Tag Archives | determination

Something to Brag About

By on November 15, 2010 in consistency/commitment, determination/motivation, hope/inspiration, NSV, R2P3, Vibrams, weekend, working out

Happy Monday, y’all!  First off, I’ve got a guest post running today over at Sarah’s place – go check it out!  She’s running a whole series of posts on getting through the holidays with our healthy priorities intact, so be sure to bookmark her blog and head back for more.

I had a great weekend – the hubs and I decided to take a last-minute trip up to my parents’ place on Lopez Island in the San Juan Islands.  We’re rarely there on our own; usually it’s the whole family, which is super fun.  But it was great to be there with just the four of us for a change – lots of time to catch up with my folks.  Plus the hubs got to go shooting with my dad, which they both loved!

The only drawback to the way our weekend played out is that I didn’t fit a workout in.  And once we got home last night, the last thing I wanted to do was change and drive 20+ minutes to the gym!  So I was munching my way through the evening (yeah, I’m still struggling with that) and inspiration struck.  I have an adjustable weight set at home, so there was no need to leave for the gym to get a workout in!

I knew the inspiration wouldn’t stick around if I waited too long, so I got up immediately, put on my VFFs and some gym clothes, and banged out a 35 minute strength training and core routine in front of the TV.  It felt great, and even better, I’m going into the week with a head start on my workouts.  I know this isn’t the first time you’ve read this (or thought it!), but I honestly can’t say I’ve ever regretted a workout after the fact.  And I’m grateful that my determination was enough to get my a$$ off the couch and get ‘er done last night!

For me, 35 minutes was all it took to go from feeling sluggish and lazy to feeling strong and righteous (but not in that snobby I’m-better-than-you kind of way – more like the hooray-for-me-I-did-the-right-thing kind of way).  It made me realize that while we often pressure ourselves to make BIG decisions and do LONG workouts and focus on IMPORTANT things…every day is made up of a series of teeny tiny choices.  Moments, split seconds even, that determine the course and outcome of our day.  I read once that when we are faced with temptation, we don’t need to have the willpower to resist for long…we just need the determination for the ONE MOMENT it takes to throw away (or walk away from or otherwise remove) the source of our temptation.

So, yesterday?  My one moment was that second I hauled my a$$ off the couch and walked to my bedroom to change my clothes.  Everything after that was a done deal.  One moment, friends – that’s all it takes.

So, that’s my brag/moment for today.  What is your brag for the day/week/month?  What’s something you’ve been kicking a$$ at lately?  Please share your successes and NSVs, big and small.  It’s time for some inspiration up in here!

Comments { 12 }

Never Give Up

By on May 18, 2010 in Uncategorized

I have been toying with the idea of getting a tattoo for a while now, and I don’t know if I’ll ever go through with it.  Not because I’m afraid of the pain, but because I haven’t found an image or word or phrase that I can imagine living with happily for the rest of my life.

The process of looking for the right tattoo, however, has turned out to be a far more thoughtful one than I imagined.  Sifting through images, words, and phrases that have meaning for me…well, I guess it makes sense that doing so would provoke a wide range of different emotions and memories.  And it does/has, and I’m sure that will continue.  Even if I never get a tattoo, the process of trying to narrow things down, trying to pinpoint something that means so much to me that I’m willing to brand my body for life with that idea…well, that process is worth it whether it results in a tattoo or not.

The idea I’ve been thinking about lately?  Never give up.

No matter how hard this road gets, never give up.
No matter how steep the hill, never give up.
No matter how many mistakes you make, never give up.
No matter how many times you fall, never give up.
No matter how frustrated you feel, never give up.
No matter how angry you get, never give up.

You get the idea.  But just in case you don’t:

“Never, never, never, never give up.”  Winston Churchill

“Nobody ever drowned in his own sweat.” Ann Landers

“Obstacles don’t have to stop you. If you run into a wall, don’t turn around and give up. Figure out how to climb it, go through it, or work around it.” Michael Jordan

“Never consider the possibility of failure; as long as you persist, you will be successful.” Brian Tracy

“I am not discouraged, because every wrong attempt discarded is another step forward.” Thomas Edison

“I don’t think anything is unrealistic if you believe you can do it. I think if you are determined enough and willing to pay the price, you can get it done.” Mike Ditka

How can so many accomplished people, famous or unknown, be wrong?  The answer is, they can’t.  They’re not wrong.

This post is for me, because just when I got my eating dialed in, my workouts have gone to crap.  This post is for me, because I know there will come another time in the future when I am struggling to make good food choices.  This post is for everyone who is having a rough day; who is questioning whether the goal, the prize, is worth the sweat, work, pain, fatigue, dedication, and exhaustion that we all encounter on this road.

It is.  It’s worth it.  And YOU (and I) can do it.  You CAN persevere and come out on the other end of the struggle.  You (I) CAN achieve your (my) goals, weight-related and otherwise.

There is one thing you can do to ensure your failure: you can give up.  And there’s one thing you can do to guarantee success: NEVER GIVE UP.  NEVER GIVE IN.  NEVER QUIT.

Comments { 19 }

Renewed Determination

By on April 8, 2010 in Uncategorized

Y’all, I am so tired of hearing myself whine about how I’m struggling.  How this is hard.  How I can’t get it together.

I’m calling bullshit on my own damned self.

The truth is, that this is hard is not a revelation.  It’s not new information, and I am not the only person for whom this is difficult.  This is an uphill climb for all of us, in one way or another.

So the question for me is, am I going to get off my bike, throw a tantrum, and end up rolling back down the hill?  Or am I going to keep battling until I get to the top?

I think you know the answer to that question, but for the sake of saying it out loud and because words have power:

I am not giving up.
I am not giving in.
I am done making excuses.
I am determined and committed that making healthy choices can be my everyday way of life.

Sometimes I feel like I’m hanging off a cliff, and my next choice can send me plummeting down to the ground.  Kinda like this:

(I’m not really a fan of the quote, but you get the idea.)  The reality, though, is more like climbing up hill.  Every mistake is just a mistake; a stumble might set me back a few paces, a fall might mean I roll downhill a bit.  But no one choice can “reset” this journey and put me back at the starting line.  Only I can do that, and it would require a long series of bad choices, of days where I just don’t care.

And I’ll be honest; I’ve been having a lot of those lately.  And no, of course it’s not that I really don’t care; it’s just that it all feels like too much sometimes.  I’d like to have days where it’s not such hard work.  But you know what?  Life isn’t always easy, and most easy things aren’t worth much.  The hard things?  They’re worth working for.  So I’m done whining and complaining.  I’m done taking the easy road because it doesn’t go anywhere I want to be.

It’s a cliche, this whole idea that even the longest journey begins with a step.  But it’s a cliche for a reason.  And every day, every step, we have the opportunity to reaffirm our choice of destination.  Every time we stray off the path, our next step is a chance to readjust and point ourselves back in the right direction.  So that’s what I’m doing today.  I’m drawing a line in the sand and saying enough is enough.

Today’s Plan:

  • Plan and track food (done)
  • Stick to the plan
  • Do my planned workout (Zumba)
  • Get to bed early and kick this cold
  • No sugar, especially not the chocolate chip cookies with three different kinds of chocolate chips in them that are in the office calling my name tempting me but are not worth the calories.

21-Day Challenge Update

I started strong, friends, but this cold sidelined me!  So tomorrow I will be restarting and committing to 21 days of getting up on the schedule I set for myself.  Don’t worry – our “official” challenge here won’t reset; we’ll still have reports and a prize on April 22 so y’all can toot your horns and tell me how good you did.  And/or share your challenges, ask for help, etc.  That’s what we’re all about.

Comments { 4 }

21 Day Challenge

By on April 1, 2010 in Uncategorized

Morning friends!  I’m so excited – today is the first day of our 21 Day Challenge!  So far, here’s who’s participating and what they’ve committed to do for 21 whole days:

  • Scale Warfare committed to 30 minutes of physical activity every day
  • Kat is going to get out of bed at 5am on weekdays and 7am on weekends
  • CoffeeGirl37 is getting up at 6:30 during the week, 8am on weekends, AND doing 100 crunches per day
  • Bella is drinking 8 glasses of water every day
  • Char is giving up sweets like baked goods, candies, etc.
  • My commitment is to get up at 6am on weekdays and 8am on weekends

I’m also calling out these folks, who said they’d think about it and come back – now’s your chance, friends!  I hope you’ll join us.

Aren’t y’all excited to spend 21 days together??

All kidding aside, I am taking this seriously.  I have been saying forever that morning workouts, or at least getting up earlier, would make my life so much easier.  So this challenge is really about enough-saying-let’s-get-doing.  Or, as we’ve all heard before, JUST. DO. IT.

So far, so good – I got up at 6am today without hitting the snooze button – I just hopped out of bed when my alarm went off and got straight in the shower.  The harder part?  Forcing myself to get in bed at 10pm last night!  I don’t know why, but I just hate going to bed early!  It doesn’t help that my husband is a night owl so I’m always going to bed without him.  But staying up late hasn’t gotten me where I want to be in life, so here’s to change.

How are you doing on Day 1?  Anyone else want to join us?  Any more ideas for what the prize should be?

Comments { 11 }

Refocusing on the Goal

By on March 29, 2010 in Uncategorized

Many of you already know that I have been struggling mightily wimpily to keep my eating in check lately.  I know that, for me, getting my eating right is the single most important piece of this puzzle.  Without doing that, I know that I cannot lose weight, be healthy, and maintain a healthy weight for life.

As we have all experienced, to one degree or another, there are ebbs and flows, highs and lows with the eating thing.  Some days it feels EASY.  I wish I always felt easy, but it doesn’t.  There are days when it feels like it’s not within my power to choose to eat healthily.  I know that’s not true – it’s always my choice what to eat.  It’s just that some days, it feels like a monumental task.

One of the things that I’ve learned over the last few years since I started this latest of many attempts successful journey to healthiness is that I constantly have to retool my program and refocus my attention on what I want and why I’m doing what I’m doing.  Not eating the cookie that I want is really annoying sometimes.  But not eating that cookie feels a lot easier when I am conscious of the reason why I’m not eating it.  Or why I’m only eating one instead of 18.

I need to refocus now on the reasons I am making these choices.  I know I’m not alone in that there have been times when I wondered if I was just “destined” to be overweight.  Why not just quit fighting and just enjoy my life as it is?  Why work so hard for a goal that, sometimes, seems unattainable when I could just take the “easier” path and settle for good enough instead of great?

Here are a few of the reasons why:

  • I will look and feel better.
  • I will sleep better.
  • I will feel sexy, healthy, and STRONG.
  • My sex life will be better.
  • I want to reclaim my inner athlete!
  • I’ll set a good example for my niece and nephews, and my future children.
  • Because I can.
  • I will be SO proud of myself.
  • I’ll be able to buy cuter, cheaper clothes and shop in regular stores.
  • Hiking, skiing, salsa dancing – they’ll all be easier!
  • I want to grow old – REALLY old.  And I want to do it gracefully, with a minimum of pain and “slowdown.”
  • I deserve to be strong, healthy, and fit, and I am worthy of the time, effort, and expense that goal will require.

I’ve said before that I don’t care how long this journey takes me.  I need to revise that statement.  I don’t care if it takes me 12 months or 3 years.  I do care that it not take me forever!  In the spirit of not over-thinking (as I usually do) and just doing, I’m making some commitments for this week.   They are:

1. Get in my planned workouts.
2. Calendar workouts right after I post this.
3. Calendar time to do meal planning and build grocery list tonight.
4. Calendar time to grocery shop and cook at least one meal tomorrow.
5. Cook another meal Wednesday evening.
6. Plan my food in advance each day this week.
7. Track my food every day this week.
8. Stay under 2,000 calories every day this week.

I have lots to do, so I’ll get to it!

What goals can you set for yourself this week to move towards your goals?  Do you need to refocus on the reasons why you’re doing this?

Comments { 8 }