Day 51 Self-Motivation and Coffee Annihilation

Day 51

Self-Motivation and Coffee Annihilation

The new shoes everyone bought me for my birthday has really been a blessing! It seems that I can walk better than ever! Tonight at the Y I even noticed my heart rate not getting as high as it normally does at 2.9 mph. I may have to bump it up a little! It's probably a combination of the shoes and my progress. By the way, it's never a good idea to check your cell phone while you're on the treadmill. I did and almost took a horrible spill. I caught myself and quickly put the phone away! I have to be honest with you, tonight, for whatever reason...I just didn't feel like going to the YMCA. Irene left for work early, Courtney had tutoring at the high school in preparation for her finals, and I was left alone at home with a decision to make. Do I glue myself to the TV to watch this historic election unfold? Or do I get my rear end out the door and down to the Y? Had I planned a little better I would have worked out this afternoon and it wouldn't have even been an issue. But it wasn't just about watching the election results. I really didn't feel like going. I wasn't in a bad mood or anything, I was just being lazy! It's moments like these that I have to police myself hard. I knew that once I got there and started I would feel so much better. Even as I put on my shoes and socks I still wasn't convinced I was headed to the Y, then I just grabbed myself by my conscience and said...Let's go! And I did. It was a very nice workout!

I've made a big decision today. I'm quiting. That's right, I'm quiting coffee. I drink way too much coffee with creamer. I like coffee with creamer but I think a better alternative will be a nice hot green tea with a little Splenda. I keep reading about the health benefits of tea and it's finally swayed me. I'll still get my caffeine in the mornings, but I'll do it with a heaping helping of antioxidants! I told you there would be plenty of bad habits that will fall along this journey and I feel like I'm ready to take care of this one. We still have some work to do on others but letting go of the coffee is a big step for me. I'm getting more and more focused on working toward these type of things. As I continue to lose weight and feel better it just becomes easier.

I still don't like pictures! Not yet anyway. Of course we took a bunch of pictures on Sunday with the family, and even though I can see a difference in my appearance, I still don't like what I see. It's easy to feel impatient sometimes and looking at pictures makes me that way. I want results now! I'm getting them of course, but it takes time to really see the compounding of the daily effort. I must remind myself ten times a day that it's all about one day at a time! When you read this blog everyday, you might think I have it completely together, but as I've talked about here, I still have to police myself, I still have to push myself, I still have to remind myself of what's on the line, and I still allow myself to get discouraged. Which is nuts by the way when you consider my weight loss thus far. But I still occasionally get down and lucky for me I have family that pick me back up and I also have you to remember. The entire purpose of this blog to begin with was to keep me accountable. Well it's doing that to perfection!

I've been doing fantastic on my water intake. I've consumed a bunch of water today...some of it without flavoring! Yes I cheat with flavor packets. But they say that the sugar free/zero calorie water flavor packets are fine. You still get the water, you're just adding a little cranberry-apple flavor to the H2O. Nothing wrong with that right? I just bought some more of these little packets. I buy the Great Value brand from Wal-Mart, at first because they're 70 some cents cheaper per box, now I prefer them over the name brand Crystal Light. The grape is awesome and the Cranberry-Apple is fantastic! We all love the Cranberry-Apple flavor. The other day I proudly proclaimed that I hadn't had a drop of regular pop since I started this journey on September 15th! I was quickly reminded the proclamation wasn't completely accurate. OK...I did accidentally take a drink of Irene's Pepsi one night. One drink, that was it, and i didn't do it on purpose honest! Besides, that was the first week of this mission, I mean---do you know how many times I almost bought myself a can of regular pop at work? When you do it so long it becomes automatic right? It can be a really tough thing to break because you do it without even thinking. But I haven't had a “not thinking” moment since. When you think about it, things becoming automatic can work both ways. Good and bad. The goal is to make more and more good things “automatic!” I'm going to go watch the election coverage and get ready for bed. Thank you for your continued readership! Good night and...

Good Choices,
Sean