Day 22 - If there were a medal for making excuses...I would win the gold!

Although still very focused on my goal, there are always things and just life in general that seem to want to detour you from doing what you need to do. I am the QUEEN of making excuses, sometimes they are so elaborate and well thought-out that I give myself a break just for being so clever. :)

Do you ever find yourself doing this? You know that you had a rest day yesterday, and that you need to work out today, but instead you say..."Well, my body would want me to rest two days like a "weekend" and then workout extra hard tomorrow." Or "My cousin's uncle's sister's cousin's brother is having a get together, and I really need to be there and bring cupcakes, I can't just not bring cupcakes." Ha ha. Even now as I sit here writing this (hopefully) inspirational blog I am thinking to myself, "If I write a blog, then I shouldn't have to physically work out. I am giving my brain a work out."

Let me tell you that a world full of excuses is not going to make that number on the scale go down. I always feel better once I get to it, so I really try to focus on that. So next time you need to "take a nap with your cat, because it would be terrible if they napped alone" instead of working out, just think about how good you feel when you work out. Mind, body, and soul energized from a good work out. And if all else fails...offer yourself a reward for working out. When I finish my workout I am going to watch that trashy TV show I love....if I work out 5 days this week I will get myself a massage this weekend. Reward yourself! You deserve it!

Day 7 - Sometimes one week feels like forever...

I will reiterate that in the beginning it's always hard to get your momentum going. After a week I feel like I've been eating like a bird and working out forever already. This is both good and bad. Coming home and working out feels natural to me, part of my routine. This is good. The bad part is that when you feel like you've been doing it for a while and not seeing any results you tend to feel a little discouraged. I am not going to let those bad vibes kill my flow.

Over the weekend I celebrated my husband's birthday. Of course birthday's are full of yummy food and of course homemade treats. I bet you are prepared to read on that I gorged myself full of food, and fell off the wagon. Well predictable Carey, I tricked you! I stayed around my calorie goal every day (even including treats). This is SO huge for me! It's easy to fall off the wagon, and so much harder to get back on. I am on that wagon!!!

I want to share some positive insights with you blog-reader...I still eat what I want, I just eat less of those things. I think when some people think of diets they think of eating two celery sticks and a glass of water, but I enjoy all the foods that I always have, but I portion control myself.

Part of what encouraged me to start working out and watching what I eat is controlling my budget. A couple months ago (right around my birthday) I decided that it was high time I start being an adult and managing my money better. I was amazed with how into budgeting I was and still am. It's nice to see where all your money goes. I'm sure you're wondering why I am talking about budgeting on my fitness blog, but I promise you there is a correlation. Now when I think about purchasing things, I always think to myself first, "Do I want to spend $X of my $Y budget on this?" I find that when I ask myself this, I spend a lot less money on things I don't need. Now here's where the eating well comes in. I think to myself of my calorie goal as my budget. Z amount of calories. "Do I want to eat that icecream and spend Q amount of my calories of my Z total calories?" Again, the answer is usually no. This put it in a little bit better perspective for me, and I hope it makes sense to you.

Thanks for all the positive encouragement and feedback. I don't know where I would be without it!

**If anyone needs help with budgeting, let me know. I am now a budgeting wiz!**

Day 2 - Going Strong

Day 2 is a lot harder then day 1. It's easy to say that you are going to do something one time, but it's getting over that hump where it starts to feel natural that takes some time. I went to work today and found myself mid-morning with a giant migraine headache. I came home from work a little early, and slept feeling refreshed.

I pushed myself and did Day 2 of my workout. I am really proud of myself! I also have to say that I feel really blessed by the amount of support that I receive on my blog. I am not sure I could do it without you guys!

Let's keep it going!

Day 2:
Running
Lunges
Shoulder Press
Kick-Ups
Bicep Curls
High Knees

Yoga

Back on the wagon, yeehaw!

I apologize profusely bloggers; I have been horrible to you...again. I won't lie to you, this probably won't be the last time that I abandon you for a short time. Life just gets in the way sometimes.

Let me quickly catch you up...

Did this...


And this.... (Honeymooned that is.)
moved to here... (San Diego, CA)

got one of these... (a job!)
and forgot to do any of this...

or this...

This is not the first time I have fallen of track with my exercising and healthy eating, but I'm trying. If you didn't notice from the above, I got married, honeymooned, moved to San Diego, and got a job all since my last blog post. That's a lot of things to happen in just a few short months, so I cut myself some slack. Last week I joined a new gym with my sister and husband. I wasn't sure how it would be without the safety of my gym and my gym friends there encouraging me, and while I miss my EQ friends and trainers SO much, I was surprised that I am able to get on fine by myself. Not only have I been pushing myself to my limits, but I have been encouraging my sister and husband (who have not ever been members to a gym before) to push themselves too. Motivating them, is motivating me. Go figure!

I am starting off slow with just a couple days a week. Small goals! That should be my life motto right now. If you set small goals for yourself and achieve them, you feel great, and because you achieve them so often it makes you feel great all the time. How can you lose?

If you are one of many people that set a goal to work out, lose weight, eat healthier, or just want a better quality of life. You are not alone. I am here with you. So let's do this together, and make 2010 a productive and healthy year.