It doesn’t have to be all-or-nothing

Today was a monumental day in my quest to become healthier and reach my goal weight. This morning, at 8:15 on a Saturday, I made the decision to go bootcamp, even though I’ve had a nasty cough the last few days (inherited from Decker, of course.) This was the fourth time this week I have worked out. I don’t think I have ever worked out that many times in one week. Sad, isn’t it? The exciting part is that even though part of me was thinking how nice it would be to just sit around this morning enjoying my coffee, the bigger part of me thought about how good I would feel once I was done working out.

Officially, I have been doing my workout and nutrition plan for 12 days. As of yesterday, I had lost five pounds, which means I have seven more pounds to reach my goal weight. This time around is different for me and I was able to pinpoint why today.

In the past, I have tried the “quick” ways to lose weight, including Atkins and the HCG diet. Yes, these type of diets produced amazingly fast results, but also caused me to feel deprived and constantly craving the foods I could not have. This time around, I am working out, which I think adds a new dimension to my weight loss efforts. My weight loss is not entirely dependent on what I eat. This means that while I have been very good about sticking to my diet plan, I have allowed myself to cheat and it has not derailed my efforts because I have also been exercising. During previous diets, once I cheated, I felt like all was lost and it was really hard to get back on plan.

Or maybe it is just my overall mindset that has changed. I have always been the all-or-nothing type. I don’t know how many times I’ve considered throwing in the towel on this blog because I felt like I needed to post at least every other day, or else the blog would be a failure. Then I realized, it’s okay to only post once a week! Same things goes for my photography. I’ve realized that enjoying and improving at photography does not mean that I have to take my DSLR with me everywhere and take pictures of everything. I learned to embrace my iPhone camera and use it when it was impractical to haul my big camera along.

Therefore, this time in tackling my health goals, I am taking it slow and steady. I know that allowing myself to eat a few carbs after my workouts and allowing cheat meals is going to result in slower weight loss than if I were to cut out all carbs entirely. However, this is okay with me and I feel like with this mindset, I am finally going to reach my goals!

Speaking of cheat meals, I cheated extra this week by having two. Last night I went out to dinner with my friends and enjoyed some mexican food, a margarita, and some ice cream. The funny thing is, eating this stuff really didn’t give me the euphoric feeling I thought it would. And I think my stomach has shrunk as I wasn’t able to finish my meal or eat most of my ice cream, which normally, I would have scarfed down.

Cheat meal #1

I gave in again this evening when Scott, Decker, and I went out for sushi. Besides sushi, I also had 2 glasses of wine and a bowl of vanilla ice cream with banana and chocolate syrup. But I still feel inspired and motivated about my exercise and diet regimen.

Oh, and here are my three seconds of fame…I was in a couple pictures posted on my trainer’s Facebook page. I know, I’m pretty much famous now.