Today's motivational quote is, "If you worry about yesterday's failures, then today's successes will be few."
I'm guilty about worrying about my failures, and sometimes stressing about the "what if" I fail in the future. But, with the Core4 I'm doing with my Empire group through Fitness Together I'm getting a lot better about not worrying or stressing over things and focusing on just doing the work and moving forward. I've been with Fitness Together for over four years now and I can honestly say, even when I do struggle or become discouraged, my determination to succeed is way stronger than my will to give up.
You're going to have times when you think you're not going to hit those goals, you're going to get discouraged and wonder what's the point; but that's when you have to dig deep and remember what you're working for and keep your focus on your goals. You're going to have set backs, you're not going to succeed at every first attempt, but as long as you don't give up you'll always be successful! And the most important thing to always remember, as Michael is always reminding us, YOU DESERVE TO HAVE IT ALL!!!!!
To get back into running I downloaded a new C25K app and one of the things I like about this one is each day when you open the app there is a daily motivational quote.
Today's quote was, "When it comes to eating right and exercising, there is no I'll start tomorrow. Tomorrow is disease."
This one reminded me of all the times I hear people say, I'll start tomorrow, I'll start Monday, I'll start after the holidays, or I'll start when I get back from vacation. There will always be "something" that you could as an excuse to start later. So, why not just start now?
As I mentioned in a prior post, I started the 24-Day Advocare Challenge on Wednesday June 10th. The challenge starts with a 10 day cleanse and then the last 14 days is considered the max phase. Today I start the max phase so wanted to provide an update of my results after completing the cleansing phase. I lost exactly 9 pounds in the first 10 days! This also got me back on track to meet my 90 day goal of losing 25 pounds by August 15th. I'll provide another update next Saturday after my morning weigh-in.
To learn more about the 24-Day Advocare Challenge, click HERE for details.
If you're ready to get started on the challenge, order everything you'll need by clicking HERE and make sure you see this name and picture in the top right corner to ensure you're ordering from Michael Watkins. Please, maybe if enough people order he'll let me have a week with no burpees! Ha!
Complete 3 rounds! Have fun!
5 burpees
10 push-ups
5 burpees
20 reverse lunges
5 burpees
30 body weight squats
5 burpees
40 bicycle crunches
5 burpees
50 jumping jacks
5 burpees
One of the reasons I have a personal trainer, besides the fact he kicks my ass way more than I would kick my own, is that I never knew if I was doing things correctly or if I was doing enough. Working out on my own, as soon as I would start sweating or it became "hard", that's when I would stop instead of pushing through past my comfort zone. Also, outside getting on a treadmill, going for a walk, sit ups, and jumping jacks, I was clueless on how/what to use as far as weights or equipment so wouldn't even attempt that. Nor was I about to ask anyone because that would be just too embarrassing! And sweat? YUCK!!!! Of course looking back on it now I should not have felt like that. We all have to start somewhere and we all have to start with the basics.
So, if you are not allowing yourself outside your comfort zone, I encourage you to do so. Ask for help, or if you need more than just advice and need someone to hold you accountable, then look at investing in a personal trainer. If you're in the Tulsa area I know a great team of trainers at Fitness Together Downtown and Fitness Together Jenks/Riverside. If you're experiencing those things listed on the quote, then you know you're doing it right when you workout. But, if you're experiencing those things AND you want to punch your trainer in the face then you know they are doing it right and you're workout is effective!
We've probably all heard that saying, "If Plan A doesn't work, you still have 25 letters left." And this is a great concept at reminding us that when we set goals, and we have our plan to get there, that it's okay that plan changes as long as we never give up on our goal. But, when I saw this, I thought this was a better concept.
We have 90 day goals, and within those goals we have 30 and 60 day benchmarks for each of our core4 goals. Tonight as I was talking with my Empire sisters and Michael, as we are approaching our 30 day benchmark, I realized we all had at least one of our goals where we are probably going to have to reevaluate and change up our plan. Mine is for my body, my goal was to lose 25 pounds in the 90 days and lose 10 of that in the first 30 days. I was on the right track, but last week I didn't eat as planned for a few days since my dad was in the hospital, I allowed the stress to control me, and I didn't do my meditation/blogging daily as I should. This all played a role in me being up on the scale 4.4 pounds for the week when I weighed in Saturday. Now I expected to be up just by how I felt, and so even though it's not what I wanted, I wasn't going to allow it to stress me out where it carried over into this week. I refocused and thought I'll just have to get back to eating what is planned/prepped, do my meditation/blogging, and not stress about things I can't control.
Tonight I realized I only have 5 days to lose 5.5 lbs to hit my 30 day benchmark. Is it possible? Maybe. What I gained could be lost, and then some, once I quit stressing and started eating according to what I planned. But, after our group talk tonight Michael said something that made me realize, just because I might be off on my 30 day benchmark due to the one bad week doesn't mean I'm going to miss my ultimate 90 day goal. I just had to refocus, get back on track, and make sure I'm doing my shit inside and outside the gym.
And what I like about the inserted quote, is it gives great advice. It's okay for the plan, and even the goal, to change; but doing the following will help you be more successful.
- Rethink where your plan went wrong
- Seek help where you need it
- Take what you learned and use it to strategize a new plan to hit your goal
So, don't get discouraged and just give up if you feel like your goal isn't going to be met; but instead take a deep breath, refocus, rethink, ask for help if needed, and come up with a new plan to hit your goal.
We have a great group of people at Fitness Together. We encourage and motivate each other to reach our goals. We keep each other accountable. But, when it comes down to it, regardless if it's my private session or a group session, I'm there for me and me only. Sometimes we have to make it about ourselves and not worry about what anyone else is saying or thinking, especially if those things are not helping you meet your goals.
Today is definitely one of those days I'm looking a littler harder for the positive. I originally sat down to post that I might not be on for a few days. My Dad has been in the hospital since last Wednesday and I'm taking the next few days off work because they are now talking about doing an open lung biopsy. But after I sat down and really thought about it, if anything I need to be posting my daily thoughts. This is blog isn't just about how to workout and eat to be healthier, but an overall health that includes our mental, emotional, spiritual, and physical. So, the posts might not be long or in depth over the next few days; but you'll definitely get some of my thoughts.
Today I found myself struggling to be positive just because I started to really feel overwhelmed with everything. I was able to talk to Michael this morning, and that always seems to help since he's good at telling me what I need to hear. And then taking his advice and keeping in prayer and meditation to keep me from getting anxious and stressed. So, like the quote says, always look for something positive in each day, even if you have to look a little harder some days. Today the positive is, as one doctor mentioned, they are ruling out a lot of things that isn't wrong so we just need to continue to move forward to figure out what is wrong. And I also think it's positive that his doctor is refusing to let other's opinions sway him from what he feels needs to be done, and he doesn't want my Dad to leave until they have figured out what is wrong.
