Motivation Monday

This week's Motivation Monday has a lot of great motivational tips that we can unpack.

Take It One Day At A Time
The first one is the most important one for me. It may be different for you, but I know that I can't look too far forward or I'll get discouraged by how far I have to go. I also have to remember that I can't look backwards. I may have a bad day, or even a bad week, but I can't go back and change it, so why worry? I just have to remember that today is a new day and I can make better choices.

Surround Yourself With Positivity
Not just positivity but encouragement. I have been lucky to have great coworkers who are onboard with my new lifestyle choices and are okay with me having to say "no" to things because of them. I had to decline an invitation to a happy hour on Thursday because 1. I shouldn't be drinking (because of calories and because it gives me headaches) and 2. I need to be at the gym. I won't be able to go next Thursday because of a work teambuilding event, so I have to make it happen this week.. My coworkers and friends have also been great about picking somewhere that I can eat healthy when we go out. My roommate doesn't complain when I fill the fridge with my groceries for the week, which take up SO much more room than bad stuff. (BTW, it still irritates me that it costs more and takes up more time and space to eat healthy. That's just backwards!)

Create A Dream Board
Dream boards aren't really my thing, but I think that's because I'm not really a visual person. I'm an auditory learner, followed by kinesthetic, then visual. But I know that they can be a great tool for some people, so I encourage you to try it out! I've seen lots of different tools for this, but one that I've considered is keeping a picture of me at my smallest in eyesight in my room so that I am constantly reminded of where I want to end up. Another will be discussed in the Recognize Your Progress section below.

Ask Yourself What You Want, And Make Realistic Goals Accordingly
Let's be real: it's not realistic for me to want to be 110 pounds. For my height, even with my (believe-it-or-not) small frame, I should end up between 130 and 160 pounds. 110 would make me look emaciated, aka not healthy, and that's not what I want. My end goal here is not to weigh a certain amount. Sure, it's a way for me to measure my progress, but if I end up as a healthy-looking size 4 who weighs 165 pounds, I'm not gonna beat myself up about it or try to lose more weight. My goal is to get healthy and stay there, whatever that looks like.

Reward Yourself
I am a big believer in intrinsic motivation, but sometimes you just need some external rewards! I've already said that this tank top will be my reward for getting back into one-derland. My dad has also told me that he'd better be the first person that finds out about me reaching my goal, and I'd say he's earned it. None of my successes so far would've been possible without him. He has been financing my weight loss efforts. He has paid for my new running shoes, some new workout clothes, my Polar FT4 heart rate monitor, my home step platform, home weights, and my gym membership. Both of my parents have been incredibly supportive, so this isn't to discount my mom at all. She texts me support often, which I'm thankful for.

Believe In Yourself
This is key. If you don't think you can do something, you'll create a self-fulfilling prophecy. I used to think that I couldn't do a pushup, so I never tried. During my Jillian Michaels Beginner Shred video, she said, "Just TRY. What's the worst that could happen?" I was in the comfort of my own home, so I tried.. and I did it! Now, I couldn't do more than one in a row without losing my form, but I did one. I proved to myself that I could. I try things in classes at LA Fitness, because if I fail, who cares? If I drop the weight, if my legs shake so much that I fall over, who cares? The people in the room won't laugh; they'll celebrate because they know that I gave it my all. And the next time I try, I'll get further.

Case in point: In January, I could hardly run for 30 seconds without getting winded. Now I can run for 15 minutes. It is possible!

Acknowledge Your Attributes
Honestly, I'm kind of struggling to determine what this one means, but here's how I'm taking it: accept the things that make you who you are. If you're like me and "predisposed" (not quite the right word, but it'll do) to be lazy, that's okay. You just need to find a way to fight that. For me, it's been writing down in my planner what I plan to eat and when I plan to workout for the week. If it's written in vibrant colors in permanent ink, I'm more likely to do it. I don't want someone to see my planner at work and say, "How was your step class yesterday?" and not be able to answer them. Planning has always been a great stress-reliever for me, but it's made my life so much easier lately.

Recognize Your Progress
It's hard to see your progress when you're in the moment, so I'm trying to photograph myself every few weeks so that I can compare the change. I'm also learning to measure progress in my weight/inches lost.. but also in my gains. I can do more squats than I used to before getting tired. I switch out the lighter weight for the heavier one with some of the arm moves in our BodyWorks class. I run further than ever before. Those are huge!

I also love this idea that has been all over pinterest:

I haven't made one yet but plan to this week. I worried about it being discouraging by looking at how much I have to lose, but I know that seeing the other side fill up will be incredibly motivating! This is a great representation for those who are visual learners.

Visualize Accomplishing Your Goals
I mentioned above that I have a picture of myself at my smallest, right around my high school graduation, posted in my room. I look at it often to remind me where I want to get. I think about how I'll feel when I can walk into a store and buy a great pair of shorts that fit me well. How it'll feel when I run into an old friend and see them do a double take. That feeling is what keeps me going.

Be Kind To Yourself
Not every day is going to be perfect. You're going to eat badly or skip a workout. Or the devil inside your head will tell you that you can't do it. That you're not good enough. That you don't deserve it. Listen to me:

That is a LIE. You deserve to be happy with yourself. Don't let anyone tell you differently. You. Are. Worth. It.

Don't Compare Yourself To Others
I am notoriously bad about this. I get really frustrated when my friends lose weight faster than I do. When they can just cut out certain foods and drinks like it's nothing while I constantly crave them like an addict. When they can eat whatever they want, never work out, and not gain a pound. It's not FAIR. But you know what?

Can I just say how much I miss this show?? The new one is decent, but it's not the original.

Anyways, life is tough. Life isn't fair. I am going to have to work HARD to get where I want to be and stay there. It sucks, but it is what it is. There's a reason for it. I may not know what it is yet, but there is a reason that this doesn't come easily to me.

This ended up being WAY longer than I intended it to be. Thanks for sticking with me. If you made it, go grab an apple and take a lap around your office, house, neighborhood... something. Get up. Get active. Every step counts.

Lynn and the Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Week

Ya'll, this past week, I was terrible. Minimal workouts and terrible eating. Plus no blogging. I need to be smacked. I got really out of my workout routine, and I didn't meal plan on Sunday. However, my dietbets both end this week, so I really need to push myself over the next few days. I've got a few pounds to go, but I'm SO close!

Yesterday, I decided to sleep in rather than go to BodyWorks, so I went to the gym in the afternoon to run. I started off with a warm-up walk for 5 minutes at 3.0mph, 5 minutes at 3.5, 15 minutes at 4.5, 5 minutes at 3.3, 5 minutes at 4.7, 5 minutes at 3.5, 5 minutes at 4.5, 5 minutes at 3.7, 5 minutes at 4.7, then a 5 minute cooldown. Did you notice the best part of that?

I RAN FOR FIFTEEN MINUTES. STRAIGHT.

That's the longest I've run in an embarrassingly long time. When I restarted the C25k process in January, I'd gotten up to running 8 minute intervals. This was almost twice as long! This is my favorite non-scale victory to date :D

And now I need to get some sleep, but I'll leave you with a sweaty selfie for Selfie Sunday!

Missing My Workout Buddy

Alison is out of town this week, relaxing at the beach (and working out - we've been texting each other proof pictures lol), and it has been a challenge to get to the gym. It's so much easier when I know that someone is counting on me to go. You're not as likely to cancel on someone else, but when that person isn't here, the thoughts creep into your head... "Skip the gym today." "Fine, you can workout, but don't go to that step class. Just go workout at home." "Just go to the gym and get on the treadmill. It's the same thing."

With our AC going out at home this week, my sleeping has been off. I couldn't sleep well when we didn't have AC, waking up nearly 15 times throughout the night. Then last night, it was fixed, but the house hadn't completely cooled down, so I didn't hit deep sleep til it was almost time to wake up, which ended up leaving me more tired. I am dragging today. So naturally, these thoughts of skipping step class tonight keep coming into my head. But I will not do it. I forgot to bring my workout clothes in from the car, so I'm thinking about going down there right now to get them so that I change before I even leave. All I want to do is go home and sleep! But yesterday was my rest day (trivia), so I can't skip today.

Motivation Monday

Man, today was a crazy day. It was super busy and a little stressful at times, and normally that would be enough for me to say, "Nah, I'm just gonna go straight home and go to bed early tonight." But not anymore. Now I use it as motivation at the gym. I run out my stress. I lift away my anxiety. It's awesome.

So for today's Motivation Monday, I've included two quotes that have really hit home with me lately.

It's crazy how true this is. I used to think that I didn't have time to workout. I mean, I'm gone for 12 hours out of the day between work and commuting. Who wants to fight traffic just to end up at the gym, then go home for a late dinner and finally crawl in bed? I mean, I'm the kind of person who needs 7-9 hours of sleep each night or I will Hulk Smash anyone who gets in my way. But I've got a new routine. I go straight from work to the gym, workout for an hour, then head home. Most of the time, there's almost no traffic on the way home, which is awesome. I come home, cook or reheat something I cooked over the weekend, shower, then go to bed. The only downside here is that I seem to be wide awake after working out lately. I am awake til around 10 or so, which is way later than I usually stay up (yes, I'm an old lady). But then I usually sleep like a rock. Wake and repeat.

It does get easier. Today's treadmill workout had me running for longer than I ever thought I could. I ran half a mile 3 times. It was a great feeling. I probably could've gone longer, but I wanted to do several spurts of shorter distances. When I started in January, I could hardly run 90 seconds without wanting to die. Today I ran for 8 minutes. That's over 5x as long as when I started! So exciting. I can't wait to see where I'm at in six months.

Step It Up

I'm really excited, because in about an hour, Alison and I will be attending our first step class. I haven't done a full step class in a few years, but since I've gotten my own step for the house (THANKS, DAD!), I have been doing a few 30 minute videos. Call me a nerd, but I *love* step workouts. It's fun and rhythmic, which is great for someone like me who can't dance but so desperately wants to be able to. In fact, I may or may not spend a lot of my free time rewatching old SYTYCD routines that I just love. I can't help myself.

One thing that I've discovered recently is how much less stressed I am in the evenings when I've worked out. There are LOTS of gyms near my office, so I've started going to a variety of gyms throughout the week immediately after work instead of fighting the traffic only to get to my gym and not be able to find a parking spot! Last night I was reading my book on the treadmill, accelerating and decelerating every few minutes. I got so into the story (the last five chapters, ya'll... I can't even tell you!) that I nearly fell off the treadmill when it slowed automatically for the cool down. That would've been so embarrassing. Guess I need to pay more attention!

Themed Posts

I've decided to try to implement some new themes to keep me motivated to blog. So look forward to

Motivation Monday - I will post a quote or two, a story I've found, or something else to keep you (and me!) motivated.

Transformation Tuesday - I'll post a picture showing where I started and where I am now. Not gonna lie, this one won't happen often simply because I don't exactly want to share my body with the world all the time. This may be a once-a-month thing.

Weight Loss Wednesday - I'll share my starting weight, previous Wednesday's weight, and current weight.

Foodie Friday - I'll share a recipe that I've fallen in love with, and I may even attempt to walk you through making it! (I say "attempt" because I am TERRIBLE about remembering to take pictures! This is part of the reason I never have pictures of activities at camp... Sorry, Mom.)

Selfie Sunday - Pretty self-explanatory (pun intended). I'm not a big selfie taker, unless I'm with Samuel, but I'll suffer through for ya'll.

These probably won't happen EVERY day of EVERY week. My goal is to blog every 2-4 days. I don't know why I'm so terrible about it. I love the idea of a blog, but I've never been great with the follow through. Guess that's just the procrastinator in me!

Meal Planning

In order to get better about controlling what I eat, I've had to become diligent with meal planning. I plan on Saturdays or Sundays, then I go to the grocery store to get stuff for the week. I try to prep most of my stuff on the weekend because I have no time in the evenings, especially now that I'm going to the gym almost every day. I don't get home til around 8, and by then, I'm ready to fall into bed. Then I get up the next morning and do it again, so cooking in the evening is just not an option.

I've also had to get used to bringing my lunch. I've never been a lunch-bringer. In grade school, I always bought my lunch unless we had pizza the night before that I could take to school. In college, I had the best dining halls in the history of ever. And 90% of the time that I was teaching, I would just have cafeteria food. Now we tend to order in a lot. Jimmy Johns gets a TON of business from us. But Jimmy Johns blows the majority of my calories for the day, so I've asked people not to ask me to order because I don't need it, and I can't say no. So bringing my lunch is the only way for me to stay on track. I'll plan for work lunches on Fridays, and occasionally we'll have an impromptu lunch date with the girls or something.

This week I made the Cheesy Chicken, Broccoli, and Rice Casserole, which will give me lunch all week. I'm planning on having some salmon a few nights this week, then I'll finish up the week with some Shrimp Zoodle Parmesan. All of my favorites foods packed into one week!

I'm logging everything on MyFitnessPal (username: lynnwesley), so feel free to friend me on there and keep me accountable. Even if I don't do well on a certain day, it's all being logged. Today I went almost 100 calories over :-/ but it's okay. There won't be perfect days every day, and I'm learning to be okay with that.

Clean-er Eating

Food is my number one struggle. I could work out all day every day, but if I don't have my food under control, I'm not gonna lose any weight. I hate it, especially when so many of my friends can just change what they eat and drop a ton of weight. It's so frustrating sometimes. I've cut back on my cokes significantly and had no change. I really have to work for my weight loss, and I know that it will end up being more special because I worked so hard for it, but right now, that's of little comfort. It's just annoying. Food is NOT my friend.

That's why I've been so excited to find some new food blogs (or rather, to have a best friend who finds new food blogs), especially Skinny Taste and Emily Bites. They both have great recipes that are good for your waistline but still taste great. My favorites have been the Shrimp Zoodle Parmesan and the Cheesy Chicken, Broccoli, and Rice Casserole. Both are delicious and under 400 calories!

I also have found a great breakfast food that is quick and easy. I make a variation of the egg muffins from the SkinnyTaste cookbook with egg yolks, egg whites, sausage, ham, and cheese. Two muffins are 133 calories and have tons of protein. I still can't eat first thing in the morning, so I have a high protein shake in the car on the way to work, then around 9:00, I eat the egg muffins. Then I can usually make it to 12:00 without being completely HANGRY. If I don't have them, I'm hungry at 10:30.

Anyways, as I find new recipes that I love, I'll be sharing them here. Several of my friends are getting healthier now too, so I hope they enjoy the recommendations.

BodyWorks is my jam

A few weeks ago, I joined LA Fitness and decided to try a class or two. On the suggestion of a coworker, I went to BodyWorks, a strength-training class, and I fell in LOVE. It's fun, it's tough, and it's full of people of all different fitness levels.

This week, Alison and I went to one of the gyms near work together. It was great having a workout buddy! Plus Alison is pretty much the greatest person to have with you if you need encouragement of any kind. She just exudes happiness. No, not happiness. Joy. Positivity. She encouraged me the whole time and never made fun of me or anything. We're planning on going every Tuesday and Thursday to a BodyWorks class. I can already feel that I'm getting stronger just in the few weeks that I've been doing this. I'm not strong.. but I'm stronger. And it feels good. I still don't like to sweat, but there aren't too many things that feel better than a good sweat from a tough workout. (FYI, one of those things is a cold shower after said-sweat.)

I joined a dietbet with Victoria and some of her friends, and I'm hoping that keeps me motivated for a few more weeks. This is usually the point that I start getting bored and making excuses. I need to push though. Encouragement is always welcome!