50 Pounds in 100 Days

Well, we are officialy 100 days away from Christmas. I really do not buy into all the sales and commercialized holiday mess but there is something about the holidays that drives people. Some it motivates them to help others and reflect on a year of struggles and blessings.... while others, are just driven crazy. LOL. Some are bitter, hateful, rude and just obnoxious because they can blame it on the season. Other individuals will throw all their ambition and little self-control to the wind so they can stuff themselves like the fat Thanksgiving Day turkey. Then as New Year's Day comes around they start to sober up and through the hangovers vow to live a whole new life for the coming year. The gyms are then packed for the first few weeks until the masses work off the poundage they packed on under their winter layers. So, we have 100 days to plan parties, read crayon scrawled wish lists and decide how we will spend our remaining days of 2014.
While you debate your next move between the anxiety filled thoughts now racing through your head.... I have already decided what I am going to focus on. I am choosing to mark it as 1 year since I had Gastric Bypass surgery. I started my weightloss journey 12 long months ago. Starting with my diet, adding excersize then ultimately having surgery. Like all decisions, it comes with the good, the bad and the ugly. But, i can't go back and change anything. Only reset my focus and reestablish my goals. I am not waiting for January 1st. I am starting now. I was forced by surgeon's orders to take time away from the gym but now I am back and ready to go.
  I have decided to give myself a personal challenge. 50 pounds in 100 days. Now do not go freaking out on me! I lost 80 pounds in 3 months this time last year. So, I know it can be accomplished. It will be a hell of a lot harder this time, since i fight fatigue and dehydration regularly. But, that does not detour my ambitions in the least. I am technicaly only 40 pounds away from my goal now but it does not have the ring to it that "50 Pounds in 100 daays" does. I will not be an unhealthy weight if I drop 50 pounds but I will have met and exceeded my personal lifetime goal and my challenge goal if I can pull it off. Now, to me, that sounds like a better way to end 2014!!!! Just a thought.
  So, my plan.... first and foremost is diet. I am going back to my basics. I was instructed to eat outside the normal diet because of lacking nutritional needs. However, I have since had blood work done that shows I am no longer "starving" and so I need to show my self discipline by going back to my simple but highly effective diet. I will be focusing on fresh fruits and vegetables and getting in my protein shakes daily. While making sure I have a completely balanced diet. I do NOT want to end up in the hospital again!
  Second on my plan is to re-insert myself in the gym 6 days a week. I can't believe how exhausted I feel. I miss having the gym as my daily routine. I am easing back into it and it may take awhile before I work up to 13 classes a week like I was doing before but my initial goal is daily. Taking Sundays as a recovery day. I need to sit down tonight and look at all the classes in relation to my new work schedule and see what I can work in. I may only be able to fit a few classes in but cardio and weights are just as fun.
  The third and final piece to my plan is rewards. I have NEVER given myself rewards before but this time the ballgame is completely new. I have decided that I will reward myself with Girl's Nights Out, New Clothing that actually fits my body (no more of the hiding under yards of fabric to hide my shape) and the occasional No Sugar Added Ice Cream :)  May not sound like much to you, but my close friends and family know this is a big step for me. I am quick to criticize my failures and not recognize my accomplishments. Well, I already stated I am working on the new me.... inside and out.
  I guess there should be a fourth part to my plan. MY BLOG! I believe in the power of accountability. By broadcasting my intentions to the world and putting it down in writing I truly believe I will achieve more than if I kept my goals to myself. I don't believe in setting myself up for failure. I want to give myself every single advantge I possibly can but that does not mean I will take the easy way out by any means. Just means I will have people watching me and my every move. Some will be those rude, self people I spoke of in the beginning...they will ony be watching to see me fail. While my true friends will be there cheering me on and be there at the celebration party!!!
  Yep! You just read that right! For the first time ever I am going to throw myself a party! Once I hit my goal or goals in this case, we are going to PARTY!!!! Better get ready! Because I am!

Finding Time and Motivation

  I asked my friends what they thought I should write about this time.... they suggested finding time to work out and how to find the motivation.
 
Let's start with Motivation
  It is very hard to find motivation to make changes to better yourself and even more difficult to recover when a slump hits. Slumps happen. It is so much easier to put on weight then take it off or I would be a size 1!
  So, you say you want to lose weight. You want to get healthy. But, you are too tired. Work too much. You don't have time. Sound familiar?  Guess what....there is no such thing as a magic pill, no quick fixes, no easy way out. sorry. I made the same excuses for years and eventually put on so much weight until it became painful to move. Vicious cycle. More weight, more pain, less activity.

First thing first.... Setting a specific goal.
  You made the decision to change. Now, you have to set a goal. What is it you really want? What do you want to accomplish most? Focus on that goal. Does not have to be 100 pounds! Start small! Set a goal that you can achieve in baby steps. Like 25 pounds. Still a big chunk of weight but easier to get to and it is on the way to 100. It is extremely important to know what you are working for. The vague "lose weight" doesn't work. Promise. You have to be able to track your progress to prevent or decrease the likelihood of hitting a slump and giving up.  SET THE GOAL.

Write it down, post it and share your goal.
  Once you have a clear cut goal, write it down. We post on social media everywhere we go, everything we do, all our complaints and now you can use this vice as an accountablity tool. When you have a reminder daily of your goal, you are more likely to keep on track and jump back on when you get derailed. Yes, I have had "friends" on facebook say some rude and downright hurtful remarks about me posting my workouts, weightloss and accomplishments. But, my really good friends who have supported me offered reassurance when I needed it most.And encouragement for those awful plateaus that come with the territory of weightloss. Get excited about your workout and accomplishments. Others will join in.

Find inspiration and make it a date.
  When you get excited and share it with friends you help inspire them. You can find inspiration in blogs, magazines, and from eachother. No one likes struggling alone and everyone wants to feel accomplished. So, find a fun activity and ask others to join. While it may take awhile for your enthusiasm to catch on, you may just be the final push someone else was needing! Doing an activity you enjoy and getting results is something others will notice! For example, Zumba. I love it! I am not good at it and laugh at myself constantly but I have a friend who has asked if there is a class on Friday evenings so we can go together. I found one at one of the Y branches so we have the date set. I am excited to jump back into my old routine and share it with another friend.

Make it a routine.
  Now that my friends have started joining me it has made the classes more fun. Someone to laugh with and sweat it out with, makes a huge difference. Making our classes (and the ones I do on my own) routine helps establish expectations. It helps eliminate the "too busy, no time" excuses. I know I have yoga on Saturdays and Mondays. Even though there are days I just don't want to go....it is part of my day. After a 12 hour day on Mondays at work, I have an hour of yoga before heading home. My TRX buddies know we belong to eachother every Friday morning. Instead of sleeping in on our day off, we get up,  work out and laugh through the pain.  We look forward to the posts after, when we can complain together about sore bodies and the rotations we struggled with most. We also can band together and poke fun at our other co-workers too lazy to join us. LOL.

No more couch potato.
  I was so happy when they joined in TRX with me. It is not easy getting people off the couch. Let alone on their days off! So, it means a lot to me that they keep coming back for more. However, I completely aware that not everyone can make it into the gym. However, the anti-couch potato movement does not have to be a group outing or a trip to the YMCA either. Start small. Start slowly. As time goes on, add more minutes to your work out. A work out is not defined by work out clothes, clearing the livingroom of furniture and going crazy. It can be small movements as long as you are moving. Lifting cans of soup while getting your tv fix. Or perhaps, when making dinner, stand away from the counter so you can lean forward and do standing push-ups off the countertop. After dinner go for a walk around the block. Take the kids, walk the dog, just move. I also recognize weather and other factors can keep you stuck inside. So, before thinking you have to give up tv bc it is going to lock you in the couch potato mode, remember the soup can weights? Oh yeah. Well, try this, when a commercial comes on, get up and do jumping jacks. 5 to 10 minutes of jumping jacks can burn 90 calories for a 150 pound woman. The more you weigh, the more calories you burn for the exact same excersize! If jumping jacks is too much for you right away, go for leg lifts while watching tv? The options are limitless.

Finding time.
  Some people get up early to make time.  Not me. I am NOT a morning person! The most important part part of finding time is that the work outs don't have to be long. 5 minutes a day is still 5 more than if you did nothing at all. Wear a pedometer or one of those new Fitbit bracelets that tracks everything you do. Then your goal is to best yesterday and tomorrow to be better than today. It all adds up. Someday, what was impossible today will just be a warm up. I am not exaggerating! When I started working out back in October I could only do 5 minutes on the bike before my back was looking me and I could not even get the elliptical machine going. Now I go an hour on the bike and 15 minutes on the elliptical. For me, that is a huge difference. It only took 3 months to get there.  But, don't over do it! If you push to hard too quick you could hurt yourself. Pain holds us back from so many things. Leads to discouragement and failure.

Success.
  Squish negative thoughts and tell the haters to get a life! There are so many more of us to support you and don't let the morons bring you down. They need you to stay the same because they are not strong enough to change themselves.  Think of the benefits you are trying to achieve instead of the difficulties.  Not always as easy as saying it.  I complain a lot when I get discouraged but I see my friends supporting me and I use the hateful remarks as my fuel. I want, no NEED to prove them wrong! Show them I can do this and they can't hold me back.  I've got this. You can too. Just need to believe you do. Thank those who have been there and continue to be. They are the ones worth your time. YOU are worth the time.