_ _ _ _ Happens!

Hold on a minute there, why don’t I fill in that blank for you. I really meant it to say LIFE HAPPENS and it happens to all of us everyday.

The unfortunate part about this is that we can’t really control life and what happens to us or what it brings our way. We are just part of it and have to learn to roll with the punches.

Last week was my son’s 13th birthday. A big one as he is now officially a teenager and along with his birthday came the normal cake and special dinner that I’m sure most of us do for our family. My son helped make his birthday cake the night before and was most proud of his efforts. Now at 13, getting a child to do anything is an accomplishment and the fact that he was actually eager to participate was something I certainly grabbed onto.

When it was time to eat the cake he was so anxious to give me a piece and to ask me my opinion that he sacrificed his first piece and gave it to me. I had a choice at this point. One, decline the cake and crush him but be victorious in my efforts or two, accept the piece graciously and ask for a small piece and tell him how wonderful it was and build him up, while at the same time making a poor choice on food. What do you think I did, what would you do?

I took that piece of cake, thanked him graciously and savored every single bit of it, even licking the plate with frosting (sorry but it was really good). He was so proud that I loved it and that was worth every calorie in it. I only have a few more years of these opportunities and then they will be gone. What is a few more pieces of cake if it is once a year.

Prepare yourself for this as it will happen. Know what you will do before hand and don’t agonize about it after you have made your decision. Embrace life and the changes that it brings and relish the special opportunities that you get with your family and friends…. In the end Life Happens and I want to be part of it.

The Entire Enchilada?

Sometimes that enchilada plate can be a doozy, far too much to eat at one sitting and that means we need to have a ‘take home box’.

We can’t look at the entire plate; we need to set a goal. Goals for me have always been a tough for me. I always seem to look at the bigger picture and sometimes making a smaller goal is difficult. During the first four months of my journey, my goal was to fit into some “hot momma” jeans :) Well, I’m happy to say, that I met that goal and if you look at my pictures link you can see me in them.

So, now that I have met that goal, I’m thinking, What next? I watched the movie Million Dollar Baby the other day and loved the physique of Hillary Swank, so my new goal will be working towards something along those lines. I’ll continue the weight loss but as that tapers I will increase the muscle mass and tone. It should be a fun journey.

I would like to challenge all of you that read my writings to think of goal for yourself; a small one would be great, and let me know what you are working towards as well as letting me know when you achieve it. I’ll probably pop back in a while and ask for some updates. So, get your takeout box so that the entire enchilada doesn’t look so overwhelming.

Two Different Skinnies

I had quite a revelation last night when I went shopping. I decided that new workout clothes were in order. Now I will admit that shopping is not my forte or something that I enjoy or take pleasure in. However, I was hoping that with my physical transformation would come a mental transformation.

I’ve never considered myself attractive and with that, the choosing of clothing has just been a necessity. I’m sure some of this is personality and some of it is how I was raised and some of it has just been the fact that I didn’t like the way I look.

As I continue to become fitter, healthier and thinner, more and more people are telling me to buy new clothes, show a little more skin and be proud of my hard work and fit body that is emerging. But when I look in the mirror I still see the same person. Yes, my clothes are loser and yes I know I’ve lost weight. My workout clothes almost need suspenders to keep them up :)

It is apparent to me that the task of transforming myself physically will be much easier than the mental transformation. I’m not sure when or how I will have the epiphany but it is part of the transformation and one that I know I will need to put effort into as well.

Perseverance and Marie Curie

The following is a quote from Marie Curie, Nobel Prize Winner.
"Life is not easy for any of us. But what-of-that? We must have perseverance and, above all, confidence in ourselves. We must believe that we are gifted for something, and that this something, at whatever cost, must be attained." Marie Curie
Can you imagine what this woman endured in her day to ascertain a Nobel Prize? She was born in 1867 certainly not in a period where women were admired or sought after for brilliance, intelligence or outstanding ability. But I’m sure what she recognized was that without insistence, resolve and determination she would never obtain her fullest potential and be able to give her “gift” to the world.
I truly believe that we all have our own gifts to be given to the world. I believe that God made each of us for something special and we must have strength of mind and willpower to find that gift. Part of the gift that God gave us was a strong and healthy body. He wants us to have this in order to fulfill all of the dreams and desires that he has for us.
During our journey we must have strength, courage and endurance to get us to the end other wise we started this for what?

Self-Confidence

Self-Confidence – confidence in yourself and your own abilities.

Do you think this is something we are born with or something that must be sown and nurtured? I’m not really sure what I think but I do know that without self-confidence that this journey can be tough.

How many times have you said to yourself that you were going to eat right, exercise and lose this weight once and for all? I myself, cannot even count how many times I have had this conversation with myself and I believe that the lack of self-confidence was the part that was missing.

I did not believe in myself or perhaps I didn't think myself as worthy and as soon as I started or shortly there after I would stop and give up or the routine would just gently fade away. This time is different and I don’t know where it came. I think some of it is the support that I’m receiving from my trainer and the faith and belief that I can and will complete this journey.

Look within yourself and others around you for support and conviction until this seed of self-confidence has taken root and takes over your life, it is at that point that will be able to harvest it and help others.

The Sixth Sense

Wow, this was an awesome movie wasn't it? If you haven't seen it, rent it. I have watched this movie several times and even though I know what happens, to this day, I still get chills. Funny how that works huh?

Did you know that a real condition referred to as Synesthesia, or a Sixth Sense exists? Synesthesia means “joined sensation”. I believe each of us has Synesthesia. It is that little voice that speaks to us or the feeling that something “just doesn’t feel right”. Sometimes we pay attention to it and other times we disregard it as misleading talk or worse yet we just ignore it. How rude!

The little voice in our head tells us we probably shouldn’t eat that, have another portion, the annoying conversation that we have with ourselves regarding the fact that we should get ourselves up and exercising, all of these are forms of Synesthesia.

When we have awareness of these instances we should really grant it attention as, more than likely, it really does have our best intentions at heart.

I see healthy food choices they are everywhere…. :)

I found a new drug

Don’t get all worried, I’m certainly not advocating taking drugs for your weight loss. We know that they don’t work and are just a waste of money. However, I do think that I have found a drug of sorts that my body has started to make.

I really don’t know what it is called but I’ll explain what happened. At work today, I was feeling very anxious and antsy. I just couldn’t sit still. It was the old “ants in my pants” thing. I started looking back on what could have caused this. Certainly not drugs and no caffeine, at that point it dawned on me that my weekend had not been as heavy on the exercising part as it has been during the past weekends.

Saturday was busy just getting my house in order after having been gone last week along with grocery shopping. I did manage to get 30 minutes done on my Nordic Trak but normally I’m pushing an hour plus of exercise daily and it is tough exercise. Sunday was beautiful in NE Indiana so I spent about four or five hours riding my two horses and playing with the yearling that we have. So no real physical activity in that either comparatively.

I’m sure that by this afternoon, my body was crying out and craving its daily workout. It just goes to show that we really are meant to move and move deliberately. I think my body is now completely addicted to exercise. This is my new drug. It is one that most of us cannot overdose on and we can have it daily. In fact, you should have it daily. Yes, it will be habit forming but certainly one that will be excellent. So in the words of Huey Lewis and the News; “I want a new drug”; I found mine and love it.