Find Your Thing

I love that new Kaiser Permanente commercial.  Someone captured exactly how I feel when I'm intimidated, frustrated and not inspired by the latest and greatest workout.  Some of my friends run, others work out at a gym, others do Zumba, some don't work out at all.  I'm not inspired enough by these things to love doing them for the activity.  I'm looking for something I can be passionate about.  Something that I love doing for the sake of doing it - even swimming (an activity that I used to love) isn't so fun for me anymore - maybe it's because I'm out of breath after just one lap!  Some of you know what I'm talking about... I think maybe I have to find my thing once I get into a little better shape - right now just push through it until I get there.  Then the maintenance piece comes from doing "my thing" - being outdoors, being active, swimming, hiking, whatever it is.

I have started walking again.  There is a great walking path near my house and right now the weather here is perfect.  I also ordered Power90 for the next phase of pushing myself and for the rainy days that are sure to come.  I will have to work through that one though - it's going to require me to hold myself accountable to getting the workouts in on days I don't want to unless I can find someone to do it with me every day.

Finding your thing has to work for nutrition as well.  What works for me, won't necessarily work for someone else.  What I like doesn't mean someone else will like it or even agree that it's the right choice.  I tend to read a lot and like I said before, I'm developing some definite opinions about nutrition - now let's just see if I can make the right choice over the donut, which, along with french fries, pizza and burgers, happens to be one of my favorite foods.  I want my life to be about balance though so I'm going to continue to make choices to enjoy life - that means that on occasion, I'm going to have the things that I love.  I don't want my life to be about deprivation.  I want it to be about fulfillment.  I just understand that in order for me to enjoy life, I have to be healthy.

Ok, its time for me to say it.  I weigh 170 pounds.  One hundred - seventy pounds. There I said it, ONE HUNDRED SEVENTY POUNDS LOL How do you put out there in the world that you weigh what you weigh?  For some people that may not seem like a lot, for others, well... - and again, what's a lot to me and for my body has to do with me.  I'm trying not to compare myself to others and neither should you.  In thinking about my weight loss goals, I wanted to focus on how I felt at a particular time in my life rather than some random number or guideline.  I know that I felt like a champ around a fit 135 or 140.  Seeing as I'm  5'6 (stretching LOL) with a medium frame, 140 works for me.   Think about the last time you felt really good and healthy - what size were you or how much did you weigh?  Why do you think you felt so good?  Were you fit?  Did you have a lot of energy?  Do you like how your clothes felt or your body looked?  I remember the last time I weighed 135.  I had just broken up with a long time boyfriend and started working out like a fanatic, not because I was trying to "find a man" but because I had a tremendous amount of stress in my life and I was trying not to think about the time I had "wasted" with him.  I had also left my job and was on a VERY tight budget so I was not spending any money eating out, so I was eating a lot less and a lot healthier (except for the Top Ramen). I lived in a hilly neighborhood and used to walk most days - a huge stress reliever for me.  The point is, in the "end", I felt really really good.  I had lost weight but more importantly, I had a lot of energy and felt good about myself.  My blood pressure and cholesterol levels were good.  I rarely got sick.  All in all, life was a lot better.  That's the feeling that I want to get back.

Will post pictures and measurements over the next couple of days.  I might as well put it all out there.

I also know that I need to find someone to walk with and soon!  That extra accountability is very helpful to me - plus, I'm social :-)

 "You don't have to be great to start, but you have to start to be great"  Zig Ziglar


BTW, got in my walk this morning.  Breakfast Shakeology, Lunch lamb, carrots and some grapes, Dinner will be shrimp scampi (grilled shrimp over some noodles)