Thursday, August 30, 2012

Restless

Restless is actually an understatement.

I've been so cranky about not working out. It's my last few days of holiday before the academic year will begin. I envisioned myself working out, going for swims, and doing nothing but healthy, active stuff before the craziness of lesson planning, teaching, advising, and marking began ... blah. This sucks.

So nothing too exciting going on over here. I'm just taking the time to get organized - working on my menus, especially as the Whole Life Challenge approaches, my schedule for both work and my workouts, and of course straightening up my house.

Lots of de-cluttering going on here and it feels great. Part of it has also been to de-clutter my bookmarked blogs. I've got 4 tabs with different blog lists. My first list of blogs hadn't been checked for a while so I decided to go back to that list and see what was up. Out of the 50 blogs listed, within this past year 4 had been deleted, 22 had gained weight (8 of who had gained over 50 lbs), and 10 had not blogged in the past 3 months, 8 were at about the same weight doing nothing new, and 6 had been steadily losing weight.

Focusing on the ones who had gained weight would be useless and uninspiring. Words like too difficult, impossible, too busy, not enough money kept popping up. I decided to delete those. Actually, I deleted all the blogs off my reading list except for the 6 that had lost weight. What I noticed in their blogs were words like:

  • determined
  • keep trying
  • exercising
  • progressing
  • positive
  • sticking with the plan

Totally different in attitude and tone. Those are the ones who are really motivating and make me feel like - Yes, this may be going slowly for me, but it's still moving in the right direction.

At the same time I thought - Ok, I need to really get moving on this weight loss thing. Losing 18 lbs. over the past six months is not that much especially for how much I've been working out. I know I put in the hours at the gym, but I what I need to focus on is what I'm putting in my mouth!

The Whole Life Challenge begins on the 15th of September. That doesn't mean that it's binge galore until then. In fact, I've been trying to slowly cut things out of my diet just so it doesn't come as a shock to give everything up all at once. I need to be more vigilant about my food NOW. Why wait until the 15th to start to feel better about what's going in my body?

I'm definitely a planner and I like to have things organized before I get started - while it's incredibly helpful having menus and grocery lists mapped out, what's really important is to JUST DO IT! That's where I'm at right now -- trying to stay focused and hope that my inactivity does not lead to an additional pounds.

Some reminders:








4 comments:

  1. Anonymous12:39 PM

    Your focus and planning are setting you up for success. Better slow weight loss, and good habits developing, than rapid weight loss and then regaining. Have a strategy mapped out for the days you are tired and discouraged - something like a warm relaxing bath with lovely bath salts instead of a hot chocolate sundae, LOL! Good luck, sweetie! And even better, congratulations on your loss so far, and your commitment to fitness :-)

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Thanks so much :)
      I'm trying to make sure that the changes I'm making are ones that I can keep up forever. I'm counting on slow and steady to help me reach my goals!

      Delete
  2. Sometimes a blog/reader cleanup is just what the doctor ordered. I find that negativity drains me, so if a blogger is too negative for too long, I simply stop reading and move on. I understand we all have rough times and need to vent, but if you continue to dwell and don't move forward, well, you can stay there without my support!

    As for 18 pounds over 6 months - I know how hard you're working, and I know you've had several health issues to battle. The key difference? You keep fighting! You don't give up, and you try to find the bright side of even the worst situations. It's one of the reasons I love your blog, your attitude is inspiring to me!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Thanks so much Kris.
      I try to be supportive to my fellow-bloggers, but there is a line that I have to draw when I feel like it's having an impact on my own motivation.
      I appreciate your support - and you, too, are inspiring to me :)

      Delete

Thanks for stopping by and leaving a comment! I can use all the support I can get :)