I got to go to the gym today. I got to walk in on my own two feet. I got to get a good workout in. I got to move without restriction.

It’s no secret I’ve struggled to find motivation in this season. This morning as I was begrudgingly pushing up the chest press bars, I remembered something.

I know someone who isn’t able to move one of their arms right now. To stand up unassisted is a big deal to her. To pinch together her fingers to pick up a small object is a huge accomplishment. To walk slowly on the treadmill with safeties in place is monumental. She is in the health fight of her life and crushing it!

I know someone else from social media, a friend of some of my friends. She too is in a health fight. Taking a lap around her house is a victory. She also doesn’t have the use of one of her arms right now. Moving from her bed to a chair outside for a few minutes a day is a win. Tiny little things that I take for granted are giant victories for her.

I don’t need motivation. I just need a little gratitude. When I struggled to lift the bar, I thought of my friend picking up that tiny object and moving it to the other side of her chair. When I started dragging, I thought of the brave lady fighting every day to get her health back. And I was grateful.

Today I got to go to the gym. I got to walk in on my own two feet. I got to get a good workout in. I got to grip the bar with both hands. I got to use all of the machines. I got to increase the weights on some and the reps on others. I got to do what a lot of people only wish they could do.

I am grateful.

One of the benefits of the gym I joined is, every day after my workout I get a hydro- massage. This helps to reduce muscle soreness, decrease inflammation, and speed up recovery.

Recovery after working out is important. During exercise, lactic acid builds up in the muscles, leading to soreness due to reduced oxygen flow. Getting a massage enhances blood circulation, delivers oxygen to the muscles and flushes out toxins produced during exercise, ultimately aiding in faster recovery.

If you don’t have access to a hydromassage chair, you can still speed up recovery. Focus on staying hydrated by drinking plenty of water, incorporate stretching and foam rolling to ease muscle tension, and consume a protein-rich meal to support muscle repair. Getting good sleep also helps!

This also made me think how important recovery is in our day to day life. Whether we know it or not, we can carry a lot of weight. We can experience stress and pressure that build up if we aren’t careful. We need to make sure we do something daily to speed up our recovery.

What does this look like on a practical level? Here are a couple of things you can do to aid in your recovery from everyday life:
Sit outside for 15-20 minutes every day. (Not on your phone) Being outside, just resting, reduces stress, helps you sleep better, and improves your focus.

Take time to spend with God. Prayer, worship, or reading the Word helps to give you renewed strength, deeper faith and a closer connection to God. The comfort and peace that is found in His presence will override the greatest stress, pressure, worry and anxiety.

Take the time for proper recovery. In your workout routine or life in general. You will be better for it!

When I first started this journey I had a goal. To be the best version of myself for my 50th birthday. That was great and I achieved that goal, but after I achieved it I lost my motivation. I’ve spent six months trying to find something else to inspire me.

This past week something life changing happened to me. My grandson was born! I knew I would love him but I was not prepared for the overwhelming depth of the love I would feel.

The same week that he was born I noticed some things in my body that weren’t there before. Different aches and pains. Things that don’t work quite as well as they used to.

The day after he came home from the hospital, I woke up with a weird pain in my knee. I hadn’t done anything to injure it so I chalked it up to getting older. I did look on the internet a little and I’m not sure that I should have, because I didn’t like what Google had to say. The truth is, I’m getting older. But I’m going to fight it every step of the way.

I have a grandson now. And I want to be able to run around with him! I don’t want to be sidelined because of physical limitations. I want to be in my very best shape so that I can be there for him as he grows up. I want to be the very best Gia I can be. That’s my why. That’s my motivation.

This week I didn’t let my knee stop me from working out. In fact I pushed a little harder at the gym. And now, at the end of the week, my knee is doing better. It’s not back to 100% but it’s almost there.

It’s great to have goals, in fact it’s necessary. It’s greater to have motivation! Motivation keeps you going after your goals have been met!

If you’ve felt a little stuck, ask yourself, “What’s my why?” If you can’t answer that, take some time to figure it out. Find your motivation! It will help you reach your goals!

For the past two and half years I have worked out at home in my garage. I got great results. In fact, I was in the best shape of my life from those workouts. However, as I mentioned in a previous post, I wasn’t motivated at home anymore so I talked my husband into joining a gym with me.

I asked ChatGPT to make me a workout program for my 50 year old self that included weight training, strength training and toning using machines, free weights and bands.

I’m in the third week of this new routine. I get up early with my husband, we ride to the gym together, we pray together on the way, we do our individual workouts, sometimes hit the hydro massage for me and the cryobed for him, and stop at Dunkin on our way home. I love it, and I think I might have gotten my mojo back.

One thing I have noticed is that my muscles are hurting in new ways. I’m seeing different results than before. Using the machines I previously didn’t have appears to be working. That makes sense. New moves equals new results.

I’ve heard it said, “If you want something you’ve never had, you have to do something you’ve never done.” You can’t get new results doing the same old thing. You have to make adjustments and do something new.

This is true in every area of life. Where do you want to see new results? Look at what you are doing and see if it’s working. If what you’re doing isn’t producing what you are looking for, do something different. What new thing can you do to see that new result?

Last week I was working out at the gym and I was having trouble with one of the machines. It was something I hadn’t used before and I could not figure out how to make it work. I walked around the whole thing, looked at all the knobs and bars and still could not figure out what I was supposed to do.

There was a lady working out nearby who must’ve seen how perplexed I was. She stopped what she was doing and came over to the machine, hopped on it and showed me what I needed to do to make it work.

There were two things this taught me. First, don’t be afraid to ask for help when you need it. I spent a bit of time trying to figure out what to do, when it took ten seconds for someone to just show me. If I would’ve asked for help I would’ve saved myself that wasted time.

Second, be a person that helps others. That lady didn’t have to help me. She didn’t have to stop what she was doing to show me what I was doing wrong. There were quite a few people in that area, but she noticed I needed help and then did something about it.

I’d like to think I’m like that, but it made me wonder. How often am I so caught up in my own stuff that I don’t notice when those around me might need help? Or maybe I notice but decide they will figure it out, and I don’t need to take the time to offer my assistance.

A little help doesn’t hurt whether you’re the one receiving it or giving it.

For the past six months I’ve been in a slump. I still worked out four days a week, but I wasn’t diligent in my eating. For the past six weeks, my slump turned into a full blown regression. Not only did I not eat right, I didn’t work out either. I would wake up, put my workout clothes on, get my C4, sit down on the bench to look at my workout, and spend the next 45 minutes trying to figure out how to get motivated again.

I haven’t gotten on the scale, so I’m not exactly sure how much this set back has cost me. I feel quite certain that six weeks of no restraint, holiday goodies, and no physical fitness have taken their toll. I don’t really want to know how much. How far I have fallen is irrelevant to me.

What matters to me is that today I started over. I went back to the beginning. Working out in my garage wasn’t doing it for me so I changed it up a little bit and joined a gym. Today I woke up long before the sun came up, hit the gym and got a great full body workout in. I started tracking my food intake again, and taking all my vitamins and supplements like I’m supposed to.

Once I have a few weeks under my belt, I’ll get back on the scale and do my measurements. Then I’ll start tracking that too. Although I may not know exactly where I’m starting from, I know where I’m going and what I want my end result to be. So today I started over.

Sometimes all you need is a little reset, but don’t be afraid to completely start over if you need to. Forget about where you were (or are). Don’t think about how you failed or the setback you might have experienced. Look to where you want to be and where you are going and start over with a new level of vision and focus!

I have a very bad habit. I don’t usually warm up before I work out. As a result I strain my muscles more than necessary. I’m usually a little sore, after working out. However, my lack of proper warm up causes my muscles to stay tight, which causes my back and shoulders to hurt.

I had a massage yesterday. Not a relaxing, spa massage. A real, recovery massage. All of my muscles got unknotted, and my back put into alignment. And it was not comfortable. It actually hurt. I even cried during part of it. And last night I was really sore.

Then why, you might be asking, would you even subject your self to that? Because sometimes, without the hurt, healing can’t happen.

My massage didn’t feel good in the moment, but my range of motion was better, my nagging lower back and shoulder pain was gone, and my muscles were looser than they have been in a really long time. All the tension and stress I was carrying dissolved.

I think we often live with the discomfort, the dull ache, and the pain. We normalize it and tell ourselves that’s just the way it is. We walk around just dealing with it. Just dealing with it is far less painful than really dealing with it. Really dealing with it can require a level of hurt that we don’t want to experience in the moment, but it’s what is necessary to bring healing.

Don’t carry the pain anymore. Don’t run from the necessary hurt that will fix it. Embrace it. That might mean going and getting a recovery massage, or talking to a therapist, or resolving that you are going to sit with the pain and face it head on. It might hurt for a minute, but the long term effect is healing and freedom for your body, your mind, and your soul.

I got a new round of workouts last week. They are a little challenging as they always are at first. And boy, am I sore! I’ve had a dull ache in my arms and legs. But I know this pain and it’s good. It hurts because I’m growing. So, even though it’s not comfortable, I’m ok with it. Even though it hurts I keep going.

The other day, however, I did some sort of squat or lunge and felt a lot of pain in one of my inner thighs. I immediately stopped. Because I recognized that pain also, and it wasn’t a good thing.

That kind of pain was because I wasn’t warmed up yet and my muscles were straining. If I had kept going I would have pulled something and then been sidelined for a few days while it healed. I warmed up for a few minutes then resumed my workout without pain.

There are two kinds of pain: Some pain is good but some is bad. It’s important to know the difference. If you are experiencing pain because of growth, keep going, it’s part of the process. However, if the pain is caused by something else, figure out what adjustments you need to make to avoid serious injury.

That might mean adjusting your schedule, reallocating responsibilities, changing some relationships, or creating new habits and rhythms.

You learn from both kinds of pain. The good kind of pain teaches you to push through and overcome. The bad kind of pain teaches you what not to do in the future.

If you are experiencing pain, evaluate which kind it is and determine what you need to do to either keep going or what you need to change!

This morning as I was working out, an emergency alert started going off on my phone. A monster Category 5 hurricane is barreling toward our state. It’s anticipated to hit the other side of the state but current projections have it exiting right over my community as a pretty significant storm. As a 23 year Floridian I’ve lived through my share of hurricanes. Here are a few things I’ve learned about how to face a storm. They not only relate to actual storms, but life in general.

1. Be prepared. The only good thing about hurricanes is, you know they are coming. You have time to weather proof your property, stock up on needed items and get a game plan. You have time to evacuate if you feel that’s necessary. You have time to prep food to heat up on the grill if the power goes out. You have time to prepare. Preparation time is never wasted time. During storms or in life. Stay prepared for what’s happening in your life. Don’t wait until the last minute, plan ahead and do what you need to do to stay ready for anything.
2. Be prayerful. The Bible tells us to worry about nothing and pray about everything. When you are watching a storm approach, literally or figuratively, it can be easy to worry. Instead of allowing anxiety and worry to cloud your mind choose to pray. You can’t change anything by worrying. You won’t make sound decisions when you are worrying. Worry puts your attention on the problem. Prayer turns your focus to the Problem-solver.
3. Be at peace. Peace isn’t the absence of trouble, it’s the awareness of God’s presence in the midst of trouble. When Jesus was faced with storms He had so much peace that He was either asleep or walking on the water. Fear will come to try to bring chaos in your mind, but you can have peace that overrides that fear and enables you to have faith in the midst of the biggest storm.

I went to my new primary care doctor yesterday for an annual check up. The nurse got my health history, and checked my vital statistics. The doctor’s office tends to make me nervous for some reason so my blood pressure is usually elevated when I’m there, but still pretty good.

When the doctor came in he commented on my blood pressure and said it was so good it was that of a teenager! Since I turned 50 this year I’ll take any reference comparing me to a teen!

I was surprised though. I’ve been under a tremendous amount of pressure and stress lately and up until a couple of weeks ago my eating habits weren’t the best. I haven’t been getting enough sleep lately either. I have been diligent to workout regularly and for the past two weeks I’ve been back to watching what I eat.
I guess it’s paying off!

I say I just want to be healthy, but let’s be honest, my goals have been more geared to what I look like in a swimsuit. Right now I’m ten pounds above where I was 5 months ago (and 14 from the goal I had when I started this journey.) Some of my clothes don’t fit me right now. I haven’t been happy with what I’m seeing in the mirror.

But, I’m healthy. Very healthy in fact. And that is the most important thing!

Too often I think we focus on the things that don’t matter the most. And we base our idea of success off of those things so get frustrated when don’t seem to be measuring up. The most important things though, are what need our attention and focus.

This was such a good reminder for me to put the priority of my health above the priority of how I look. It doesn’t matter if I fit in my jeans if I’m not physically healthy. The choices I make from this point forward will be filtered through the goal of staying healthy. The right priority is now my first priority.

Have you prioritized the wrong things while the right things are what need your attention? Revisit what the most important things are and work towards those goals and everything else will work itself out!

My husband and I have a 12 week goal. Shed one pound a week for 12 weeks. I don’t say lose a pound because I’ve lost plenty of pounds and they seem to keep finding me again! This is a doable, obtainable goal.

Week one I did all the right things. Ate right, worked out, drank my water. I got on the scale Monday morning and guess what? It said the same number as the week before. (I always make this disclaimer- numbers on a scale don’t necessarily mean anything. For me, I know my body well enough to know when those numbers are what need to change.)

The hardest thing for momentum is when you don’t see results. Lack of progress can lead to lack of motivation. Why do all the right things when all the right things aren’t getting you the results you want to see? Why keep working so hard with no visible changes? Why do all the things you don’t necessarily want to do, without a positive result from it?

The simple answer is, just do it anyways. What looks like lack of progress in a moment might just be a step towards the result you want to see. And if you keep going anyways you will see positive changes, even if they are small.

Monday, even though I didn’t see the result of last week’s hard work, I still took care of business. I crushed my workout. Did everything I needed to do with my eating plan. I acted like what I was doing was working and didn’t allow the lack of result to derail me from my overall purpose.

When I checked up on Wednesday I was shocked to see I was down a pound and a half. I don’t live and die by the scale, but I’m on track to be at my Week Two goal by Sunday. This motivates me a little extra. A little bit of progress creates big momentum.

When you aren’t seeing the result of your diligence, keep working hard. Look for a little bit of progress- a half pound down, a little looser waistband, a little more muscle definition. Use the little wins to fuel your determination to keep going toward the overall goal!

You’ve got this! I believe in you! Go Crush your goals!

I looked in the mirror today, and I’m going to be honest. I didn’t love what I saw. I didn’t love the fact that I’ve put on ten pounds (and it’s not muscle). I didn’t love the way my swimsuit fit. I didn’t love how I looked.

Yeah, I know you’re supposed to be body positive, and love yourself no matter what and all that jazz. BUT there is a difference between loving yourself and NOT loving where you’re at.

I can love myself, and acknowledge that I have some work to do. I can love myself and recognize that where I’m at is a step back from where I’ve been and an even bigger step back from where I want to be. I can love myself and still look at myself realistically. Not in a negative, shaming way. In a healthy way that motivates me to get my butt in gear.

I don’t love where I’m at right now, so what am I going to do about it? I have a few choices:
Accept it and just resign myself to where I’m at.
Complain about it but do nothing to change it.
Look myself square in the eye and do what I need to do to not only get back to where I was, but achieve the goal I set for myself two years ago.

I choose option 3. Vacation is over, summer is done, and all of the excuses I’ve made for not doing the right things are null and void!

I not only want to love myself, but also love where I’m at. So I’ll put in the work, make the right choices and do what I need to do to be the best version of myself!

How about you? Which option will you choose? I vote that you pick #3 too! Let’s do this together!

I inadvertently, sort of took a break. After two years of consistently working out 3-4 days a week. After being disciplined to do the workouts my trainer gave me, no matter what, even on vacation. I rearranged schedules, worked around things like events or travel, and even overcame sickness to make sure I got those workouts in.

A few weeks ago we had our annual conference and I got my hair done, and honestly, just did not want to mess it up. I worked out the two days before my hair appointment, but not for the rest of the week. I didn’t make up my missing workouts.

The next week we were traveling and when I got back there was a glitch with my app. I did one of my workouts that week, but not the other three. I didn’t make those up either. And I didn’t feel bad about it!

After two weeks of not pressuring myself, just doing what I could do, and taking a break from the rigid schedule I have myself on, I went back at it.

It turns out that taking a break was the best thing I could have done. When I started my workouts again, the slump that I had been in for the past two months, wasn’t there anymore. I was energized, ready to workout, and mentally engaged. Sometimes you have to walk away from things for a moment, (note I said a moment, not forever) in order to gain a fresh perspective and outlook.

If you’re in a bit of a stagnant place right now, push pause and take a break. Give your break a time limit, I would say no longer than two weeks, and use the time to refresh and refocus so you come back stronger when it’s over!

A week or so ago, my daughter saw one of our friends on social media. She said, “I’m sorry to tell you this Mom, but her arms look better than yours.”

Let me pause right here. There was a time when those words would have bothered me, a lot! I would’ve gotten defensive, scrutinized pictures to see if in fact my arms were lacking in some way. I would’ve immediately made a plan to take my arm workouts to another level. Thankfully I’ve evolved and now that wasn’t my response.

I said, “You’re right! They do! Im happy she looks so good. I’m not in a competition. She inspires me to keep up my hard work. ” I meant every single word. Someone else’s success doesn’t diminish my progress.

How often do we do that though? Do we look at other’s victories and instead of being inspired, become deflated because that’s not where we are? Do we see someone else’s achievements, and rather than celebrating with them, feel jealous that that’s not what we have or where we are?

What if, we instead, used the success of others to push us to the place we want to be? My husband often says, “Success leaves breadcrumbs.” Meaning if I see some who is crushing it in areas I want to succeed in, I can follow their example. If they did it, so can I!

Life isn’t a competition. The only person you have to compete with is yourself. The next time you see someone who has what you wish you had, or is what you want to be, don’t eye them up with envy. Watch what they do, and how they do it. Implement those strategies in your own life, and watch how you begin to grow!

I’m gonna be honest. Your girl is struggling! My little slump hasn’t gone away. I’m still not feeling any motivation. My pizazz is at a level zero. I have absolutely no desire to workout. I want to eat dessert all day. That bag of chips leftover from my son’s graduation party is calling my name. I do not feel like being healthy.

BUT! My feelings aren’t the boss of me. I’m the boss of me. So whether I’m feeling it or not, I’m not giving myself any other choice but to power through and do what I’m supposed to do.

Yes I will get up and workout, even if it takes me longer than usual. No I won’t have that piece of chocolate, even though it’s just a tiny piece. No I won’t eat potato chips, no matter how good those Ruffles ridges look. Yes I will eat my protein, even when the thought of chicken is not appealing. At all. Yes I will do what I’m supposed to do even when I don’t really want to.

Why? Because I’m the only boss of me and I’m not going to let temporary feelings knock me off my course. Temporary feelings can change permanent results if you let them. They can destroy your progress. They can mess up your mindset. They can derail you from the results you are looking for.

Remember those feelings are temporary. That slump isn’t going to last forever. Tell yourself, “I’m the only boss of me!” And make yourself do what you need to do instead of what you feel like doing! I promise it will be worth it in the end.

For almost two years I’ve been working hard toward the goal of being my most fit on my 50th birthday. My 50th birthday was two weeks ago. And since then I’ve been in a slump. I have had zero motivation. I have had to force myself to workout. I’ve been slipping on eating right. Thankfully I have great will power so I’ve been sticking to the plan. It’s been extremely difficult though.

I met my goal, but now what? How do I inspire myself to keep going? You might be thinking, “that’s easy, just set another goal!” I have. I have another long term goal, and a few short term ones too. For me the new goals have not been enough to spark me, and I think I figured out why.

While I have decided what my new goals are, (and the short term ones even have upcoming deadlines) I have not taken the time to actually sit with my goals and wrap my head around them. I haven’t mentally fixed my mind on them. I set a goal but I didn’t take the time to get the overall vision of where I want to be. That doesn’t work for me.

So today I’m going to take a little bit of time to sit down, get a clear vision for where I want to be and when I want to be there, and figure out the goals I need to set to make that happen.

If you are in a little bit of a slump, maybe that’s what you need to do too. Don’t just reset your goals, take the time to reset your vision. Vision motivates you. Vision constrains you. Vision keeps you focused. Vision brings you out of the slump and puts you back on the right path!

Let’s do this together! I believe in you!

Last Memorial Day I attempted the CrossFit Murph workout. 1 mile Run, 300 Squats, 200 Push-ups, 100 Pull Ups, 1 Mile Run. In a weighted vest.
In honor of fallen soldier Lt. Michael Murphy.

I didn’t wear a weighted vest. I did assisted pull ups, girl pushups and I’m sure my squats wouldn’t have passed the CrossFit standard. But I did it. It took me 90 minutes. But I did it. I broke it up into 20 rounds of a .10 mile run, 5 pull-ups, 10 pushups and 15 squats. But I did it. It wasn’t pretty. But I did it.

This year I still didn’t wear a weighted vest. I still did assisted pull ups. I still did girl pushups. And my squats still wouldn’t have passed. But I did it! And instead of 20 rounds, I doubled everything up and did it in 10. And I finished it in 70 minutes this year. I shaved 20 minutes off last year’s time!

I had to go inside to get some water ¾ of the way through. I was red as a tomato, sweating like crazy and breathing very heavily. My daughter said, “Why are you doing that if it’s so hard for you.” I said, “Because I started it so I have to finish it.”

Lt. Michael Murphy didn’t quit when it got hard. He didn’t quit even to the point of giving his life, so I could sweat it out in my garage this morning. So there was no way I was going to quit either.

Thank you to Lt. Murphy, all of the soldiers who have given their life for our freedom, and all of the families who have a life sized void because of that sacrifice. On this Memorial Day I remember you, I honor you, and I salute you!

No matter how hard things get, there are brave men and women who sacrificed so I could do those hard things. So I’ll finish everything I start, with a heart of gratitude!

When I started this fitness journey almost two years ago I had a goal- Be the best version of myself on my 50th birthday.

I had a picture in my mind of what that looked like. Six pack abs, chiseled arms, hips without an ounce of fat on them. In my mind I would look like a fitness competitor.

My birthday is 6 days away. I do not look like the picture I had in my mind. Don’t get me wrong, I’m happy with my results so far but I tend to still see how much more I want to achieve.

If I think about my mental interpretation of my goal I might get discouraged because it seems like I’m not going to achieve it.

My goal wasn’t to look like a fitness competitor though, my goal was to be the best version of myself on my 50th birthday. I’ve crushed that goal. Right now I am absolutely the best version of me that I have ever been.

Don’t let the picture of what you think your goal should look like overshadow the goal itself. Don’t create an imaginary reality that defines your goal.

Look at the goal you set, consistently work toward it day by day, and get a realistic expectation for what achieving it looks like! You might find that you are crushing it more than you think!

Want to know the secret to getting results? There is no secret. There isn’t a magic pill you can take where you snap your fingers and suddenly you’re where you want to be. It takes work. Hard work. Consistent work.

It means you show up even when you don’t want to. It means you make right choices and decisions that lead you to your goals. It means that you put in the work every day whether you see the results or not.

There is no shortcut to lasting results. A quick fix is only temporary, it isn’t maintainable and it doesn’t last. In order to be where you want to be you have to put in the work.

In July it will be 2 years since I started this fitness journey. I wanted to be the best version of myself by my 50th birthday. (which is less than a month away now)

I have had to work hard with my workouts, with my diet, with everything. When I work hard I see results. When I start slacking, that shows too. Nothing has happened instantly. It’s taken a lot of hard work.

Right now I am the healthiest, strongest version of myself that I have ever been. When I wake up on my 50th birthday next month I’m going to be proud. Because I’ll know I met my goal.

So what’s the secret to seeing the results you want to see? Hard work. That’s the secret. That’s the trick. Nothing else.

I am my own worse critic. I have goals I have set for myself both long term and short term and I am working really hard to not just reach but exceed those goals. That means I am continually looking for progress.

That isn’t a bad thing but if I’m not careful it’s not good. Because I have an end goal in mind, it’s easy to miss the victories along the way. I get so focused on the destination that I forget to celebrate the journey.

Lately I’ve had a lot of people comment on the changes they see. I see myself every day and every day I look for those changes. Most of the time I don’t see anything different.
Probably because I’m too close to the situation.

Where I see tiny, almost imperceptible differences, others see a lot of progress. Where I see the things I don’t want to see, others see the things I don’t. Where I see how far I have to go, others see how far I’ve come.

Are you like me? Do you stay focused on where you’re going and forget to celebrate where you’ve come from? Are you so critical of yourself that you only think of the things you need to work on instead of recognizing the progress you’ve made? Have you forgotten to think about the victories you’ve already achieved?

Let’s stop doing that! Let’s take the time today to really look at how far we’ve come. Even if we aren’t where we want to be yet, we are not where we used to be and that’s worth celebrating!

I tend to be an all or nothing type of person. Either I’m all in or not at all. So when it comes to setting goals, especially short term goals, I have the tendency to be unrealistic. Having big aspirations isn’t bad, but if I’m not careful, I just set myself up for failure.

For example, an achievable goal for me is to be 1-2 pounds down at the end of a week. If I get excited about strictly following my eating plan, adding in extra workouts, and being super diligent, I might have the tendency to set my goal at 5 pounds.

5 pounds isn’t realistic. I didn’t say it wasn’t possible, I said it wasn’t realistic. Sure I could do a liquid fast for the week, work out extra, and add in an hour of cardio everyday, but even then if I did happen to drop those 5 pounds (which at my age is still highly unlikely) that’s not something I could do on a regular basis. A 5 pound loss in a week isn’t maintainable. The minute I start eating again, even if I’m eating the right things, I will put some of those pounds right back on. Leaving me to be discouraged because I failed to meet the goal.

I set my goal at 2 pounds of fat to be gone at the end of each week. In the back of my mind I also know that it might only be 1, and some weeks maybe none. But I also know I’m doing everything I’m supposed to do so I don’t let what the scale says, or what I still see in the mirror bother me. I just set a new goal for the next week.

Having a lofty long term goal isn’t bad, but the mini goals that you set to get to the big one need to be realistic, achievable and maintainable.

Take a look at the goals you set for yourself, if they are unrealistic, tweak them to be something you can actually achieve. Don’t set yourself up for failure and disappointment. Set yourself up to win! Week by week, day by day, keep working towards those achievable goals and in the end you will see results!

Being consistent is easy when your results are what you want to see. But what happens when they are not? Staying focused for a week without results is cute, but what about when it’s been longer?

What if you’ve worked really hard, done everything right, day in and day out over a period of time and you still don’t see what you want to see? How do you get the motivation to stay consistent when it seems you have nothing to show for it? (P.S. I’m not just talking about fitness)

Trusting the process means you stay consistent for the sake of being consistent, not because of the results you see or don’t see. Focus on the process. Chances are, there will be results that are unexpected.

For me, although I have a couple of areas that are stubborn and don’t seem to want to define themselves the way I want them to, I’m stronger than I used to be. I’m getting stronger every week and notice changes in other areas too.

Instead of being discouraged by what appears to be a lack of progress, I am changing a few things up and staying focused on the process. For me, this means adding in some different elements to target those specific parts, and tweaking my diet.

And if in the end I still don’t see those results there is always liposuction! Calm down, I’m kidding! (Maybe)

Wether it takes two weeks, two months or two years, I’m just going to keep staying consistent. I know that overall I’m doing what I’m supposed to do and that the results will be there in the end, both in regard to my health and life overall!

If you feel like you’ve worked really hard without the end results you were looking for, don’t give up. Tweak some things, change up what you have to, and stay focused on the process. You’re further along than you were, and even if it seems like you have a long way to go, just stay consistent. You’ll get there!

I’m out of town for a quick visit with
my family. Last night my mom had homemade yeast rolls at dinner and she served a lemon blueberry pound cake bread pudding with Blue Bell vanilla ice cream and a blueberry sauce for dessert.

There are two things I regularly avoid, sugar and bread. I can easily do without sweets, as much as I like them. My weakness however, is bread. Especially fresh, hot, homemade bread with butter. I can eat my entire weight in rolls!

Thankfully I saw the rolls rising on the counter, and the bread pudding baking earlier in the day and did some calculating. I tracked my food intake for breakfast and lunch, saw what I had left and was able to factor in 1 roll and a very small amount of the delicious dessert. All while staying within my guidelines. Not a “cheat”, but a “treat”.

You don’t have to deprive yourself when you are working toward fitness goals, but you do have to stay disciplined and set guidelines to account for a treat here and there.

Normally I might have thrown caution to the wind and inhaled a few (or more) of those rolls, and a larger bowl of the bread pudding. But last night I stayed balanced. I was able to have my treat, and I felt good about it. Today I got up early and got my workout in before leaving for the airport. I’ll also balance it out by foregoing sugar and needless carbs today. I have goals I’m trying to meet!

Sometimes allowing yourself a treat helps you stay on track in an even greater way. Don’t completely deprive yourself, just because you are trying to meet your goals. If you need a treat, figure out how to do that with balance, in a way that doesn’t compromise your objective!

Stay focused, factor in your treats, balance everything out and meet those goals you have set for yourself!

When I was getting ready for my wedding 20 years ago, I did Pilates regularly. Not at a studio with fancy equipment. At my house, with a DVD. I did the same workout every day. 20 minutes with Mari Windsor, who was the Pilates guru at that time.

I am a long person, I have a long torso, long waist and long legs. So for me, Pilates is something my body responds to very well. Pilates doesn’t give me the muscle definition in my arms that I have since gained through working out with weights, but it is excellent for my abs, hips, thighs and bum.

A couple of weeks ago I found my tried and true 20 minute Pilates video online and decided to add it back into my routine. Not in place of my regular workouts but in addition to them. I know there are more modern and updated Pilates workouts to be found. In fact, my daughter even has a reformer that I could use. But I remember how effective my simple workout was before and decided if it wasn’t broken not to fix it!

It’s amazing to me how quickly my muscles remember what to do, and how quickly I am seeing the results from adding this simple 15-20 minute workout into my program just three days a week. I’m seeing positive changes already.

Muscle memory is an interesting thing. When you are building your muscles, your body puts new cells into those muscles. You can lose your muscles if you aren’t maintaining them, but the cells that are produced don’t go with them. They just stay in your body, dormant until you reactivate them.

This made me wonder what else in my life is lying there dormant, but will come back quickly the minute I reactivate it? Are there things I’ve gotten out of the habit of that I just simply need to start doing again? How about you? Do you have some things that you want to see, but you’ve simply allowed to be dormant in your life?

The great news is the muscle memory is there. We just have to choose to reactivate it. We just have to start working toward those goals again.

Just because you’ve laid something down doesn’t mean you can’t pick it back up! Whether it’s something to do with fitness, or a dream you had that you forgot about, reactivate it and watch that muscle memory come back!

Last week I talked about playing the short game. Setting smaller, achievable goals, and only focusing on the short term. For me the week started off strong. I did everything I was supposed to do and by Wednesday I was at my goal weight for the week.

Honestly, I was kind of hoping a few more of those pesky, wayward pounds that I’ve been carrying around would join their friends and exit my body. But I just focused on finishing the week strong. I had met my goal so only had to maintain it for the rest of the week. And I did. I kept doing all of the right things. And every day I saw that I was where I needed to be.

I hopped on the scale Monday morning and was shocked. Not only was I not at my goal for the week, I was right back at where I started the week before. Now let me be clear, I do not live and die by the scale. I know it doesn’t tell the whole story. I see results in other areas. However, I was extremely deflated.

What happens when you give your best, and as the song says, your best isn’t good enough? What happens when it looks like you’ve failed? How do you mentally reset when you’ve tried your hardest, and it doesn’t look like you are seeing any results? You brush it off and keep going anyways.

I’m not going to lie. I sulked a little and got frustrated. Then I reset my mindset and decided I didn’t care what it looked like. I didn’t change my goal for this week. I decided that it didn’t matter what I was seeing in the moment. I was going to keep going like the setback didn’t happen. The short game is all part of the long game after all. And in the end I have no doubt I’ll be exactly where I want to be.

If you are working hard and not seeing the results of your labor, don’t give up. Don’t get frustrated and quit. Just keep going. Reset your mindset, and decide that yesterday doesn’t matter and that for today you’re going to win! I have no doubt that in the end, you’ll be exactly where you want to be!

When it seems like your best isn’t good enough, remember that you gave your best. And that’s always enough!