I hope you all had a wonderful Thanksgiving! There is so much to be grateful for, and we can find so much happiness when we choose to focus on our blessings.
Yesterday my family and I went to a running path near our home and did our own little family 5k walk/run. We had so much fun! My 7-year-old daughter ended up alone with me while the other kids ran (or were pushed in the stroller) ahead with Dad. My daughter was giddy that she suddenly got some unexpected alone time with Mommy. The two of us had a great time exploring new paths, looking for bats, and trying not to scare the birds in the nearby trees. We really enjoyed just being spontaneous and laughing together. I love being a mom! That is definitely at the top of my list when I feel the need to start counting my blessings.
Friday, November 23, 2012
Wednesday, November 21, 2012
2012 Holiday Challenge Time!
With Thanksgiving only a day away, the time has come to set some goals to help you make it through the next 6 weeks in good shape physically and emotionally. Now don't get carried away with this idea. Making a goal to lose 10 lbs. this season might not be a great goal if you have historically gained 10 lbs. over the holidays. But making a goal to maintain your current weight might be a great goal. So choose a goal that is appropriate for wherever you are, physically and emotionally, today.
Next step: Write down HOW you are going to make that goal happen, e.g. limit the number of sweets you eat each day, make exercise a priority despite the chaos that ensues, drink more water, etc.
Third: As I mentioned in a recent blog post, visualizing yourself achieving your goal can be very powerful. So every morning, take a few minutes imagining yourself on January 2nd as having succeeded at your goal. Imagine how happy you are going to feel, how proud of yourself you will be for having achieved this goal! How do you look? How does it feel? How does it sound? Imagine yourself eating that delicious, healthy meal instead of the pumpkin pie leftovers and how good the healthy food tastes to you. Really get into the visualization!
Add to that a little moral support and some tracking of your goal progress, and voila! Successful goal setting at it's finest! Okay, so maybe it's not quite that easy. But this can be a recipe for success if you don't let yourself get psyched out by it. Short-term goals are definitely the way to go when you're just starting out, so take this opportunity to start next year's resolution-setting off on the right foot before next year even starts!
Next step: Write down HOW you are going to make that goal happen, e.g. limit the number of sweets you eat each day, make exercise a priority despite the chaos that ensues, drink more water, etc.
Third: As I mentioned in a recent blog post, visualizing yourself achieving your goal can be very powerful. So every morning, take a few minutes imagining yourself on January 2nd as having succeeded at your goal. Imagine how happy you are going to feel, how proud of yourself you will be for having achieved this goal! How do you look? How does it feel? How does it sound? Imagine yourself eating that delicious, healthy meal instead of the pumpkin pie leftovers and how good the healthy food tastes to you. Really get into the visualization!
Add to that a little moral support and some tracking of your goal progress, and voila! Successful goal setting at it's finest! Okay, so maybe it's not quite that easy. But this can be a recipe for success if you don't let yourself get psyched out by it. Short-term goals are definitely the way to go when you're just starting out, so take this opportunity to start next year's resolution-setting off on the right foot before next year even starts!
Tuesday, November 20, 2012
Consistency is Key
Have you ever had the experience where you get super excited about something--a big project or a weight loss plan or a race you're training for--and you go for it with full force at first? But then, when you don't immediately see the results you were hoping for, you kind of fizzle and lose momentum, sometimes giving up completely? I have gone through that exact cycle more times than I care to admit. Recently I was starting down that path with my business. I am so excited about what I do! I can't wait to share it with everybody! But the problem is not everybody wants to listen. So when my passion didn't immediately translate into people banging down my door trying to sign up for my program, it kind of took the wind out of my sails. I started making excuses for why I should back off and stop working so hard, consoling myself that this was for the best. But thankfully I received a wake-up call yesterday that helped me realize what I was about to do--give up--before I completely went down that path, and I quickly made some course corrections.
How many times have you done the same thing this year with your fitness goals? I, like so many, tend to set unrealistic expectations for myself, and then when I don't drop 10 pounds AND 10 inches in the first week, I get discouraged and start to doubt whether the program is really going to work for me. The truth is, any exercise program is better than no program at all. But they are all going to take time if they're worth anything.
So my message today is be patient! Don't give up just because it's hard. Whether it's a business, an improved way of eating, a relationship, a new exercise routine, or anything else new you might embark on, you've got to be consistent. What you do now WILL make a difference, but it will likely be weeks or even months down the road. And you know what? That's wonderful! Because by then the change will have become integrated into your life and is much more likely to remain a part of your lifestyle for the rest or your long, healthy life.
For now, put your focus on enjoying the journey, loving yourself, and keeping faith. Those changes will come. But they will come one step at a time. Gradual progress is the best kind there is.
How many times have you done the same thing this year with your fitness goals? I, like so many, tend to set unrealistic expectations for myself, and then when I don't drop 10 pounds AND 10 inches in the first week, I get discouraged and start to doubt whether the program is really going to work for me. The truth is, any exercise program is better than no program at all. But they are all going to take time if they're worth anything.
So my message today is be patient! Don't give up just because it's hard. Whether it's a business, an improved way of eating, a relationship, a new exercise routine, or anything else new you might embark on, you've got to be consistent. What you do now WILL make a difference, but it will likely be weeks or even months down the road. And you know what? That's wonderful! Because by then the change will have become integrated into your life and is much more likely to remain a part of your lifestyle for the rest or your long, healthy life.
For now, put your focus on enjoying the journey, loving yourself, and keeping faith. Those changes will come. But they will come one step at a time. Gradual progress is the best kind there is.
Tuesday, November 13, 2012
6 Weeks Until Christmas! If You Are Prepared . . .
As I was "helping" my 3-year-old make his bed this morning and waiting a loooooong time because he had to pick up every blanket in his stuffed shark's mouth before he could hand it to me, I had time to ponder the fact that Christmas is 6 weeks from today! For a moment panic set in, but then I realized that it is too soon to panic. As long as I have a plan for how and when I'm going to do all of the Christmas shopping, deliver gifts, decorate the house, wrap presents, do Christmas cards, etc. then I will be okay and there will be no need to panic.
The same thing goes for avoiding the typical holiday weight gain. If you want to be successful about keeping off those 7 to 10 lbs. that people typically pack on during the holidays, you just need to be prepared. Make a plan for how you are going to navigate the holidays. For example, plan to eat a small, healthy meal before going to a Christmas party; plan to drink an entire cup of water before digging into the treats; limit yourself to just one serving, or if you want to try everything, just one bite of each; and make sure that you are still making time for exercise! Your techniques may be different than these (although I don't recommend the binge-and-purge method), but as long as they work for you and you are prepared with a whole tool belt of options to help you, you will be successful! I don't recommend trying to cut the sweets out completely because that will likely cause you to feel deprived, which will eventually invite a major binging session. Not good. Believe me. I've tried it.
Now, Forward March! We WILL win the battle against holiday treats! And we will start the new year feeling better than ever!
The same thing goes for avoiding the typical holiday weight gain. If you want to be successful about keeping off those 7 to 10 lbs. that people typically pack on during the holidays, you just need to be prepared. Make a plan for how you are going to navigate the holidays. For example, plan to eat a small, healthy meal before going to a Christmas party; plan to drink an entire cup of water before digging into the treats; limit yourself to just one serving, or if you want to try everything, just one bite of each; and make sure that you are still making time for exercise! Your techniques may be different than these (although I don't recommend the binge-and-purge method), but as long as they work for you and you are prepared with a whole tool belt of options to help you, you will be successful! I don't recommend trying to cut the sweets out completely because that will likely cause you to feel deprived, which will eventually invite a major binging session. Not good. Believe me. I've tried it.
Now, Forward March! We WILL win the battle against holiday treats! And we will start the new year feeling better than ever!
Monday, November 12, 2012
Exercise for the Brain
As I was literally spoon-feeding my 3-year-old son his breakfast this morning, as I do with at least a portion of every meal of every day, I once again found myself fast-forwarding 15 years and imagining myself feeding my 18-year-old his breakfast before he drives off to school or work for the day. I wondered if his wife will be willing to keep feeding him his meals when she takes on the responsibilities of being married to him. Should we include that in the marriage contract? Now, this is not meant to elicit comments about my bad parenting. I actually want to talk about this habit that I would guess many of us have of projecting ourselves into the future. While this is not necessarily a good thing when I am seeing my 9-year-old as a juvenile delinquent 7 years down the road because he runs off to play with friends instead of doing his chores today, or my 7-year-old flunking out of school and not being able to keep a job because she forgets to turn in a homework assignment, I do think it can have its uses if we choose to change the vision.
Our minds have so much power, more than we realize. If we
will take that ability to project into the future and just change the picture a
little, it becomes a very powerful mental exercise. If, for example, you lack
motivation to do physical exercise at all, start envisioning yourself as
someone who likes to exercise and who
looks forward to getting up and doing something active every day. The more you
visualize the future you want to create, the more you will lock that into your
subconscious and get the wheels in your head moving so that that vision can
start to be created. Most of what we do every day is controlled by our
subconscious thoughts, so if we can just lock those more positive thoughts into
our subconscious mind, the things we do when we are on auto-pilot will more
likely be things that help us reach our goals. And in our conscious mind,
visualizing what we want our future to look like will keep us motivated to keep
working toward our goal.
So take 10 minutes today and try it. Visualize
something that you would like to see in your life, whether it’s a healthier
body, a better job, an intimate relationship, etc. and paint a picture in your
mind of just how it will look. How do you feel? What are you doing as a result of
this change? Where do you see yourself? What are the sights, sounds, and
smells, surrounding you? The more detail you put in, the more you will be able
to lock it in. Take a few minutes to do this every day, and see how your life
starts to change. You may surprise yourself!
Saturday, September 22, 2012
One Marathon Down . . .
Wow! Has it really been an entire week since I ran my marathon??? I have definitely been remiss in my duty by not giving an update until now. Please forgive me. I'm still getting used to this blogging thing, and as any of you moms out there know, no matter how much fun blogging is, family takes first priority.
Just to recap, as I trained for this first marathon, I went into self-sabotage mode for a good 6 weeks or more, eating terribly and running very infrequently right up until a month before the race. At that point I kind of freaked out and kicked myself in the buns to get moving. For that last month, my runs and diet improved tremendously, and even though I knew one month of doing the right things wouldn't completely make up for an entire summer of doing the wrong things, I was still hopeful that I would get a decent time in the marathon. And admittedly, I still had dreams of qualifying for Boston floating around in the back of my head.
Well, perhaps needless to say, I did not qualify for Boston in this, my first marathon ever. But I still feel so proud of myself for finishing the race! Yes, I did finish, and I was crying as I stumbled across the finish line 5 hours and 15 minutes after the gun went off. I hurt soooo much, and I felt soooo proud that I had made it even though at times it was all I could do to keep moving. I am so proud of myself for pushing myself back into a run so many times in those last few miles when no part of me had any interest in running anymore. And I am so grateful and happy that, even though I started having stomach upset within the first few minutes of the race that then lasted through the ENTIRE run (I realized later that I had caught the stomach flu bug that had my 3-year-old throwing up 2 nights before the race), I still ran, and I still finished! So while I am not proud of the time I got on my first marathon--in fact, I'm really quite embarrassed about it--I am proud of myself for doing it and finishing it despite the setbacks caused by the lack of training and the stomach flu. As I look back on the whole experience, I feel very positive about the entire thing and very excited to do my next marathon.
My post-race recovery was extremely quick thanks mostly to Danny Dreyer and his Chi Running method. If you've never heard of Chi Running, you can find out more about it at http://www.chirunning.com/. I have been actively practicing Chi Running for about a year and a half now, and I'm completely sold on it. While I was so stiff immediately after finishing the race that I could only hobble, I recovered really quickly and had very little soreness in the days following the race. It was truly a miracle! I was expecting to hardly be able to move by Sunday or Monday, but instead I felt great! I did have some sore leg muscles, but they were mild and really only noticeable when I tried to walk down any stairs. That, my friends, is why I am so excited to become a certified Chi Running instructor (more info about that later)!
Finally, I would be extremely ungrateful if I did not take a few lines to thank my friend Kris for supporting me through this entire experience. Being the awesome friend that she is, she agreed to leave her family and drive up to the race city with me, where we tried not to stay up too late talking and giggling like school girls at a slumber party. She then got up at 4:00 am to help me get ready to go. And if that weren't enough, she drove her car up and, after running a few miles with some other friends of hers who were also doing the marathon, she met me at mile 18 and ran those last 8 miles with me, encouraging me and helping me to keep going at times when I thought I was going to die. Admittedly, I did threaten her life a few times during those last miles because she was just too dang cheerful! But in all honesty I am so grateful for her support and her friendship. I never could have done it without her and all of the other friends and family who were sending love and prayers my way that day.
I mentioned in an earlier post that I was going to see how much improving my diet for the last month helped, and I have to say that if I had not changed my diet, I would not have been able to finish the race. I believe it was my whole foods way of eating that allowed me to keep going and fight off the flu bug enough to keep from throwing up or cramping up or collapsing in the middle of the race. My unsettled stomach caused me to not be able to consume more than a small fraction of the nutrition I brought with me on the run, but I still had enough energy to make it through 5+ hours of running! Healthy eating: I'm a big fan!
Just to recap, as I trained for this first marathon, I went into self-sabotage mode for a good 6 weeks or more, eating terribly and running very infrequently right up until a month before the race. At that point I kind of freaked out and kicked myself in the buns to get moving. For that last month, my runs and diet improved tremendously, and even though I knew one month of doing the right things wouldn't completely make up for an entire summer of doing the wrong things, I was still hopeful that I would get a decent time in the marathon. And admittedly, I still had dreams of qualifying for Boston floating around in the back of my head.
Well, perhaps needless to say, I did not qualify for Boston in this, my first marathon ever. But I still feel so proud of myself for finishing the race! Yes, I did finish, and I was crying as I stumbled across the finish line 5 hours and 15 minutes after the gun went off. I hurt soooo much, and I felt soooo proud that I had made it even though at times it was all I could do to keep moving. I am so proud of myself for pushing myself back into a run so many times in those last few miles when no part of me had any interest in running anymore. And I am so grateful and happy that, even though I started having stomach upset within the first few minutes of the race that then lasted through the ENTIRE run (I realized later that I had caught the stomach flu bug that had my 3-year-old throwing up 2 nights before the race), I still ran, and I still finished! So while I am not proud of the time I got on my first marathon--in fact, I'm really quite embarrassed about it--I am proud of myself for doing it and finishing it despite the setbacks caused by the lack of training and the stomach flu. As I look back on the whole experience, I feel very positive about the entire thing and very excited to do my next marathon.
My post-race recovery was extremely quick thanks mostly to Danny Dreyer and his Chi Running method. If you've never heard of Chi Running, you can find out more about it at http://www.chirunning.com/. I have been actively practicing Chi Running for about a year and a half now, and I'm completely sold on it. While I was so stiff immediately after finishing the race that I could only hobble, I recovered really quickly and had very little soreness in the days following the race. It was truly a miracle! I was expecting to hardly be able to move by Sunday or Monday, but instead I felt great! I did have some sore leg muscles, but they were mild and really only noticeable when I tried to walk down any stairs. That, my friends, is why I am so excited to become a certified Chi Running instructor (more info about that later)!
Finally, I would be extremely ungrateful if I did not take a few lines to thank my friend Kris for supporting me through this entire experience. Being the awesome friend that she is, she agreed to leave her family and drive up to the race city with me, where we tried not to stay up too late talking and giggling like school girls at a slumber party. She then got up at 4:00 am to help me get ready to go. And if that weren't enough, she drove her car up and, after running a few miles with some other friends of hers who were also doing the marathon, she met me at mile 18 and ran those last 8 miles with me, encouraging me and helping me to keep going at times when I thought I was going to die. Admittedly, I did threaten her life a few times during those last miles because she was just too dang cheerful! But in all honesty I am so grateful for her support and her friendship. I never could have done it without her and all of the other friends and family who were sending love and prayers my way that day.
I mentioned in an earlier post that I was going to see how much improving my diet for the last month helped, and I have to say that if I had not changed my diet, I would not have been able to finish the race. I believe it was my whole foods way of eating that allowed me to keep going and fight off the flu bug enough to keep from throwing up or cramping up or collapsing in the middle of the race. My unsettled stomach caused me to not be able to consume more than a small fraction of the nutrition I brought with me on the run, but I still had enough energy to make it through 5+ hours of running! Healthy eating: I'm a big fan!
Monday, August 27, 2012
Week 1 Report: It's All About Consistency
Last week I mentioned in my blog that I was going to clean up my diet and get back on track for my marathon. It has now been one week since making that commitment. While I have not eaten flawlessly this week (it's hard to just stop cold turkey), I did WAY better than I have done lately, and I am feeling much better as a result. I did make 2 big mistakes, which I'll get to in a moment, that hindered my progress; but overall I did make progress. My weight is down a little, the pain in my achilles has subsided considerably, my energy level is up, and I feel much more emotionally on top of things. I feel more inspiration and focus than I was feeling before, and I feel much more on track to being prepared for my marathon (only 20 days away!).
The two big mistakes I made were first, I chose to take the day off from eating well on Saturday. I had been to an overnight mom's retreat (it was really awesome; it is actually meant for LDS homeschooling moms, and even though I don't homeschool my kids, I came away from it very enlightened and inspired; if you're interested in finding out more about it, go to momsretreat.org), and as a result I decided to take a retreat from healthy eating as well. That's one of my weaknesses that I am still working on correcting: taking vacations from eating right whenever I go on any sort of vacation. So Saturday turned into binge day for me, and it wasn't pretty. As a result, I gained back some of the weight I had lost earlier in the week, and I went back to feeling lousy for the next couple of days.
I realized--again--that when it comes to eating right, consistency is key! If we eat really well for a few days and then eat lousy for a day or two, we are seriously hindering our progress. Now don't get me wrong. I am in no way saying that you can never have a treat again. On the contrary, I believe the all-or-nothing approach is like trying to break up: If you're not emotionally ready, you are sooner or later going to rebound back and have a crazy binge of all the junk you've been so carefully or desperately trying to avoid. So consistency! Write it on your bathroom mirror so you won't forget. Or better yet, put it on the door of your fridge where you'll have to look at it every time you're going for that less-than-ideal treat.
The retreat I was at this weekend took place in the beautiful Rocky Mountains, and on Saturday morning we had the opportunity to go on a little hike and watch the sun rise from the tops of the hills. It was a beautiful and inspiring experience, and on the way back down, I was overtaken with the desire to run down. So I had a nice little run back down to my cabin and felt very satisfied by the time I got to the bottom. Unfortunately, my achilles did not feel quite as satisfied. In fact, it was so not satisfied that I found myself limping around for the next several hours. I suppose trail running was not the brightest idea I've had this week given my already tender achilles tendon. That was the other big mistake I made that accounted for not quite as much progress as I had hoped to see by today. It is feeling better now, but this little experience has reminded me of the need to listen to my body more.
So in summary, I would call this week a success in that I made progress in the areas I was working on, but I definitely didn't get the A due to a couple of poor choices. That's okay, though. Life is all about learning from our mistakes, so forward march!
The two big mistakes I made were first, I chose to take the day off from eating well on Saturday. I had been to an overnight mom's retreat (it was really awesome; it is actually meant for LDS homeschooling moms, and even though I don't homeschool my kids, I came away from it very enlightened and inspired; if you're interested in finding out more about it, go to momsretreat.org), and as a result I decided to take a retreat from healthy eating as well. That's one of my weaknesses that I am still working on correcting: taking vacations from eating right whenever I go on any sort of vacation. So Saturday turned into binge day for me, and it wasn't pretty. As a result, I gained back some of the weight I had lost earlier in the week, and I went back to feeling lousy for the next couple of days.
I realized--again--that when it comes to eating right, consistency is key! If we eat really well for a few days and then eat lousy for a day or two, we are seriously hindering our progress. Now don't get me wrong. I am in no way saying that you can never have a treat again. On the contrary, I believe the all-or-nothing approach is like trying to break up: If you're not emotionally ready, you are sooner or later going to rebound back and have a crazy binge of all the junk you've been so carefully or desperately trying to avoid. So consistency! Write it on your bathroom mirror so you won't forget. Or better yet, put it on the door of your fridge where you'll have to look at it every time you're going for that less-than-ideal treat.
The retreat I was at this weekend took place in the beautiful Rocky Mountains, and on Saturday morning we had the opportunity to go on a little hike and watch the sun rise from the tops of the hills. It was a beautiful and inspiring experience, and on the way back down, I was overtaken with the desire to run down. So I had a nice little run back down to my cabin and felt very satisfied by the time I got to the bottom. Unfortunately, my achilles did not feel quite as satisfied. In fact, it was so not satisfied that I found myself limping around for the next several hours. I suppose trail running was not the brightest idea I've had this week given my already tender achilles tendon. That was the other big mistake I made that accounted for not quite as much progress as I had hoped to see by today. It is feeling better now, but this little experience has reminded me of the need to listen to my body more.
So in summary, I would call this week a success in that I made progress in the areas I was working on, but I definitely didn't get the A due to a couple of poor choices. That's okay, though. Life is all about learning from our mistakes, so forward march!
Wednesday, August 22, 2012
School Days = New Routines
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| L insisted that I take a picture of him "with my blankie and sucking my thumb." |
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| My big boy! |
My little baby started preschool today. Sniff. Sniff. I have to admit that as much as I've been looking forward to this school year and having a few hours of time all to myself for the first time in over 9 years, it is hard for me to see my little ones growing up. As I've watched each child start school, I always ask myself if I've given them all they need to survive in today's world. I know there's always more I could have done, but I, as well as every other mom out there, am doing the best I can and hoping that's enough.
As we start into a new school year with new schedules and new routines, why not take the opportunity to work a new, healthier routine into your and your family's day? Now the trick with this is to just do one thing at a time. Don't try to start 5 new things at once or you will likely end up overwhelmed and discouraged, and all of them will fall by the wayside. Just choose one thing that you feel you can stick with, such as taking a 10-minute walk every day, making it a priority to have dinner together as a family, establishing 10 to 15 minutes of moving time with your kids either in the morning or after school, including a fruit or vegetable at the table with every meal, etc. Even if it seems so insignificant, making a little change like this is just one step in your journey to a healthier lifestyle. And that's the way to do it: one baby step at a time. Every little change you make will add tools and knowledge that will benefit you and your family for a lifetime. So choose that one thing, stick with it the best you can until it has become a habit, and give yourself a pat on the back for doing something good for yourself and your family.
Monday, August 20, 2012
The Silver Lining
Earlier this year I trained for and ran my 3rd half marathon, and it went great. I cut more than 20 minutes off of my previous race time, coming in less than a minute behind my husband and feeling really happy with my performance. After that the plan all along was to continue on and train for my first full marathon. I really thought everything would go smoothly since I was already in the best shape of my life and running better than ever. But the 3+ months since finishing the half marathon have been plagued with injuries, illness, discouragement, and lack of motivation. I've gained about 12 lbs. in that time, and while I've managed to make it up to 20 miles on some of my runs, training has been sporadic and, to put it bluntly, rather pathetic. In fact, I've hardly run at all for about 3 weeks now, and the marathon (which, of course, I've already signed up for) is in less than a month away.
A few days ago someone suggested that maybe I should just bag the marathon since my training and preparation are going so poorly, so I've been pondering about where to go from here. I've really thought a lot about everything that's happened, and the conclusion I've come to is that all of the problems I've been having are a direct result of my inner fears relating to running a marathon. It's a distance I've never attempted before, and I think deep down part of me doesn't believe I can do it and/or doesn't believe it will be a good experience. Those fears have then manifested themselves as injury, illness, depression, junk food cravings, etc., anything to sabotage my training and give me an excuse to fail. So I can either let my fears win by dropping out, or I can continue forward and prove to myself that I CAN do this! I CAN do hard things! It's all about what I truly believe I'm capable of anyway, so if I can let go of those fears and doubts and really believe that I can do this, then I know I'll succeed.
As you might have guessed, I've decided to do the marathon still. But for this last month, there will be some changes, particularly with my eating habits. I am really going to clean up my diet by once again cutting treats and processed foods down to a minimum and sticking with whole foods. I'm actually excited to do an experiment with my nutrition to see how much progress I can make in one month after all of the damage I've done. While I have no illusions that I am going to come back and qualify for the Olympic trials as a result of eating well for one month, I am confident that this way of eating will help me have a wonderful experience come race day. I believe I will have more energy and motivation to train, I will be able to drop a lot of that recently-added weight, and I will be injury free by the end of this month! Add to that some emotional work to help me let go of the doubts and fears, and voila! Insta-marathoner! So let the game begin!
A few days ago someone suggested that maybe I should just bag the marathon since my training and preparation are going so poorly, so I've been pondering about where to go from here. I've really thought a lot about everything that's happened, and the conclusion I've come to is that all of the problems I've been having are a direct result of my inner fears relating to running a marathon. It's a distance I've never attempted before, and I think deep down part of me doesn't believe I can do it and/or doesn't believe it will be a good experience. Those fears have then manifested themselves as injury, illness, depression, junk food cravings, etc., anything to sabotage my training and give me an excuse to fail. So I can either let my fears win by dropping out, or I can continue forward and prove to myself that I CAN do this! I CAN do hard things! It's all about what I truly believe I'm capable of anyway, so if I can let go of those fears and doubts and really believe that I can do this, then I know I'll succeed.
As you might have guessed, I've decided to do the marathon still. But for this last month, there will be some changes, particularly with my eating habits. I am really going to clean up my diet by once again cutting treats and processed foods down to a minimum and sticking with whole foods. I'm actually excited to do an experiment with my nutrition to see how much progress I can make in one month after all of the damage I've done. While I have no illusions that I am going to come back and qualify for the Olympic trials as a result of eating well for one month, I am confident that this way of eating will help me have a wonderful experience come race day. I believe I will have more energy and motivation to train, I will be able to drop a lot of that recently-added weight, and I will be injury free by the end of this month! Add to that some emotional work to help me let go of the doubts and fears, and voila! Insta-marathoner! So let the game begin!
Tuesday, January 3, 2012
The Holiday Challenge Grand Finale!
Okay, I think we can safely say that the holidays are over. So how did you all do? I have to admit that I ended up gaining a little bit from all of my celebrating over the weekend, but not so much that it has me at all worried. I am so motivated to start out this year right, and by the end of this week, I know I will have lost that weight and then some! And that's my final holiday challenge tip for you: keep up the great work! Just because we are officially done with this challenge doesn't mean you should stop trying to be a healthier, happier person. Let's make 2012 our best year yet in every way! And of course, that starts with treating yourself right on the inside and the outside. Love yourself and your body, and give it the good, healthy things it needs to look and feel great. That includes regular exercise and fresh, whole foods.
I am going to start a challenge group really soon, so watch for more information on that. Just so you know, though, the word "challenge" is a little misleading since people in the group are actually working together to help each other succeed with their own personal goals. The challenge comes in challenging yourself to stick to an exercise routine for a month. I think it's a great way to start off this year!
This has been a lot of fun for me! I hope you received some benefit from it. I of course will still continue to blog, so come back and visit often. I welcome your comments and questions!
I am going to start a challenge group really soon, so watch for more information on that. Just so you know, though, the word "challenge" is a little misleading since people in the group are actually working together to help each other succeed with their own personal goals. The challenge comes in challenging yourself to stick to an exercise routine for a month. I think it's a great way to start off this year!
This has been a lot of fun for me! I hope you received some benefit from it. I of course will still continue to blog, so come back and visit often. I welcome your comments and questions!
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