Standing in my way

Who is standing in your way?

Imagine someone regularly tying small weights around your ankles as you try to climb a mountain. Doesn't sound fair, does it? But that's exactly what you can do to yourself, a little bit at a time, if you don't watch out. When you think of who and what is standing in the way of your dreams, it's easy to forget your own responsibility. Even the best of us can be guilty of unknowingly hurting our own progress. Procrastination, lateness, being disorganized, pessimism, not being honest with yourself, severe self-criticism, downplaying achievements, focusing only on weaknesses while ignoring strengths, keeping goals a secret, demanding perfection, giving up after a small setback--these are all ways you can make it tough to be (and do) your best. Smart systems, the right attitude, and a promise to keep going no matter what will make a world of difference.

This quote was in my email today, from Spark People. When it comes to weight loss, I am almost always the one standing in my own way! So this year I am going to work to do my best. I'm going to try to keep smart systems in place, have the right attitude, and keep going no matter what!

Something we were withholding made us weak, until we found it was ourselves.

- Robert Frost

She gets what I don't....

I read a blog post by one of the MT Spark Team members today. I think she gets something that I don't. Read on...

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I had my first real struggle with my lifestyle change after being a Spark member for 8 months. Why did it take 8 months to really start struggling? I gained 5 pounds in as many weeks.

I realized that I let too many things get in the way of my workout routine. Instead of telling myself I could spare just 15 minutes every morning, I told myself I had too much to do first but would get to it later. Guess what? Later never happened. I went from walking an average of 5 miles a day to barely walking one mile.

Something else I learned, or actually was reminded of, was the less I exercised the more I wanted to snack. The more I wanted to snack, the less water I wanted to drink. I found myself starting to slip back into old and bad habits. No wonder I gained.

This is a new week and a new beginning. My new year's resolution is to be more consistent with my workouts even if it means I have to get up an hour earlier every mornig. And I started today. Why wait for the new year? There's no better time than right now.

I wish you all a HAPPY AND HEALTHY 2009!

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Here's what I often fail to recognize... choices have consequences. If I don't exercise, I tend to snack more. If I tend to snack more, I don't want to drink as much. Bad choices, bad consequences. It has a domino effect and I often don't recognize that.

Last night I sat down and wrote out what my ideal schedule for a day would be. I'm not convinced that it's perfect yet, because there are things I'd like to do in there that aren't there yet. I just have to figure out how to factor Eliana in without sitting her in front of the TV for the whole time I want to do something without her. So... working on that. But what I realized in making my plan is that if I don't do the exercise first thing in the morning, I won't do it. It just won't happen. And when I don't exercise, well... it all goes downhill from there.

So it looks like I'm not just going to have to add some exercise in and take some calories out. I'm actually going to have to change my schedule (wake up in the morning! Ack!) and change my way of thinking. That will be a BIG challenge for me. I would appreciate any prayer and encouragement you can send my way!