Wednesday, April 17, 2013

Power of the Mind

It's been quite the busy year for me so far.  I realize that I haven't posted to this blog in months, and I have to say that I haven't been in the best of mindset, nor health these past few months.  I haven't worked out, I haven't gone to any exercise class, and my diet has been less than desirable.  Like many of you, I struggle with my weight and as I approach 40 this summer, I have noticed a pattern in my ups and downs when it comes to my weight, nutrition and other healthier aspects in my life.  It's mindset.

You see, when I lost all my weight before, I was in the mindset to do so.  I logged my food, worked out a minimum of 4 days a week, checked my glucose levels, and I was spot on with having weight loss every week.  Whether it was 1-3 lbs, it didn't matter, I knew I was making progress and my body and the way my clothes fit showed it.  As it stands now, I am not, nor have I been in the right mindset to do so.

Problem is, I've allowed myself to become a victim of circumstance.  Circumstances, by the way, in which I can control, yet for whatever reason, choose not to do so.  True, I have a busy schedule, but in the end, I know that depression and lack of love for myself has deterred me from making the right decisions and putting my health as a priority in my life.  When I was eating right, working out, I was filling this blog up like nobody's business.  All the great things I would find, the workouts, the education.  Maybe because now it's become more work for school (last few years of my BS in Nutrition Science), instead of the fun of sharing the information.  Who knows.

It's a talk I have with myself daily.  Should I really be eating this or that?  Should I make a point to make it to that class tonight?  My son is down napping, should I pop in one of my exercise dvds?  The problem I have isn't that I'm not motivated to lose weight and get fit, the problem is I'm allowing the bad outweigh the good in my mind, and the bad is simply the excuses.  What are they?  Here are a few that I've caught myself thinking...

- I'll go next time
- The boys won't like it if I make that for dinner
- I don't have the energy to do it
- I have school work
- There's a meeting tonight
- I don't want to drag the little guy to the gym
- There's no one to workout with

I could go on and on, as while my mind justifies all these reasons, they are nothing more than excuses.  Plain and simple.  I just need to get the right mindset, or at least help myself by surrounding myself with positive people that encourage me, instead of feeding into my excuses with me.  At the end of the day, I'm not happy.  I'm not happy with myself, I'm not happy with the lack of progress I've made, and I'm definitely not happy with my size and the health issues that come along with it.

Think it's about time to get back to making myself, my goals, and my LIFE a priority again.  Stop letting my overworked mind think there's no time or energy to do it, and be like Nike and "Just Do It!".  What are some of your excuses?  I know I'm not the only one that has yo-yo'ed and felt this way.  Where there any tips or tricks you did to keep yourself motivated, feeling good about yourself?  Sometimes I think I use all my energy helping others feel good about themselves, at the end of the day there's nothing left for ME!

Well, thanks for reading.  Time to talk these thoughts to bed.  Good Night.