Support and Motivation

I'm taking a break from my normal informational posts to blog about reflection in my own life in regards to fitness and nutrition. I have been counting calories and charting my exercise through www.myfitnesspal.com for the past two weeks, and I feel it is such a great tool. There are many people I have met through there-- singles, married, married with children, married with children with an insanely busy life. They all make time to record their eating habits and document their workouts because it is important. There's never an excuse to not invest in your well being, and if you have 5 minutes to watch tv, you can make time to do this too.

Another big help in my endeavor has got to be my sisters, and through my whole life I've always looked up to them. They have set a standard that I want to live up to. They have started a workout/running regimen of their own the past couple months, and though they are not on a weight loss program because they are of healthy size, seeing them have such a healthy focus on nutrition and fitness really helps keep me motivated. I also think the motivation comes with accountability. I'm sure there are some people out there that do not need accountability for their weight loss efforts, because their will and perseverance is all they need. Ladies and gentleman, I am not of the latter. This is something I hate to admit, but I have had an easy life where will and perseverance never really had to take hold. I didn't have to deal with divorce as a child or lots of grief from losing loved ones, nor did I grow up with money woes. I never had to come home and worry if the power would still be on. I have a great family, great friends, and a great upbringing. I am so thankful for that! But as I look back on my life, I have realized I've never really had to work work work for anything.

Don't get me wrong, I've always had a great work ethic, and I do try my best at everything I do. I strive to have a close relationship to God, to be a good wife, friend, sister, daughter, person in general. I started working at 14, and I was working more than anyone my age. But I have never had a goal in my life that I really had to work hard for. Something that was going to be taxing; physically, mentally, and spiritually. And my decision to start running for a 5k at first, but then a 10k, then a half marathon, will be a goal that accomplishes all of the above. I think by making these goals I will be forced to deal with failing, and that is a hard thing to deal with because I don't want to seem weak or make mistakes. It's not because I am saying that I am destined to fail. What I am saying is that running and eating healthy have to go hand in hand, and since I am not perfect, there are days that I will fail, miserably. It will come on a bad day, when vulnerability is creeping up and an opportunity to eat away my unhappiness is too hard to resist. That will be failure. Such a small thing, really. But to a person that is trying so hard to do whats right for oneself, it is still failure. But, every day is a new day, and the ability to acknowledge that whats done is done and its time to get back on track and NOT give up no matter what, is strength. I feel that accomplishing my goals will provide me with such a feeling of strength and satisfaction.

 If you have ever gone running, have you ever noticed the mental journey you undergo? Has your mind said to you "stop! let's just walk, it will be sooo much easier than this hell you are putting me through. You can run next time!" It does to me, every time I knock over a barrier, I feel those thoughts trying to break me down. So I just think of my goals and what I want my life to be like and I shut those thoughts up. And right there, that is weakness leaving the body and strength setting up shop instead. And THAT! is great, but being able to run a race with my sisters someday, THAT! is amazing! If you can find someone in your life that has similar goals to you, I think you will find that the little motivation is a big help in your nutrition and fitness journey. I also know that coming to grips to what failure is and how our minds subconsciously shields us from it is a challenge too. I read a forum post from a guy who said that he had been working out for 4 weeks and only lost a pound. He said he was giving up and was going to live fat forever because it wasn't working for him. That right there, is protecting yourself from failure. Because, in his situation, he figured he was failing so he'd rather give up and be miserable than come to terms with failing. What was interesting, was that his wife posted on there that she had already noticed a difference in his weight! It was simply that he was gaining a lot of muscle so the scale just wasn't reflecting the hard work he was putting in.

Is there anything your mind is protecting you from accomplishing?