Motivation

It's been 23 days since I was going to recommit and sadly I have only been to the gym once. I have also only lost one measly pound. I don't know if it's the dreary, rainy weather or pure laziness. I am honestly afraid that I may become injured again.  I tried to do one of my exercise videos and even after one short session, my heel was feeling painful.  For Christmas I received a book that I had heard good reviews about and had been wanting to read.  I am only about half-way through but it has helped me accept that in order to be a real runner, I must listen to my body and know when to take it easy.  The book is No Need for Speed  by John Bingham and he gives a very down-to-earth approach  to what it means to be a runner. He explains that you don't have to be the fastest and it isn't always just about improving, its about loving what you do.  I have learned that it isn't worth it to be injured if it will cost me my chances of ever running again so I am limiting the amount of impact exercises I am going to do.  I highly recommend this book if you are a runner, want to be a runner, or just want to learn a little about human spirit.

Whatever the reason is that I am having a hard time getting on track, I have decided I can't let it control me.  I have been watching The Biggest Loser and their theme is "No Excuses".   I really have no excuses that would be acceptable. Even though I am choosing to take a break from running and high impact-exercises for my foot, there are other things I can do.  I am accountable for all my actions and I can't blame anyone or anything.  I was really inspired by Ben, who asked to be voted off and sent home.  I was a little pissed that he did that because there are so many people that would have given anything to be there yet he asked to go home.  What I was impressed about was he is a father of 9 children. He went home and managed to lose over 50 lbs on his own after leaving TBL Ranch.  As soon as I saw what he did I realized that I have no excuse, I am just stopping myself from doing what I already know I can do.

What I need is motivation.  I wasn't really seeking it, I was more or less passively prodding along, thinking the weight was just going to fall off as I miss a day here and there of journaling, or make lame excuses for not going to the gym.  Brent and I have decided that no matter what, we are going to take a family vacation this year.  We have been together 12.5 years, and married over 10.  We have 5 kids who have never been on a real vacation to a new place aside from a few trips to Tennessee and once when Taylor and Bridget were small we went to Camp Snoopy in Des Moines, Iowa.  We need this, we deserve it.  So this my friends is my motivation:  to not look like a beached whale as we vacation this summer in a cabin,  to not cringe when the camera comes out wondering if I will look gluttonous or if my chub rolls are hanging out.  I want to look back at those pictures of our first real family vacation with joy and happy memories and not worry about what I looked like.  I told myself that this was going to be my year for taking care of myself and the only one that can make that happen is me.  Wednesday's are weigh-in days.  It might be too late in the week to see any changes but hopefully I can begin to see things going in the right direction.


Disclaimer: I have no affiliation with NBC or The Biggest Loser, or with John Bingham and his book.  This is purely my own opinion and I have not received any compensation from anyone.