Well hello there, motivation.. it's so nice to see you again!!

Can I start off by saying.. OH MY GOSH! I am telling you, I have been having the hardest time. I know I touched on this a bit in my last post.. but I have to share! I cannot remember the last time my little motivation button was out of order. I can usually dig deep and find something to push me. Whether it's how far I've come, my short term goals, an old picture of myself..gosh, even forcing someone to tell me it's going to be ok ;) ... anything. But these past few weeks have been HARD and CHALLENGING in the area of motivation. Honestly, I wanted to cry several times because I just didn't know what to do. When I was losing weight, I asked someone why do they think people gain their weight back.. they told me because you get to a point where you're tired and you sorta just don't care anymore. I was determined I would not be like that. I figured I'd always have this fight in me to keep going, and apparently.. if I'm still fighting, I do :) So what did I do? I just kept going. And I whined a lot.. but that's besides the point. I had to tell myself it doesn't matter how you feel right now, I could not let my feelings dictate the choices I was making. Now, let me be totally honest here, I did have some moments of emotional eating, I did skimp on my workouts at times.. but I also noticed that the "bad" choices I was making were so much better than what I had made in the past. I've come so far. It also shows me that I'm not immune to going back to some of my bad habits. I decided I'd just ride it out and pray and continue to follow the rules and try not to follow my emotions. I woke up the other morning and I could tell it was back. I woke up, wrote down some new goals, signed up for a bootcamp class and started journaling my food again. I can't beat myself up for how I feel.. or even the choices that I made, but I can try my hardest to stick to what I know are the better choices and I can choose to not quit or give up. I believe it is what happens in life, we have the tendancy to just give up when things don't come easy for us. When we have to push ourselves through those times where it feels more like we are dragging ourselves. We still need to tie up our shoes and walk that treadmill or run on the pavement. We need to make these choices because we owe it to ourselves to finish this part or that part of the process. Losing weight, maintaining weight.. whatever it may be. And when you get tired and you can't find one awesome quote that pushes you to feel that motivation again.. just keep going. Just keep doing what you know is the right thing to do. And eventually, you'll feel it again. It'll just hit you. It's like life, we don't always feel like it, but we do it anyways :)

Ahhh... regroup..regroup

Wow! What a week! Seriously, have you ever had "one of those" kind of weeks where you can't even remember what you ate for lunch 10 minutes ago because you're so busy? I had photo shoots last week, a wedding shoot on Friday, 6 mini sessions on Saturday, a shoot on Sunday and one today (Thursday) I've been editing the pictures and training for my new job at Weight Watchers.. plus my babies have been on Fall break. So I have to make sure I've taken time for them. So, needless to say, I have struggled in a few areas this week. I really slacked in tracking my food and I didn't get to exercise as much as I am used to or as much as I would've liked too. Do you ever get like that? Where you're so busy or maybe something unexpected happens in your life and it just throws you off? How do you handle it? Something I've learned and something I say to myself often is, "Well.. this is life.. life happens and I can't be surprised at it." I've mentioned this before, but when you dedicate yourself to living a healthy lifestyle; exercising, eating right, taking time for yourself, it's pretty easy to regroup and get back on track. Honestly this is the main reason I am not for the quick fix lose weight type of diets, they might work for a certain time period, but in the end you haven't learned how to live it as a healthy lifestyle. Ok.. so today I regrouped and started tracking again and made sure I took some time for myself and exercised. I guess I could've just as easily said, "Oh, I'll just start Monday when the kids are back in school.." but I don't want my thinking to go that way. I see the slip ups I've had, so the key is to jump right back in as soon as I can. Towards the beginning of my weight loss journey, I would beat myself up if I slipped up and got off track. I wanted to be perfect at it. I wanted to always see progress on the scale and towards my goals. But as I went along, I learned that getting off track is good sometimes because through that, you learn how to get back on. There will always be busy times, there will always be vacations and unexpected events. We have to learn how to work through those, forgive ourselves if we "mess up", get back on track as soon as we realize we're off track, and maybe it will even cause us to be more focused on our goals. I also wanted to say, if this is your normal life, crazy busy-no time for yourself, you have to change that! You have to find someway to make time for yourself. I do believe we make time for what we want. And you need to make time for yourself no matter what! I'm not saying workout an hour a day.. but do something. Find some time to focus on what you should be eating rather than grabbing whatever you can because you're in too big of a hurry to think about it. The only way things will change is if you make those changes. I don't know the situation that you might be in, but I do know we all have things that we fill our time up with. I just want to encourage you.. take time for yourself. Stop letting the excuse of, "I just don't have the time!!" keep you from being healthy. Maybe start with just 10 minutes a day. Even if in those 10 minutes you prepare healthy snacks and write down a healthy menu for the week. Just do something more for yourself. So take some time, regroup.. get back on track.. and move forward. It'll happen again and again and again.. so don't let it stop you, just see it as a bump in the road and move on.
Don't quit!!!

Tis the season for challenges..

I love the fall and all the pretty colors it brings. The cool evenings, cuddling up under blankets. The excitement of the holidays.. so much to love about this season. But I have found the season also brings some challenges. I am not kidding, as soon as the leaves start to change, I go into this "I want to eat everything in sight" mode. I believe I'm going into hibernation mode.. It's not good. This is when those practical things I've learned and applied over the past few years come in handy.  So I figured I'd share my practical tips with you in hopes that as the challenges of the season hit you, you'll be a little more prepared. My best tip I can give is to be prepared. We already know Halloween comes first, CANDY, next Thanksgiving (oh, and if you're wondering, my birthday is on Thanksgiving this year ;) and following that, Christmas and New Years. I really don't know why they all have to be so close in the year. They really should've been spread out a little more! Preparation is KEY! I keep fruits and vegetables on hand, cleaned and ready to be eaten. I try my best to have the weeks meals planned out and shopping done. I find that the less prepared I am, the worse I eat. I say 99% of the time you can look in my purse and find a bottle of water and either an apple or banana. I try my best to be prepared "just in case." I try to stay organized with my daily duties, If I do this, I feel less stressed. Once again, the more stressed I feel, the more I am not thinking about my food choices. I also journal my food. I know, it sounds like such a pain, but it does help. I know for me, there's no way I'm going to remember everything I ate that day, especially when the season starts to get busy. I try to keep all the "bad" foods that cause me to over indulge, out of the house. I get the winter blues.. so I don't need to set myself up for a loss by having these in the house. I try to stay busy as best as I can.. I'm sure at least one of my rooms will be painted and made over during the cold season. I don't deprive myself, so if I want something I have it because deprivation is no fun at all. I just make sure I exercise portion control and self control. I'll find a few good books to read and schedule hang out dates with my friends. As far as exercise.. I don't let the excuse of it being too cold out keep me from getting outside to run or take a long walk. Once it's too cold to do that, I love using my exercise DVD's or taking a workout class. It's good to set goals. What do you want by the end of the year? Would you be happy to stay the same, only gain a pound or two or are you aiming for a weight loss? I think any of those options are fine.. it's just picking something to aim for.  So be prepared, set some goals, don't let the expected season cause you to get off track.. I don't think it's worth it. We can all end this season feeling in control and accomplished! 

What you put into it is what you'll get out of it!
Never quit!!! You'll get there!!!

The weight of your words

This last year my husband and I had to make a really tough decision concerning our oldest, Johnathan. He struggled so much in first grade last year, his reading/comprehension scores were far below average and he seemed to be struggling more and more the farther he got into the school year. We made the tough decision to have him repeat the first grade again. He and his sister are now in the same grade and I'm sure that was not easy for him to accept. I think about the defeat he might feel and possibly the feelings he might have about how "smart" he is. The other day I said to him, "Jache, you're such a smart boy!" He said, "I know I am, mom!!" I asked him how does he know he's so smart.. he said, "Because that's what you and dad tell me." It amazes me how much power our words can have. Think about it, when you see a little girl, twirling around in her dress and you say, "You are so cute!!" She will more than likely respond with, "I know!!" or she'll even throw out the fact that she's so cute without anyone even saying anything. Our kids believe they are smart, cute, wonderful.. etc. because we tell them so! Now think about yourself, what kind of words are you saying to yourself on a daily basis. Think about what you say when you look in the mirror. What do you say when you fall off the wagon? What do you say to yourself when your pants might feel tighter than they should? What about when you step on the scale and there's not change? Sometimes we can really beat ourselves up with our words and negative thoughts. Can you imagine someone coming to you and saying they put on a few pounds, or feel tired of losing weight.. or whatever.. can you imagine saying to them the things you might say to yourself? I'm guessing they'd never come back to share anything with you, ever again. We can be so hard on ourselves. I think about how we blame this or that for our daughters self image issues.. when in reality the very cause of some of it is what they hear their mothers saying about themselves. When we tear ourselves down.. we are teaching our kids how to do the same. I don't believe negative talk or thinking has ever moved anyone closer to their goals. It's time for a change. It's time to see how much you're worth and how strong you are and can be. Messing up is just a part of life, getting back up is what really counts. I think finding some positive things about yourself and writing them down is a great way to start! Say some positive things about yourself in front of your kids. Give yourself the pep talk that you would give me if I asked you for advice. I'd just like to challenge you in this area. Take a look inside.. see how strong you really are. See that you're something beautiful. Getting to a certain weight won't change your thinking on this.. this has to be something that changes before you hit your weight. You have to come to a place that you are satisfied with you are as a person. It doesn't matter what you look like on the outside.. it's who you are on the inside. Just give it a try. And if you can't find ANYTHING positive in yourself.. just ask me. I bet I can find something special in you!!!

Never quit!!!
Mel :)