Sunday marked the fifth week that I have been working out. I started my calorie counting on the free fitness app three weeks before that, the beginning of December. Keeping track of my food hasn't been extremely difficult. I just had to make choices that kept me under that number.
As far as food goes, I have been doing my best to make healthier choices, not just lower in calories. I eat what my family eats, or they eat what I eat and cook, I should say. Even though Organic is more costly we have been able to manage to add it back into our daily diets a little at a time. We don't eat out very often anymore and cook more so our food budget is able to accommodate the extra we are spending. The benefits of healthy eating also means less illness.
We used to be a family that ate out often, as often as we could manage. But I have been doing a lot of cooking and even adding new recipes to our favorites list. I make my husband a lunch each night before I go to bed so that he has a healthy meal at work. He used to not eat at work with the excuse that he had no time to eat. I pack him a sandwich, some raw veggies, some chips or peanuts and possibly fruit or cookie. All of those things he can eat on the go if he is too busy to stop for very long. That is my way of making sure he is eating balanced meals and not so hungry when he gets home for dinner.
At the end of the week last week I started feeling really tired and not as motivated. The scales really aren't going down very quickly. In fact they keep going up and down. So my workouts towards the end of the week were very difficult. I did them, but I was in tears by the end because it was so hard to do. Why? Because I was letting my attitude get me down. I took that picture on Thursday before our homeschool group met because I could really tell I was doing some good. Nothing major, just progress. I came home that day and completed my treadmill workout. I had to push myself big time. I didn't want to do it because it was harder. I didn't do as much as I wanted but I did finish strong. That Friday I didn't put all the effort into my workout video that I should have. I was listening to my body whine about it being hard. On Saturday I only did half my treadmill workout. Talk about almost giving up. I still watched what I ate but my mind sure wasn't thinking the way it should have been.
On Monday I finally reached a second weight loss goal. I got under the next five pound mark. That felt great! That was some good motivation. But I still didn't do the whole workout I needed to do. My reason was because I needed to get school started with the kids. I only had a short ten minute video left to do, the one on abs. I need that one badly because my stomach has never really gotten back in shape after all of my pregnancies.
Last night something changed. I read the chapter in Reshaping It All called Don't Feed The Lions. That was an eye opener. It spoke right to me and what I was doing. I was feeding the "lion" and allowing my doubts and fears and weaknesses go through my head as I was working out. Instead of telling myself "You can do this. It is only __ minutes long." I was telling myself "Maybe I will just do this much today because I am really struggling here and I'm tired." If I continue to let my body rule my choices I will never succeed in this journey to change my life for the better.
I am on the new board site (you know the one) and I have a board called "Fitness" I mostly put on there motivational sayings that have to do with weight loss. Today, before I went to workout on my treadmill, I printed off several pictures and quotes and taped them to the garage door. While I am on the treadmill I can see those quotes. I have no problem walking at my fast speed of 3.5. But when it comes to the jogging part that is where I struggle. I have that set at a speed of 4 right now but hope to raise it a little at a time until I am at least at 6. I have intervals of 4 or 5 minutes where I have set aside that time to jog (or run). I struggle because a runner I am not. I know that is how I will burn more calories so that is why it is on my chart instead of just walking the entire time. Today I managed to do
the workout exactly as I wrote it. I was so thrilled. I even ran the entire amount of minutes each time without having to hang on to the bars or slow down to a fast walk for part of it. What helped me? My signs. I read them over and over as I ran. I told myself I could do it. I told myself positive things the entire time I was running.
Another board I have is clothes. I am finding outfits that I would like to create AFTER I have lost all of my excess weight. I plan to loose more than I have before because I plan to have a very tone and muscular body. I lost weight before but I had not worked out so I was not toned at all. I am at a stage right now that I don't really like shopping for clothes because I don't like how I look. Not that I am buying anything now since I won't be able to wear it for long. But at this weight it just isn't any fun to shop for clothes. I can't wait until I get down to a size 6 so I can totally redo my closet and dresser. Oh what fun that will be.
I have renewed motivation and strength to draw from. I will keep adding those motivational quotes as I feel my resolve slipping. I have ten weeks until my 29th wedding anniversary. It is my hope that I will be between ten and twenty pounds down from where I am now. I am hoping to loose 1-2 pounds a week because that is a healthy amount. I know it will stay off better if it comes off slower. The workouts I am doing keep things changing up so it is also my hope that I will not reach very many spots where things are at a standstill.
Changing my life, one day at a time.
