy eating usually happens when celebrating something positive and I find it is easier to control these cravings than it is with the eating that comes with negative emotions.

For some reason and it is hard to pinpoint exactly when it happened in my life, but when something that was negative or stressed me out entered into my reality, it was an immediate turn to food to help me feel better.  I don't know what it was about the food that made me feel better.  I always picked something extremely unhealthy and normally made myself feel worse instead of better.  But it didn't matter, I still turned to the bad food.  In some weird way, the food was a comfort because I was making the choices about what I ate.  Instead of not having control of the negative part of my life, I did have control over the food, so that somehow made me feel better and gave me power.  Pretty gross isn't it?

I still struggle today with emotional eating.  When I am sad or mad, I still want to turn to food in hopes that it will make me feel better.  It happened the other day actually, something stressed me out and the first thing I did?  I ate an entire box of girl scout cookies- yes, the entire box.  Well, there went all of my extra points for the week!  About an hour later, when I realized what I had done, I couldn’t believe myself.  Seriously- did I need all of those cookies to feel better?  Had it made me feel better?  The ultimate answer – no, I actually felt WORSE.  And the worst part about it all is I can’t even tell you why I couldn’t say no.

Even with happy events, I have a hard time saying no to sweets.  I can’t just eat one or two bites and put it away- if you hand me cake, I’m going to eat the whole slice.  This is something I am working on especially – how to celebrate a positive event without turning straight to unhealthy foods like high fat desserts. 
I will have to admit though, I am proud of myself in one way.  My husband and I went to a wedding shower for a friend this past weekend.  Of course, there was cake and I had saved points to eat it.  Well, I had one bite and honestly, didn’t like it.  So, instead of just eating it for no reason, I threw it away.  It wasn’t good- why waste the calories?

As I work towards continuing a healthy lifestyle, my goal is to try to control my emotional eating and to work towards conquering life’s ups and downs with something other than food.

Tri it... You might like it??

I meet with my triathlon coach tomorrow for the first time.  I am beyond nervous!!  I know I can do it, the problem is getting my nerves under control and honestly, actually going through the process and doing it.

I have been wanting to compete in a Tri for as long as I can remember.  The part that makes most people nervous- the swimming section, is the part I am most confident in.  I have been swimming since I could walk- my first swim meet was when I was 6 years old.  Being in the water gives me a freedom that you cannot experience anywhere else.  It might sound crazy, but I love swimming and being in the water.  It makes me feel strong, powerful and mighty.

The part that scares me is the bike part.  I don't know why it makes me nervous, but it does.  I figure though that with the help of my coach, I can conquer this fear.

I really excited about taking on this challenge.  Something inside me is ready to burst with confidence as I do this.  Now, comes the next three months full of training, hard work and perserverance.

I know I can do this- I'm going to give it a tri!

Self control... do you have it?

Self control.  It is one of the hardest things I’ve ever had to have in my entire life when it came to food.  Why?  Because honestly, I never have had it.  I ate what I wanted, when I wanted.  It didn’t matter if it was good for me or not.  I ate it.  It didn’t honestly matter if I was hungry or not- if it looked good, I ate it.  I was a full fledged member of the clean plate club.  I remember so many meals where I was so stuffed that it was actually painful to sit still in my jeans.  Oh I just wanted to put on stretch pants.  I was so stuffed, I think I actually could have eaten myself sick, if that is possible.

The biggest challenge that comes when you try to live a healthy lifestyle (I hate calling it being on a diet) is ultimately self control.  Not only is it self control to go to the gym, push yourself, etc, you need self control when it comes to food choices.  To start with, the first part is the hardest to simply pick a salad over a juicy cheeseburger.  Then, you have to have control when it comes to every little bit of the salad- down to the dressing!  No matter what choice you make- self control is the biggest asset you can have if you want to make the right changes.  Even if you pick a healthier food, you have to have the control to eat the correct serving portion.  Especially with trigger foods- like cookies or pizza- it is just not easy to eat one.  It’s a lot easier to eat 7 cookies or 5 slices, until you are so stuffed you are sick.  But, if you had only eaten one- how much better would you feel?  How much time will you have to spend to undo the damage of the 5 slices?

Having a strong self control is something I struggle with.  Its why with a lot of items, I just have gone cold turkey with.  Anything sweet, I keep out of my house.  I also limit the junk food that comes in.  It is just way to easy for me to sit down and eat an entire bag of chips without thinking.  Despite having good self control 90 percent of the time, I have found it is just easier to remove the temptations.

Now, there are some situations where your self control is put to the test.  Bread baskets and baskets of chips at Mexican restaurants are two of the biggest challenges I feel there are when it comes to dining out.  They sit there, looming, and it is so hard just not to have one chip or one roll.  But, if you are anything like me, one chip turns into about 40 leaving me feeling awful before I have even started my meal.  I like to make situations like this a test.  Now yes, over time, it has gotten very easy for me to sit down and not eat a chip, but at the beginning, it was really hard.  So, instead of feeling deprived, I looked at it as a challenge to myself.  Can I make it and not eat the chips?  And you know what, I found out it was A LOT easier than I thought and hey- then I actually enjoyed my meal.  Plus, I had the added bonus of feeling stronger because I was able to conquer the challenge.

Self control is not an easy thing to harness in the least.  It is very difficult, especially in certain situations.  My challenge to you is this… see if you can resist the bread basket.  See if you can avoid eating 7 cookies and let me know how you feel once you’ve done it.  I think it will give you more confidence in your ability to be healthy- more than you realize! 

Fit and Fabulous February

Well, it is one month into 2011.  It amazes me how fast time flies!  But one month is in and I can proudly say my New Year’s Resolutions are staying strong.  How are yours holding up?

I have officially gone 31 days now without soda.  My body no longer craves them and I actually feel better and less bloated from the carbonation.  It’s been a pretty easy switch and thank goodness for crystal light!  These little packets are lifesavers when plain water just gets plain boring! 

I also have successfully completed a 5k and look forward to my next 5k and the 8k in May.  To accomplish and stay true to New Year’s Resolutions is something I’ve always struggled with.  But, to be able to keep them- now that is just something that is not only empowering, it is motivating.  It keeps me going to the gym and it keeps me going strong when I just want to give up.  It slowly is building inside of me a greater strength than I ever realized was deep down.

It amazes me how every year about this time, the gym is just empty.  Up to last week, when I would go to the Y, at 5 pm, you couldn’t get to a treadmill or elliptical.  Less than seven days later, the place was empty.  Last night there were only 2 other people in the Y with me.  It just baffles me how quickly people give up.  It’s the same with my WW meetings.  They have been packed every Saturday morning this month, but will become half as full this month.  Why do people just quit?  You had the motivation- why not do everything you can to continue your healthy streak?  Stop with the excuses- everyone has them from being too tired or too busy.  However, honestly, I say it is just an excuse to be lazy.  Anyone can make time for themselves- you just have to stop with the excuses.  This is the only life you have- don’t you want to live it to the fullest and live long?  With obesity rates skyrocketing (Alabama- we are number 2 in the nation for being fat), why in the world would someone be content with just sitting and not doing something to change their lives for the better?

Like I said, I know we all get busy, I know life gets in the way.  But to me, I feel like I’ve made this change to become a better me.  I know what it is like on the other side and I don’t want to go back.  I just wish I could figure out a way to help more people stick with it because ultimately, it is worth it.  It is your life after all.  Can you stick with it?  Can you make this February being fit and fabulous?  Everyone has got drive inside of them- you have to just find it, stop making excuses and do it.  It’s not going to be easy, but it is WORTH IT.  And a favorite quote to end… “If you are interested, you will do whatever is convenient.  If you are COMMITTED, you will do whatever it takes.”  Are you COMMITTED??  I'll see YOU AT THE GYM! :)