Setting My Intentions

Setting intentions is an important tool for achieving goals. 

In my weight-loss journey, I had set a new goal for myself:  140 lbs. 

I am officially 11 pounds away, and I have a renewed sense of determination.  With this renewed feeling, it is necessary to reestablish my intentions. 

For these last 11 pounds before I head into maintenance, I WILL to do the following:

-- Stick to a solid, healthy diet.  Goal: 1200-1400 calories/daily

-- Gym workouts twice a week, either M.W or T.TH

[Gym workouts to combine a minimum of 20-30 min cardio with 15-20 min muscle group focus]

--Yoga workout once a week on Saturday or Sunday mornings

-- Increase water intake, decrease Diet Coke intake

[currently drinking 1 can of Diet Coke a day, limit to 1 can every other day]

-- Stay positive, happy, and healthy 

[tell yourself you are beautiful and capable every. single. day.]

I think it's vital to say that my last intention is my most important intention.  I think I have said previously that I used self-hatred to motivate myself in the past, and I am ready to put that mindset behind me.  I want to reach my goal while also loving my body. 

Now that I've set my intentions, what are yours?

Write them down... on a post-it, in your journal, in your phone, on a receipt...anywhere! Keep them to yourself or share them with a friend.  Either way, write them down, and remember to stay focused and motivated.  Refer to these intentions daily to remind yourself of your goals. 

And stay positive!

Motivation & Decisions

Motivation is an elusive creature.  

Finding the proper drive, determination, or motivation to do anything is exceptionally difficult for me.  I have been a lazy person my whole life.  For example:  "sloth" is a term used pretty often to describe me during my free time. 

Finding motivation to work on my career, no problem.  My career is currently driven by money [student loans, I'm looking at you...]. Solution: work.  

I want more money than I make now?  Solution: work harder. 

Plain and Simple.

Easy mindset.

Finding motivation to workout, on the other hand, eludes me.  

Especially recently.  

A Running Love-Hate Relationship

Running is hard.

When I first started losing weight in 2010, I was avidly against running.  It might have been due to the fact that every time I ran previously I would huff and puff and want to fall over after running about 20 yards.  Carrying an extra 60-ish pounds was no easy feat, and it does not help when trying to move rapidly.  Well, it doesn't help when trying to move at all. 

As I dropped pounds, I found myself intrigued by the treadmill.  In my lazy-girl brain, it looked like an ancient torture device, but in my new less-lazy-girl brain, it looked like a modern torture device.  But beauty is pain, right?

My roommate at the time would always hit the treadmill when we would go to the gym together, so I gave it a try.  Eventually I found myself starting to appreciate the benefits of running.  I always felt like I had worked just a little bit harder than if I used the elliptical or the stationary bike, and I started to challenge myself.  I had never run a full mile before, so that became a goal.

Eventually I did it.  And I hated every minute of it.

Running is hard.

But hitting that mile felt so satisfying.  I had finally overcome it.  I defeated what I hated, and I loved it.  Was I starting to love running? 

Nope. 

But from then on, when I went to the gym, I hopped on the treadmill.

Then I started participating in running events, because apparently dev.in.sight went dev.in.sane.

Here's my current running event log: