How Bad Do You Want It?

One of the hardest parts of losing weight for a lot of people is keeping the weight off. I feel like this is even harder for people who A)Lose a lot of weight very quickly or B)Lose the weight through surgical means. Carnie Wilson is a prime example. There was this huge deal when she got gastric bypass surgery and lost all this weight. Now, she's right back to where she started. Even with a smaller stomach - she managed to stretch it back out and get to her original size. Now, I'm not saying that EVERYONE who has a surgical reduction will do this. Nor will everyone who doesn't have surgery not pack the pounds back on. It just seems that when it comes to weight loss, as in many areas of life - slow and steady wins the race.

I'm not one of those people who has gained the weight back. I've been slowly but steadily losing for several years. I tend to hit a certain weight and either be satisfied for the moment, or just plateau without being able to break it. (The one exception to this would be when I tried depo prevera birth control and ballooned up 10lbs. in one month. NEVER AGAIN!) I think a lot of people don't realize that when you're overweight - after you lose the first few pounds, it gets harder. Constantly harder. Each pound will be harder to lose than the last. The smaller you get, the more your body will fight you on letting go of more pounds. You just have to keep figuring out ways to make your body let go.

With all the effort, time, frustration and work that I put into getting where I am now - there is no way I will go backwards. I refuse. I know how hard it was to get here and I don't want to waste time going backwards and not forwards. People who lose all their weight in one fell swoop? They don't have those years of work and effort behind them. It might be easier to let the pounds sneak back on and not think too much of it. Until suddenly, 10 lbs. has crept back onto their figure and it's not quite as easy to get rid of as it was the first time OR they have no idea how to get rid of it because the first time it was gone was through surgery.

I'm a pretty tough cookie and I believe in tough love and being honest - both with others and myself. It boils down to this: if you want it bad enough, you'll do it. Period. Getting fit is too expensive? Hmm, I bet if you took those couple extra dollars you spend on lunch EVERYDAY or that you spend at Starbucks EVERYDAY or that you spend going to the movies EVERY WEEKEND or going out drinking EVERY NIGHT, etc. etc. etc. I bet if you took all that money and stopped spending it on "stuff" and started spending it on your fitness, the prices would equal out. If you're not willing to give up some of those things, then you don't want to get fit. Truth. I don't go out on the weekends. I don't want to spend the money or the calories. Because my fitness is more important to me. You don't have time? You can do ten minutes a day of working out. You can give yourself ten minutes - wake up earlier, take a shorter lunch break.If you really want to - you can find ten extra minutes in your day. You can Tivo Entourage or Dexter or whatever TV show has you hooked. If that's more important to you, then you don't want to get fit. I make sacrifices to get the results that I want, not excuses.

The difference between someone who lost the weight and kept it off and someone who didn't...the difference between someone who is doing what it takes and someone who just complains...the difference? Desire and Effort. If you want it bad enough, you'll do it. I set my goal for myself over ten years ago. I'm not there yet - but I haven't stopped trying. Even when people tell me I don't need to lose more weight - that's their opinion, not mine. And I don't let what other people think stop me from doing what I want. Even when it feels like I'm doing everything right and nothing is coming from it - I keep going. Why? Becuase I know what I want and nothing will stop me from getting it.

The question is, what do YOU want? Are you ready to stop making excuses for yourself? Are you ready to be real with yourelf and realize that cheating on your diet "every once in a while" doesn't keep you fat but cheating DAILY does? There's no reason why you can't have the body you want. You're the only one in your way. DECIDE what you want, COMMIT to doing it - and there's no doubt that you will SUCCEED.

If you need help, that's what I'm here for. Send me a message and we can get started on the commitment you've made to yourself right away. SweetCharity@SweetCMe.com

"Are you interested or committed? When you're interested, you'll do what's convenient. When you're commited, you'll do what it takes." - John Assaraf

It's Possible?

The weather has been gorgeous this week! I was excited to go for a "run" (by run I mean jog, but saying go for a run sounds better) outside yesterday. I'm not sure if it's sad that the highlights of my day yesterday were
A) Taking a nap when I got home
B) Exercising in yoga pants that fit and didn't slide off my ass as I ran
and
C) My delicious salmon dinner. I'm seriously addicted to salmon right now.
That does sound pretty pathetic as highlights go...but ah well. I'm boring. Sorry.

As I was "running" I was really focusing on not taking breaks. One of the things I'm working on is my endurance, so I try to run for as long as I can without stopping. I did have to stop a couple times and kind of bounce around in place for 30 seconds or so, but then I'd just pick back up and keep going. I noticed that my recovery time - the amount of time I need to bounce in place before I run again - has drastically decreased. Even when I was revovering, I still felt pretty good. I wasn't panting and dying, I just needed a little repreive. I used to need two minutes, at the least to get my heart rate back down and catch my breath. Yesterday I noticed that as soon as I stopped, my heart rate would start to slow down, and that's good.

So while I was running in my size small Victoria's Secret yoga pants, I was really happy that they were staying put. My mediums had been sliding down while I tried to workout, thus the purchase of the smalls. I was also kind of amazed that I was wearing a small and running continuously. It's really strange for a former fat person once they lose the weight. Some people who are trying to lose weight are trying to get back down to where they once were - before they gained weight. I however, have always been a chubster. So as I lose I keep getting to the smallest I've ever been, and it's strange. I still don't think I look like I should be wearing a small. I tend to think that if I do fit into one, the sizing of that company must run big. But the realization got me thinking about my ultimate goal.

I know in my head where I want my body to be. I know how much weight I want to lose and what I want my body to look like. Even when people tell me I look great, while I appreciate it - they're comparing me to what I used to be where as I compare me to where I'm trying to get. I'm not gonna lie, while I work really hard to attain that goal - it does seem a little impossible sometimes. I've NEVER had a flat stomach. I can't even imagine what it would feel like to not have to suck in my gut. And I started to think - you can actually do this. You can ACTUALLY get that body. Holy crap - you're gonna have a flat stomach!

It's kind of strange to think about it. Even though it's what I always wanted, actually picturing myself with that body FOR REAL seems a little...odd. More than that, it seems possible.

And I know there are people out there who say "my body wasn't made to looke like _____" or "it's in my genetics, I'll never be ________" and that's crap. It's just pure crap. Does my body have a certain shape that probably won't change? Yeah, most likely. I'm sure my thighs will always be one pant size larger than my waist. Because even when I burn the fat there, I still have pretty sizeable muscles in my legs. It's even hard to fit skinny jeans around my calves. Does that mean that my thighs will stay the size they are now while the rest of me shrinks? No - that's ridiculous. There are certain things that are beyond our control, but losing weight is NOT one of them. It's possible people. There's so much possible out there for those of us willing to work to get it without making excuses.

What's your possible?

xoxo,
sweet charity
www.beachbodycoach.com/sweetcharity
~<3~

Personal Best!

I did not feel like working out tonight. I felt tired and stressed and bloated and I really just wanted to curl up in bed and watch TV. So I hemmed and hawed and procrastinated, but I finally got my butt out the door and to the gym.

I've been working on improving my cardio-vascular endurance. It's one of my weaker points and I'm especially trying to prep to start Insanity. There's a couple ways to work on your endurance - the method I'm going with is just trying to jog/run for long periods of time without breaks. I remember the first time I managed a 15 minute jog without stopping. At the time, it was the longest I'd gone actally jogging and not stopping and it was AWESOME. More recently, I've been able to get up to 25 and 30 minutes of continuous jogging with no breaks. Improvement is happening.

So tonight, I figured I'd just do a half hour on the treadmill and then a half on the elliptical. The elliptical is way easier and I don't count it towards endurance because it's too easy to vary speed. I do ten minutes of walking on an incline as a warm-up, then bring the incline down to 2.0 and jog at around 5.0 speed, increasing by 0.1 every 5 minutes. The last 5 minutes I go up by 0.2 every minute so I end with a "kick". Knowing I was doing less than my usual 45 minutes - I started the jog at 5.3. By the time I hit 29 minutes and 5.6 speed, I felt really good. I decided to keep going and upped the time to 45 minutes. Well, at 44 minutes and 5.9 speed, I thought "How awesome would it be if I could make it to 60?" So that's what I did. At 45 minutes, I upped the speed to 6.0, at 50 minutes to 6.1, at 55 minutes to 6.2 and knowing that I've done a kick of at least 7.0 before - at 55 minutes I started upping the speed in increments of 0.1 every 30 seconds. In the 59th minute, I upped it every 20 seconds.



I didn't stop or slow down once in the entire hour! I started running at a 5.3 and ended the run at 7.2! This is a new personal best for me. The fastest and longest I've EVER run. And that includes doing the mile run in high school. I'm kind of in shock and disbelief. Like, I don't know if I could do that again. I don't know how I did it in the first place! I'm hoping I can be consistent, and of course get better. So maybe I'll make it past day one of Insanity.