Day Eight, Nine and Ten

It has been a busy few days. I sat down a couple of times attempting to catch up here and just couldn’t get the words right. But let me tell you, what a way to start out the first day of week two! I stepped on the scale in the morning and I have lost another 1.4 pounds! I only have 1.1 left to go to meet my very first goal. I talked before about having small goals to reach for throughout my journey and I have almost hit my first one. It’s so exciting when I am oh so close! It makes me want to work that much harder just to get there. I decided to treat myself and enjoy that delicious chocolate bar my hunni gave me; however, I still stayed under my calorie goal for the day. In addition to that, I worked out both in the morning and again that night.

Rest days are important as well. You need to give your body time to recover as you rebuild your muscles.  I decided to have day nine be my rest day. I had a nice night of dinner for two and catching up on the Walking Dead with my boyfriend so it just made sense to use that day as one where I took it easy. I made sure to stay on track throughout the day, eat right and track everything. I find on my rest days I am more determined to make sure I eat right because I am not burning the extra calories.

Here we are on day ten. I’ve been having conversations with a number of my friends and family about my journey and I am so lucky. I have so many people who love me just as I am but support me in this amazing life change. Having all of that support also got me thinking about when I was struggling to get started, struggling to get moving. I wanted so badly to have the drive I do now and each time I decided to sit on my couch instead of getting up and getting moving I got even more down on myself. We don’t truly understand the struggles of those around us and how much our words affect them. Something as simple as telling someone they look amazing can lift their mood and change their outlook on the day. In the same respect hurtful words can bring someone to an even lower point than you thought they could ever be at. Each person deals with their personal battles differently and when you have someone in your life that is struggling all I ask is that you make sure that no matter how low they feel, you are there for them. Let them know they are not alone and that this struggle is merely temporary.

I struggled tonight to workout. I got my boys to bed and felt like I could just curl up in bed with a good book or a nice movie and I almost did. Imagine for a moment the movies where an angel is on one shoulder and a devil is on the other battling for the win over your decision. That is how I feel any time I start to struggle to stay on track. I have an argument that goes on completely inside my head. There are two people in there, a cheerleader that says over and over again that I can do this, just get changed and get moving. Then there’s the hardass that says things like, “Move it you lazy bum!” Both of which help to keep me moving when all I want to do is snuggle into a soft pillow and warm blanket.

Moving into the colder winter months is one of the hardest times to make this life change. We have fewer options to get moving and more motivation to snuggle into a loved one with a warm blanket. If you’re like me, a gym isn’t really an option because I don’t live very close to one and I don’t want to sacrifice any of the time I currently have with my children to workout. Being able to workout with them here in my home is something that we all enjoy and I am not losing any quality time. When everything seems to be working against you, you have to make the choice. I have been making the choice each and every day to work hard and become a happier, healthier, and more active me. It’s not always an easy push but I always feel better once I have convinced myself to stay on track with my eating and workout hard. It feels like even more of a success when I know I have had to push myself even harder just to stay on track, because I still did it. If you can build your motivation up now, in the middle of November, and keep it going throughout cold, relentless months of winter, you can reach your goals without fail.