Thursday, June 21, 2012

My Story

I spend a lot of time encouraging all of my friends on My Fitness Pal. I know how discouraging it can be to do everything right to lose weight, but the scale does not seem to move at all.

It took me a long time of struggling with the scale to realize I was better off focusing on the things I could control. I knew that I could control whether or not I tracked my food or exercised. I could also control what I ate. As long as I was making healthy choices in the things I could control then I would consider all of my work a success. It didn't matter what the scale said.

I realized today that I started picking up this habit in high school when I was on chemotherapy. There were a lot of things out of my control at that time but I chose to focus on the things I could control. I could control whether or not I did my homework. I could control my attitude when I was at the doctors office receiving treatment. I chose to experience the journey as enjoyable of a life experience as I could.

That is the attitude I want to keep with me the rest of my life, always finding ways to make crappy inevitable situations the best that they could be.

Monday, June 11, 2012

The Difference

I have a couple of friends who are struggling with their journey to a healthier lifestyle. Seeing their status updates has me thinking about myself almost a year ago, August 2011 to be exact.

I wasn't happy with how I looked and I had started running and exercising and "watching what I ate". I was frustrated though because I wasn't getting the results I wanted. The pounds were not coming off in spite of all of my hard work. Eventually the holidays came and my exercise routine went by the wayside, but I was still frustrated that I wasn't losing weight.

At the start of this year I decided to give a diet program from Fitness magazine a chance. And it worked. Te eating plan was simple and the exercise routine was doable. I have relied on the structure of that eating plan multiple times because it outlined how many calories to have for each meal.

I have been on a roll ever since then. But the point of this post is the journal I have kept since August 2011. The first entries are very desperate and whiny. I wasn't taking control of the situation completely. There is a definite progression through this past year. Maybe one day I will type up my journal. But for now I can look back and see the change. I am now 21 pounds down and have a completely different lifestyle than what I had before.

Monday, June 4, 2012

Chugging Along-June Goals

I really need to get better about writing blogs when I have all of the great ideas in my head.  I have been listening to a lot of Jillian Michaels lately and she really has me thinking about why I gained the weight and the whole process of changing my lifestyle.  But of course my mind is at a blank right now.

I redeemed a Groupon for group training for the month of June and will be getting up bright and early tomorrow to go for my third class.  I'm exhausted at the moment but it is a great workout and I really like the trainer and hope to see some amazing results.

Without Further Ado...my June Goals

1) Be in the solid 180s by the end of the month.  I hit 189.6 over the weekend but I have a feeling the scale will bounce around a little bit before settling.

2) Run 1.25 miles.  I hope to gradually increase my running distance every month.  Hoping that I will be able to run at lunch even with doing group training at 6 am every day.

3) Focus on veggies.  I haven't been focused on these and it shows in my food diary.

4) Continue to track all of my food.

5) Aim for a minimum of 5,000 steps daily.

That is all for now.  More philosophical insight into this whole weight loss process at a later date.