Encouraged!

My mantra for today is “don’t let yourself be discouraged”. Why? Well let me explain…

Before the wedding I was in an awesome routine of cardio 2-3 days a week and weight training 3 days per week. Since about a week before the wedding I could count on my thumbs how many times I have weight trained. I know this is one of the many reasons my weight loss has halted. I had myself all psyched up to start my weight training again this morning. Last night, when I got home from work, while walking into my house I SLAMMED my knee into the metal door frame. It hurt like a bitch but it wasn’t until later in the evening when I realized how much it actually hurt. I woke up this morning being able to walk pretty much pain free, but bending my knee, squatting, or lunging hurt like hell. At first I thought, ok that’s fine, I’ll just modify my workout. Wrong, 8 out of 9 moves in this workout involve bending my knees for some reason or another. At first I got all discouraged and pissed off, but I quickly turned it around. So what? I can walk pain free, so, I’ll go to the gym and walk on the treadmill like I have been for the past two weeks. I’ll start my workouts on Sunday when my knee has had time to heal. No big deal. Don’t sweat the small stuff!

Another thing that could potentially have me discouraged? Remember how I spent a pretty penny on some motivational weight loss books yesterday? Well, I started reading those books last night. The first book I picked up was “The Biggest Loser: Success Secrets”. I love the show and have been using their simple philosophy of calories in/calories out for the past 5 months. It works for me. I love this book, it’s totally what I was looking for, something I can pick up when I don’t feel like working out, or feel like eating crap- and it will (hopefully) give me the encouragement to keep going! It’s totally goal oriented and has tons of positive success stories and secrets from past contestants on the show. Love it.

The second book I picked up is called “Skinny Bitch”. I’ve seen it on the book shelves and have picked it up many times, but never really considered reading it. When I was at the store yesterday it looked really great, and promised a simple philosophy that anyone can follow! Great right? WRONG! I’m having a total love/hate relationship with these authors. I love the manor in which it’s written: the authors take a relaxed, no bull attitude and tell you like it is. There are swear words and everything. However, their general philosophy is annoying. It starts out by talking about all the stuff you shouldn’t do. Most of it makes sense; don’t smoke, don’t drink, don’t ingest aspartame. Fine, but then; don’t drink caffeine (at all, no tea, no coffee), don’t eat/drink dairy, don’t eat meat (seriously). I understand what they’re saying, however, I don’t want to live the rest of my life eating just fruits, veggies, grains, and drinking water (because honestly that’s all they say you should be drinking). To me, that’s setting myself up for failure. Like I say, I understand what they’re getting at- don’t give your body things it doesn’t need. That’s great. If you have the willpower to do that, more power to you, pat yourself on the back. That’s just not for me. I will read through the rest of the book (I’ve now been skipping chapters that I can tell will make me mad), but I will do so in such a way that I am still able to return the book this weekend, I refuse to pay $13 for it. There are however tips that I will follow. The chapter I just read was talking about how you should ease yourself into (or away from) certain things. They say that instead of eliminating all of the “bad” things from your diet at once, you should do it week by week. Pick one thing each week to eliminate and add to it until you’re home free. I totally agree with this, just not all of what they want me to eliminate.

So, instead of being discouraged I’m going to be encouraged. So what if I can’t weight train today? I’m still going to the gym and getting my exercise in, and I’ll start the workouts on Sunday. My goal for the week as far as eliminating something? I’m going to give up pop again. I’ve done it before and it’s really not that hard for me. I like sparkling water and I love iced tea- so no issue there.

One day at a time!