Today marks the beginning of week ten of the Insanity Workout. Ten. Weeks. On top of six weeks of yoga (which we’ve completed) and a weekly session of strength training.
Here is (another) list of thoughts from the 10 week mark…
1. The time passed. Seriously, ten weeks passed in a blink of an eye. I didn’t have to exercise, but I’m so glad I did. Some days the 45 minutes to an hour seemed like torture, even before I started. Which brings me to…
2. The only thing stopping me from doing most anything in my life is me. Forcing myself to exercise daily for ten weeks allowed me to see thought patterns and push past them. I was negative to myself, and sometimes down right mean. I think this would have stopped me before. It’s all mental, you know that quote: if you think you can or think you can’t, you’re right? So true.
3. Weight loss isn’t everything. This one is hard to even type out, because often I’ve thought: what’s the point in exercise if I don’t lose this weight quickly? What has changed is this: I exercise because it’s healthy and it feels good. This doesn’t mean I don’t weigh myself or get excited to see that I’ve lost 12 pounds (because I’m thrilled) but because there is a part of me that always thought…it’s ONLY 12 pounds, what’s the point? My perspective has shifted from exercise to lose weight, to exercise for life because it’s a good thing to do. I would have (and have many times) given up in the past. Just thrown in the towel because I was only doing it to lose weight. I’m okay with exercising everyday for the rest of my life if I never lose a single pound.
4. This has nothing to do with exercise (well, a little) but never (ever ever) weigh yourself during PMS. Just don’t do that to yourself. I can gain and lose eight lbs. in a weeks time from water weight alone.
5. My clothes fit better. I feel better.
6. Perfection is not a sustainable goal. I’ve had to really challenge myself to “do it anyway”. To exercise when I didn’t have a good week, to get back on track if I missed a couple of days. The truth is, a “poor week” of exercise now (3-4 days instead of six) is what I good week used to look like. I always aim for 6, but a couple of the ten past weeks weren’t perfect. I had to get over it. There were weeks when I ate wayy too much, more than exercise could work off. I had to get over it and keep moving. There were weeks when the scale went up and down and settled and moved around. I really had to stop aiming for a “perfect week” or a “perfect situation”, forgive myself and move on. This is hard.
Thoughts about food:
1. I have destructive food patterns that I’ve been able to pinpoint in the past weeks:
– If I’m overwhelmed, stressed, don’t know where to begin or procrastinating: I overeat.
– I still have the “all or nothing” , “last meal” mentality
– Keeping busy, staying focused and organized = better eating
2. Keeping a food journal, regardless if I count calories or not, truly helps me
3. Writing thoughts and emotions in this journal is also helpful
4. Being on the right path, having a plan for the day and staying on track with tasks makes it easier for me to go about my day without thoughts of food. Everything is related. I’ve noticed that the more productive I am, the more happy I am and the more productive and happy I am the less intense I feel about food.
5. The next ten weeks will be about eating real, clean food. My goal is this: to keep a daily food journal no matter what (good, bad or ugly) and to eat as much real food (close to nature, unprocessed, five ingredients or less) as possible. I want to really push myself to look for the clean food on restaurants and menu’s when dining out.
Clean eating is my new goal!
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