Celebrate the small things!

Here's to another week down! I'm coming up on a month since my weight loss journey has started and I feel great! I'm noticing that I have more energy during the day and I just feel all around healthier. I weighed in this morning and I am 11lbs down!! That means I have lost 5% of my body weight so far!

I've realized that throughout this I have to be sure and celebrate the small accomplishments. Like, loosing 5% of my body weight, or my rings fitting better that dug into my fingers before. One of my best friends refers to the skin between his bottom knuckle and his hand, where your rings sit, his finger bellies. :o) Mine are finally shrinking! I still have one more ring, that fits snuggly but hopefully by Thanksgiving it'll fit perfectly-just in time to see the person who gave it to me, my Granny. :o)

Throughout this past week I worked out everyday that I wanted to except one. I did great on Monday, Wednesday, and Friday but on Tuesday and Thursday I struggled. It's so easy for me to get out of class and go home eat dinner and watch tv, instead of getting up and working out. Since Tuesdays and Thursdays are my late days it's even harder for me to get motivated on those days. There in lies my struggle as of now. I need to find a way to just do it, no excuses, just do it and I know I wouldn't regret it. On the days that you make every excuse not to workout are the days that you really should just set all of that aside and do it, because climbing those mountains show that you have really changed and improved and you are becoming stronger in your fight to a healthier person. You will never regret working out. My co-worker Teresa reminded me that every time before that I tried becoming a healthier person, I had the most random excuses for not working out or wanting to eat better, like I had been stressed with school, or I'd start tomorrow, or I was too tired! Now I say, when I'm stressed workout, when I'm tired workout out and there is no option to start tomorrow!

One of my biggest accomplishments this week has been being sore! I know that sounds strange, but to me that means that I'm working hard enough to make a difference. When it hurts you have to keep going-I heard a quote the other day that said, "Pain is weakness leaving the body." I think that definitely applies and for me when I feel like I can't do it anymore, usually I'm too tired, I just fight harder and finish strong. Another accomplishment has been knowing when to stop or making healthier food choices. I don't go back for seconds anymore and when I eat something that is a "healthier option" I make sure and really check the label. This week I ate off the Fresco Menu from Taco Bell, as most of you know Taco Bell is my addiction so to be able to actually choose the Fresco Menu was a tiny accomplishment in and of itself! I had the fresco menu in diets before but I never looked closely at each item and its nutrition label. I just thought, "whatver it's healthier than what I got before". Which is true but that is also probably why I didn't have much luck loosing weight before because I would get the same amount of food just the fresco menu. Bad Idea! The fresco bean burrito has 350 calories and over 900 mg of sodium! Which calorie wise isn't terrible but when you get one of those and 2 soft tacos that's bad news bears. So instead I chose 2 of the chicken soft tacos which are 150 calories each and two of those equal the same amount of sodium for one of the fresco bean burritos which isn't great but for a little cheat treat it's A LOT better. My wellness coach would be proud that I chose the Fresco Menu :o) - even though I didn't check in on FB when I went like he said to, sorry Daniel! (Just another way that my coach is awesome! And another way for him to keep me accountable!)

This week has come with accomplishments and struggles but the whole point of this is to again, celebrate the small things and work harder to conquer those struggles in the weeks ahead!

My goal for this week is to find a way to conquer those Tuesday and Thursday nights and in some way make those workouts just as good as the other ones. No excuses!

My obession this week:

~WATER! I haven't been drinking as much water as I should but it's time to step it up! According to lifehack.org water can flush the toxins in your body which in turn helps beautify your complextion and can also assist in burning more fat and building more muscle! Yes please!

You have to start somewhere if you are going to get anywhere..

In the summer of 2010 I started training for a half marathon. I was able to train for about 3 months before a hip injury knocked me down for the count. Up to this point I was doing amazing with my diet and exercise and had managed to loose 18 lbs. After the injury I couldn't train anymore and because I developed a love and devotion to running I became slightly depressed in not being able to do that any longer. I was told that I could cross-train to build up whatever I had injured in my hip, but unfortunately I lost all motivation. I rested for about a month here and there. The injury wouldn't bother me at first but eventually would come back with a vengeance everytime, after about a week of running again. I refused to go to the doctor thinking that it would just get better on its own.

Over a year later I still had not gotten back to running or any physical activity for that matter. I gained back everything that I lost plus some and was still upset about not being able to run. I had every oppurtunity available to me to get healthy again. I was given incentive by my parents, had 3 different gyms available for me to use-one being at my own apt-I had encouraging coworkers, friends and family-many of which offered to workout with me and keep me accountable. I was even in the wellness program at work-with a super encouraging coach! So what was my problem?
What exactly was the cause of me not being able to find my motivation or drive? I even had a friend that was training virtually with me for the half marathon-he came, he ran and he conquered! He looks great now and I fell off the band wagon along time ago!

I was unhappy with the way I had let myself become and not taking the initiative to get healthy.
I kept telling myself everyday, that I would start tomorrow. Days past and still nothing-until I went to visit my family in Mississippi. I hadn't been to visit them in almost two years. I had seen most of them since then, when they would come up here but there were a few family members that i hadn't seen since my last time in Mississippi. I know my family loves me and that they would never think badly of me because I had gained weight but I couldn't help but be self-conscious. I decided then that this was it, I was no longer going to feel that way-there would continue to be times ahead of me when I would see people that I hadn't seen in years and I refused to feel self-conscious about how I looked anymore. So I made a bet with one of my cousins. We both wanted to get healthy and loose weight so we decided that whoever could loose the most weight by Christmas would win $50 from the loser. It doesn't sound like much but it was enough to get us both started.

We started that on October 1st and since then things have been going well! I have had a few cheat meals here and there but I can feel that this time is going to be different. I always do better when I am competing with someone and so far so good. I even went to a sports injury doctor a few weeks back and started physical therapy for my hip injury, they aren't sure what is causing the pain, but if physical therapy and cross-training don't work the doctor suggested an MRI. I still can't run but going to the doctor was the first step to recovery, which is a step that I was too lazy to take before!

So each week I'll write my new finds, experiences and goals after I weigh in every Saturday. At the end of all of this I will reveal what my starting weight was and what my ending weight is. It won't end in December either, that's just when our competition is up and I'm sure a new one starts. Hopefully by next summer I will be exactly where I want to be.

More than not wanting to feel bad about myself when I see family and friends that I haven't seen in awhile anymore, it's about doing this for myself. The only way that I will succeed is to make the decision that I am the only one who can make myself eat better and exercise. My tookus is only going to shrink because I make myself get on that elliptical! So this is it...it's been almost a month now that this has been going and I can't wait to see how both my cousin and I look at the end of all of this.

This morning I weighed myself and I am down 9lbs since October 1st. It should be more than that, but my biggest struggle so far has been making myself workout. Once I can commit to that then I know I will see better results. For my goal this week, I will make it to the gym 6/7 days. I will work hard and I will win this competition!

In doing this, this time around and for the last time, I am thankful to still have my friend who was training with me for the half marathon to keep me accountable, encouraging family, friends and coworkers, incentive, an amazing wellness coach, gym memberships and access to healthy food...so...let's do this!

My strategy:

~Eat no more than 1500 calories a day. I won't count raw fruits and veggies as calories because they are so good for you and some of them have negative calories, which means it burns more calories to eat and digest them than they actually have.

~Working out 5-6 times a week. Including: 45-60 minutes of cardio and 30-45 minutes of strength training.

My obsessions this week:

~Bigelow's Peach Herbal Tea! Herbal and green teas are amazingly good for you in so many ways, they are super yummy and no calories!

~The elliptical! I burned 781 calories in one 45 min session! Yes, please!