Day 17 & 18/21

FEEL GOOD!
I need to be honest. The last few days I have been forcing myself to think about my coantainers. Thinking I am making life fit into my containers and still doing my best to stay on track even with a crazy week and only 36 hours to get ready for a week away. I am on track. And I needed to make sure this is a place to share just how good I feel when I eat right. I just saw a picture of myself and said "WOW, I don't look as FAT as I feel." Remember all that talk about how we speak life or death over ourselves....yeah I said that and had to pause...I feel amazing right now.I have been eating right and looking at how to incorporate my workouts and stay "on track" even with vacation right here.

So it comes back to this, why don't I share it MORE. Why am I not inviting everyone to do this with me? I feel like I have been a lier for a while. But now as I hit day 18 and feel this good about myself, I am going to plug it.

If you have ever thought about doing this, or you have it and need a partner or a group to hold you accountable WHAT ARE YOU WAITING FOR? There will never be a perfect time.

Here is what I want you to think about:

*Awesome portion control container system, makes nutrition EASY
*Workouts that are suitable for all fitness levels and you don't have to leave your house!
*Group and 1:1 accountability
*FEEL GOOD ABOUT YOURSELF.

Join Me.....here is the link. We all commit to it for 30 days.

Day 16/21: Take the TIME

WEEK. WEAKNESS.

Time gets away from me. I am not sure if I am just not paying attention to it or if I allow it to consume me most of the time.

Day 14. 15 . and 16 I worked twelve hour shifts. I have always struggled with these shifts. I love them because I only have to do 2 a week  and the rest of the week I can focus on myself and my TIME. But I also feel like even with 12 hour shifts I should be getting a work out in. Through exhaustion and doubt I usually don't. A good friend and my current Coach, pushing me through this round of 21 Day Fix, has had many amazing fitness experiences. One of which was long distance cycling. And the best tidbit of knowledge she could share was to just get over the fact that I want to workout on a 12. If I can, sure go ahead, but your body is taxed and tired and don't expect the best workout of your life. Thank you Dana, I am forgiving myself for the anger and frustration I have caused.

Aside from workouts....nutrition is my number one goal right now. I use my app religiously, but I am also incredibly amazed at the power of food preparation. I have to make time for it. I have to write it out. I have to know what I have on hand when I am faced with TIME restraints. With that said time to jump off, get ready for the day and make this one AMAZING.

Day 14/21

How is week 2 already DONE?

Here are my numbers:

Weight: 217.3 (-5.3 lbs)
Lost 2.5 inches

Went OFF: I ate pizza yesterday and I was totally OK with it.

I need to make sure I am checking in here. I committed to this blog, because I know I need it as much as someone else might. WEEK 3....here we go.

Day(s) 11 &12/21: Promise?

I ONLY work 2 days a week. Two 12 hour shifts, sometimes in a row, sometimes days apart. But still it is only 2 days. When I became a Coach it was mostly because I needed to make enough money to cover our kids private school tuition. I do that. I hit that goal, but really I saw Coaching as a way to stay consistent on my workouts and stay focused on the journey. If I "worked" more, I would have to use my time differently. I sometimes tell people, I started as a Coach for selfish reasons, little did I know, my WHOLE world would change.

This past Tuesday, I worked  a half shift, only 6 hours and I set my alarm and was up and at it at 4:30am. I was committed to my promise. I wanted to make sure I did the 30 minute workouts EVERYDAY this week. I wanted to see what this looked like working the plan BY THE BOOK. Let's talk about that for a minute. I honestly, can say that is when I feel like I have failed most and decide I can't finish. I missed my active recovery pilates workout yesterday. Sleep seemed more important after waking 3x in the night with my asthmatic kiddo, let's be honest....I got out of bed 3x but was awake all night listening to him struggle. An dafter a 12+ hour day (tack on commute 45 minutes both ways) I was spent. And well same goes with today. I am exhausted and sleep will most likely elude me tonight as I am over tired. I think about REAL PEOPLE, REAL 9 to 5ers. Most likely, you....and as I think about how difficult this is I am reminded that we have to be honest. We have to be realistic and set expectations that we can keep.

My most trusted advisor, Dani Johnson teaches "Under promise, over deliver." What do you KNOW you can commit to? Promise to do that and then when you go over by a day you over deliver and can feel personally successful. Example: I know I can commit to 4 workouts per week.  And when I get that 5th one in, I am feeling like I did more and feel better about the outcome. This week I promised 7 workouts and I did 4. I feel like I failed. But it is recognizing what I know I can do that I am starting to get over that failure feeling and instead LEARN the lesson.

Day 11: at work drank water, ate all my containers.
Day 12: at work drank water, ate all my containers.
Tomorrow: WORTH FIGHTING FOR 5k, swimming and meal prep (I will work 33 hours between Sunday and Tuesday!)

Day 10/21: GO. DO. BE.

Feeling like I got my MOJO back, a little. I think I shared this yesterday, but I am recognizing that I am in a very fragile place. I can slip up at any moment and with that I have to be completely aware of my surroundings, my emotions, and my food. I use the 21 Day Fix App to track my containers, which I am using as religiously as I used to count calories almost 5 years ago.

FIVE YEARS AGO?! How is it that I have been on this journey for almost 5 years? And I am talking about tools I used a long time ago and here I am still in the same place, different tools. Misha (IG: @mamamishafitness) and I got together today. We are preparing for the Ultimate Reset at the end of the month, we will save that for another post. But today she said something that hit home, because ultimately it is something I am also thinking....what is the end goal in doing this? Why do we need to be trying new tools, checking out new workouts, completely resetting the pH of our bodies, thinking about our next workout and when we will drink Shakeology tomorrow. And although I have struggled with the WHY so many times and I think about who I am doing this for...it clicked when I heard her say that she has no idea what her end goal is.

Dear Cara,

There is no END. There will never be a day that we don't think about our health and wellness and fitness. This has become your passion, because this is LIFE. As soon as you stop thinking about it, it will lose its importance. It is not about a diet or the number on the scale it is about being healthy and strong. And sometimes that might include pizza and donuts, but when you really stop to think about how important your physical health and mental wellbeing are, it becomes less of a goal and more of a vision. What does this life mean to you and what do you want it to look like? Go. Do and Be that.

Love,
Me

Tomorrow: DRINK WATER LIKE IT IS YOUR MOTHER FUCKING JOB. Shakeology for breakfast and dinner. 4:25am wake up!!! 

Day 9/21: FOCUS

I learned this lesson in February of 2012. Eleven weeks into my journey as I was starting to see results, I started to change my mindset. I started to wake up and everyday would say, "I can feel myself losing weight. I can feel myself getting lighter." I truly believe with every ounce of me that I was changing. And guess what....I was. 

I have been recommitting myself to this journey, not because I need to look a certain way, but because I know exactly what it felt like to visualize who and where I wanted to be and I was not stopping until I did. I feel amazing right now. My vision of how this journey will go is taking over....SHIT I got up at 4:25am today to WORKOUT. Do you know how many times in the last 2 years I have set the alarm and then snoozed it for 40 minutes. I didn't have the desire. I didn't have the vision of who I was anymore. Or the WHY? I have been struggling with that too. I started doing this because I didn't want to gain the weight back, selfish reasons but valid. I now LOVE this, not because of the accountability, but because it is WAY bigger than that. 

If you want something different, you've got to do something different. It rings true again and again. We have so much power with how we speak to ourselves. We can speak life or death. When we speak negatively to ourselves silently in the mirror or even under our breath as we pull on our pants, we have the power to believe or to shoot down. When you want more of something I keep saying do more of that....this applies to everything. So choose wisely, will it be positive or negative. 

I ate on point today. I went over by 1 yellow, 1 blue and 1/2 a fruit. I also got up at 4:25am.....

Tomorrow: water, lower fix and 1 mi run, plan my Ultimate Reset.

Day 8/21: Transparency

TODAY FEELS GOOD. 

No other way to talk about it. I was on track. I even saved containers to enjoy homemade strawberry shortcake with the boys for dessert. 

It is all a mindset. I have said mind over matter a million times before. I am now reminding myself of everything I have ever pulled from my own tool kit to share with someone else. I know whats right and whats wrong, it all starts with the decision to make a change. It all has to do with the VISION. I can set the goal, but it might just sit there and I might change my path to it a million and a half times. What keeps me from getting there is the vision. If there is no vision there is no way. 

My mentor shared a video today, it has to do with EVERY aspect of life. And it talked on this very thing. There is no way that I will have you join me if I am not real about how hard this process is. If I was perfect, if I lost 100 lbs and kept it off with out the battle, no one would do this with me. Because we all know that life happens. That brings me to the transparency. I have to start here, where I am at and have a vision and every single day I have to get up and do it. Prosper where you are planted, and that is what I hope to do with every single person that does this with me. 

When you can look in the mirror and admit that you are not giving 120%, then you can make change. It is YOU vs YOU. You need to ask why you aren't giving 120%, get rid of the excuses. What did you NOT do. I started to think about the saying, "Be the person, you want to be." GUT check, want to know what that really means? LOVE MORE, give more, be kind, EAT RIGHT, TRAIN HARDER, sweat, clean up after yourself, put shit away right away, GIVE MORE. 

Transparency means that I am going to share the fact that I messed up. And I had excuses, SHIT I still do. I was more concerned about the people I was helping...BULLSHIT. I would have done more if that statement was true. So I called bullshit on myself, recognizing that I was not doing the basics and now I am back to mastering the basics. Day 8 was successful and I feel great. 

If you have some time, watch this...EVERYDAY.