Loathe Self Loathing

The past weekend I was able to go to Ft. Worth, Texas and spend some time with some incredible people and be poured into, inspired and motivated!  Energy permeated the air the entire weekend and I felt excited and more alive this weekend than I have in a long time!  It was hard for me to sit still at times because I just wanted to jump up and down!  That feeling continued when I got home and stepped on the scale again!

I'm down to 313 pounds, which means that since doing the 24 Day Challenge in September, I've lost 53 pounds!  Hitting the 50lb mark was a pretty big milestone for me and for the rest of the day, I had to restrain myself from bragging and talking about it too much!  53 pounds!  That's more than 5 large (10lb) bags of potatoes!  Dang!  I want to lose another 50 pounds by this July, which is my sister's wedding and the next convention like the one I went to this past weekend!

One thing I wanted to talk about today is motivation.  My motivation early on in the journey, before I really started believing in myself, was self-loathing.  I hated who I was, and where I was in life.  I don't think there's a worse motivator out there.  For me, at least, it wasn't until I was truly okay with myself, and believed in myself, that I was able to make the necessary changes.  (That along with surrounding myself with positive people who consistently encouraged me!)

Getting healthy is a long hard journey for a lot of people.  You have to be mentally and physically ready to make the massive lifestyle changes.  You have to have a support system of more than just a few friends.  And your motivation canNOT be self-hatred.  You have to believe you're worth the effort it takes to get healthy.

I am so blessed to have an amazing support network consisting of my family, my church, and all my friends I've met thanks to AdvoCare!

So now, it's time for a more solid, more tangible goal:  this Spring, I'm thinking March/April, I want to run a 5K!  Now, when I say run, I know I'm not going to be able to run the entire 5K, but I want to run a significant portion of it, and complete one!  I would LOVE to get a group of people together to do one together, so if you're local, and interested, hit me up!  Let's make this happen together!

You Crave What you Eat

I always thought it was weird that people would tell you to eat what you crave when you're trying to lose weight because I have always craved junk food!  They always said that your body craves what it needed, so I thought, for years, "Hey!  My body craves french fries and copious amounts of salt!!!!!"  Yeah... no.  My weakness for junk food was so bad that the first time I did the 24-Day Challenge you all have heard me rave about, on the 2nd day of the Cleanse Phase, (when you're supposed to be eating SUPER clean foods!) I went across the street to Hardee's and bought a burger and french fries for lunch!  BAD IDEA!!!!!!!!!!!  My friend who was helping me with the cleanse called me out on it and challenged me to go the rest of the challenge without eating fast food.  He claimed that by the end of it, I wouldn't miss it at all.  I absolutely did not believe him!  At the time I was eating fast food 3 to 5 times a week, and had a serious Taco Bell addiction, on top of my addition to french fries.  No wonder I couldn't seem to lose weight!  But, I did what he said.  I cut out soda, and fast food for the rest of the challenge, and now, 4 months later, I haven't touched it, and I don't miss it!

What I learned during that time, and what's been proven to me time and time again since then is that you crave what you put into your body.  If you put junk, and crap and tons of salt and sugar in  your body, you will crave junk and crap and tons of salt and sugar.  If you start eating good, healthy foods, whole wheats, fruits and veggies, nuts, lean meats and other sources of protein, the thought of deep-frying something, or dousing it with oils and fats is almost revolting!

I know this sounds simple and too good to be true, and granted, there are days that I still crave junk food, but those days are getting fewer and farther between!  When I do eat junk food now, I eat a little bit and I'm satisfied with it.  Either that, or I feel like crap afterwards and never want it again (such is the case with pizza rolls, for example!)

All in all, I know how hard it is to start eating healthy, but it does get easier as you do it more!  Keep charging forward and do not give up!