Day 180 Gaining Strength and Joy From The Success of Others

Day 180

Gaining Strength and Joy From The Success of Others

My Friday turned out pretty good. One thing I really need to work on is time management! Proper rest is vital to good health, and I've been burning the candle at both ends lately. Not good. I plan on getting to bed earlier than normal tonight and sleeping as long as my body needs. I can't remember the last time I slept until I couldn't sleep anymore. Oh, wait...uh, a few weeks ago, ok, it's been a few weeks, but still. My pattern lately has been like a cell phone you charge for five minutes a few times a day, it keeps just enough juice to keep it working, but it's always ready and wanting to be fully re-charged. I'm determined to get a full charge tonight.

You know what feels better than my own success at losing weight and understanding the mental process? Seeing my family and friends have success. Courtney put on a pair of pants this morning to wear to school that she hasn't been able to wear since 7th grade. She's in 10th now! The smile on her face was worth everything to me. The joy and pure elation that comes from victories like these is far greater than any temporary pleasure found in over-eating and being inactive. I ran into a woman at the YMCA tonight that is in the “Lose To Win Challenge,” She's already down 5 pounds and counting. The people I met last night at the seminar who tell me of their success so far, it just thrills me. That's what it's all about. Getting those results and feeling better than ever is a tremendous thing. I stopped by and visited my father in law for a few minutes. He's doing this too. Now understand, he's an old road dog. A truck driver for years and years. He's dined at every greasy truck stop from coast to coast, where the last thing on most of the diners minds is “how many calories in that chicken fry with cream gravy?” I just stopped by to see how he was doing and offer some encouragement. He's proudly doing great! He even pulled out his food logs. He's a real stickler on keeping track of everything he puts in his mouth. I was so proud of him. He's going to do this, he's gonna make it! After not keeping food logs for so long, I started keeping one on-line recently so a few people could monitor what exactly I'm eating everyday. Before, I would just keep a running total in my head everyday, it wasn't too difficult and it cuts down on paperwork. But you have to do what feels right for you. If you feel more comfortable writing everything down, do it! I'm not a fan of the time it takes me to log everything at Fitday.com, but the statistics are kind of interesting. The success, mine and others, is the show my friend. Is the show worth the price of admission? Every single cent!

Remember the belt I've written about recently? I had to use the fifth and final notch tonight at the Y. I've gone through that belt from barely being able to use the first notch, to using the last, in a matter of one month! Soon I'll need a new belt, it'll be the third belt I've worked through on this journey.

It's so very important to keep things simple. So many times we try to make things difficult, we get intimidated, then we fail. If you've gone back and read from the beginning of this blog, you know I'm all about keeping it simple. Simple works. Counting calories, exercising, and mental exercises. That's my three tiered approach that has totally transformed the way I look at food. The most important being the mental exercises. Melissa Walden, fitness and life coach, talked on Tuesday about how you are what you think you are. And it's true. You can also do what you decide you can do. You can't do what you've decided you can't do. If you've decided you can, then strap in and get ready for a life changing journey! I sometimes think, if I would have known getting my head on straight and doing this could be so fulfilling, I would have done it years ago. Why didn't I? I guess I had convinced myself that it would be really tough. I also allowed any and all excuses and daily stress to derail me with the slightest of nudges. One of the biggest challenges I've overcome so far has been dealing with stress without running to food. It was a self-imposed tough love challenge, I'll tell ya. When I'm stressed, I always turned to food to make me feel good. Now I turn to my motivating thoughts. I turn to exercise. I turn my attention to positive things. If I'm feeling exceptionally weak, I just go and read some of the hundreds of comments that have been left on this blog over the course of the last 180 days. I find strength in your support. I find strength in my motivating thoughts. I know that giving in and turning to over-eating during stressful times and situations is not only counter-productive, it's compounding the problem. Two negatives don't make a positive. They just make an even bigger negative. But a negative countered with a positive, reduces the negative. If I'm stressed and I feel a hint of old desires and feelings, I crush them with a flood of motivating thoughts. Stress doesn't have a chance against my motivating thoughts, I guarantee that!

I'm looking forward to a nice weekend. I plan on taking Amber to the YMCA with me tomorrow afternoon for a nice workout. I plan on catching up on replying to comments and messages posted and sent by readers of this blog. So if you've commented or sent me a private message or e-mail recently, then you'll be hearing from me this weekend! I also plan on posting tomorrow's blog by 6:30pm central daylight savings time. Because I have plans Saturday night! One of the perks of being in radio is occasionally having complimentary access to concerts and events, I usually don't, but tomorrow night I plan on taking advantage of that perk. I think 6:30 would be some kind of blog posting time record for me!

I can't stress enough the importance of writing about what you're feeling and doing. You don't have to make it public like this, but I highly recommend making it available to at least your immediate family. Communication leads to understanding. And a much better understanding of me is one of the many things this blog has accomplished. I sincerely thank you for reading. If you're new to the blog, I highly recommend going back and reading from day 1. If you've “subscribed” to the myspace version, I believe you have access to every single day. If you read the blogspot identical version, then every single day is archived on the left hand side of the screen with a handy little drop down index. Reading from the beginning gives you the complete perspective of this journey so far. If this is your day 12, then read my day 12. Again, thank you for your support! Good night and...

Good Choices,
Sean