Time to check in:
Week one of sticking with my new goals is going great. I again have not changed my eating habits really but I have been more intentional in what I do. I have gone to the gym five days this week, and I am happy for that first victory. Like I said, eating is not really changing yet, because I am trying to just establish this new habit like Chantel Hobbs did. My weight has gone down though, and for that I am grateful. It was nice stepping on the scale and not seeing 170.2 lb. I was a bit nervous. Actually I was a lot nervous.
This is what I promised to do last week:
1 - Giving it to God.
I am literally asking God moment by moment for His strength. I've had weak times. This has been vital.
2 - Read "Never Say Diet" by Chantel Hobbs (taking notes if necessary)
I am still reading Chantel's book and learning so much. I am not looking for "peak" moments in my life rather than getting my good feelings from food. Big peak moment this week was finding that my blog post about Debbie Macomber's book "Starry Night" was linked on her website! Not a bad peak! Actually a great one! Better than I ever imagined!
3 - Go to the gym five days a week.
I've been hitting the gym just like a job. Five days a week. I can't wait for that time when I am not feeling so winded. :)
4 - Not worry about what I eat for a month, finish Chantel Hobbs' book "Never Say Diet" first. I will be making a point of drinking more water though.
I am drinking more water and I am also drinking green tea instead of going on coffee all day. I still drink about two coffees in the morning and I do not really plan on stopping, but once I am in the office I switched to green tea. I am still working on the book. I am also eating celery with almond butter for a snack before I hit the gym. It seems to be giving me just the energy I need. It also makes a great snack at other times of the day. :) I never thought I would enjoy that.
5 - I will also hold onto a new Bible verse a week.
This week's verse:
1 Corinthians 10:31
No temptation has overtaken you that is not common to man. God is
faithful, and he will not let you be tempted beyond your ability, but
with the temptation he will also provide the way of escape, that you may
be able to endure it.
I have no idea what will be in store for me this week, but I know one thing...I'm not going back to okay.
Eating healthy and living a healthier lifestyle is important to me. So is losing weight. Because of this I have really been trying to pay attention to what motivates and inspires me as well as others. Anything to help me get there is important.
SOCIAL NETWORKING AND MEDIA
Nowadays lots of people have found weight loss inspiration via social networking. Via your smartphone you can log in and count your calories, log in your work outs, and check into your gym. You can join weight loss communities, tweet pics of your work out and recruit workout support groups with members miles and even states away and of course you can share your goals and work via Facebook.
I love all of these things though I must admit I haven't partaken in any of them to a large extent other than My Fitness Pal. I see though that the value is there. When you share your fitness goals online you have even more accountability. You also have an outlet to even more encouragement as you reach for your goals. I will definitely take that kind of encouragement over the aggravation that I feel when I try on outfits at Goodwill (I don't do a lot of department stores). I have decided to really invest more time with My Fitness Pal and also
downloaded Fooducate. I will see how these help me along before I go
further in app land anyway. :)
PEOPLE YOU KNOW
My co-worker gets inspiration from an old picture of himself from back in the day when he was substantially heavier. It reminds him of where he was and keeps him on track to achieving his goals. I get inspiration from him and from other friends. Seeing them make better food choices, work out , and have success in weight loss causes me to want to make better decisions too. I am also inspired by bloggers who are making strides in living a healthier lifestyle from women and men who are taking their first steps to those fitness gurus who seem to have it all together. I love them all, and they do help. Though really knowing someone and seeing them face-to-face makes the biggest difference for me.
RANDOM
I get several fitness magazines, and I love the stories in there of women who have lost lots of weight and how they got there. I love the exercise tips and I tear lots of sheets of these tips and stories and keep them in a binder. I also love using my Pinterest account to get motivation. Pinning motivation is pretty new for me. Lastly random documentaries have inspired me as well. I watched one that shared how pilots can't drink diet beverages before flying planes, It also shared how diet sodas contained what they called excitotoxins that kill off brain cells but it feels so good you just keep going. That was all I needed to hear. I stopped drinking diet sodas immediately, and I used to drink A LOT of diet soda. That was about four months ago.
How about you? How do you find your motivation to eat right and live healthy? I need all the tips I can get.
