Motivation Concept

We all have areas in our lives in which we just have a hard time. These areas are our own individual vices that we struggle with no matter how hard we try to stop. It could be overeating, laziness, frivolous spending, losing your temper, messiness - really anything that makes you feel regret later on, but you still can't deny when the urge strikes. For me, it is a really frustrating feeling and can make me feel really weak. Some people have even said or implied that I am weak, but my guess is those people just don't share that particular vice for which they're ridiculing me. To be completely honest, each item I listed is something I struggle with to some degree or another. You may share some or all of my shortcomings, or yours may be completely different. My hope is that this post will be applicable no matter what your struggle(s).

I found this idea on Pinterest (imagine that) and it's specifically for exercise motivation:

Each time you workout, put a dollar in the jar. When you reach your goal, treat yourself to something.

My immediate reaction was, "what a great idea! That would be so motivating!" However, this was quickly replaced with reality. As a stay-at-home mom - read single-family income as I haven't found someone to pay me for that yet - I realized putting a dollar in a jar, for me at least, wasn't really practical. First of all, I would have to go to the bank and trade in a twenty for ones. And then those 20 $1 bills would sit in one jar while waiting to be put in the achievement jar. That seems rather pointless to me. Secondly, I'm sure that something would come up at some point requiring me to "borrow" against the achievement jar, and Lord knows, once it comes out, it's not likely to go back in. I still really liked the general idea though and so I started thinking about how I could adapt it to make more sense.

About that same time, I was out Christmas shopping and I got a major (and I mean MAJOR) hankering for the Baconater Cheeseburger from Wendy's. (I had actually been hungry for one for a few weeks, but thankfully don't have a Wendy's near where I live. But since my Christmas shopping took me near one, the craving came back and it came back stronger.)  I know, I know, that's certainly not something that should be found on a healthy eating plan, but remember it takes a while to break the addiction and make the cravings go away. While the craving and the voice-of-reason battled it out in my head, I directed my car toward Wendy's. Before I got there though, the voice-of-reason took the lead and I turned around. I hopped on the highway before I could change my mind again and headed home.

An incredible sense of pride flooded me as I drove away from the temptation. I did it! I resisted a really strong craving! I felt like that one, small victory should be celebrated somehow (I can probably thank my dad for this who is a big Celebration fan). That's when the idea hit me - why not record my victories and put those in a jar? Each time I felt I made the right decision even though the temptation was really strong - write that down on a piece of paper, watch my achievements grow instead of money I probably didn't have anyway? I think this could be a really empowering approach by encouraging me to take ownership of the good decisions I make instead of always feeling guilty about the bad ones. I could still celebrate when the jar got full by treating myself to some kind of reward. Better yet, I could get my husband or a friend to partner with me on it and they could treat me to something when I reached the goal. And this idea could be used for anything - I can even have separate jars for separate goals (this might be a great visual for where I still need work... I'll be able to see where I'm getting better at making good decisions and where I still need help by comparing how quickly the jars grow in relation to each other).

This idea may not work for everyone, but if you think it would work for you, I encourage you to give it a try. I haven't had much of a chance to test it out so I'll have to get back with you on how it goes for me. For now, I like it. I hope you do too.

***Disclaimer***
Because of my faith, I feel that struggles with temptation, no matter what the temptation is, are very much a spiritual battle and that asking God for help is paramount to success. I Corinthians 10:13 states that in temptation, God will provide the way of escape, but we have the choice to take it or not. This idea is not to replace my need for prayer, but to records the times that I use His way of escape to make the right decision, which will encourage me to do it again next time.

I Scream, You Scream, No One Scream For Ice Cream

For those of you who know me personally, you know that am an ICE CREAM FIEND. I'm sure there has been a day in my life when I ate nothing but ice cream. The days I've had ice cream for breakfast are well beyond countable. Over the past few years, I've done a pretty good job at limiting it and had almost exclusively switched to frozen yogurt-ice cream hybrid. Dreyer's (Or Edy's for those of you in the eastern US) has a line called Yogurt Blends and their Vanilla flavor is so creamy and so yummy that I don't even notice that it's easily the most boring flavor in the history of ice cream. **Interesting tidbit: Edy, Dreyer's partner, invented Rocky Road ice cream and one of their employees invented Cookies 'n' Cream. There's a reason this is my favorite brand of ice cream.**

So given my affinity for ice cream, it's really surprising that I honestly cannot remember the last time I had any. I think it might have been sometime before Christmas. That's nearly a month. A MONTH! That's a long time for me to go without ice cream. This little fact presented itself to me as I was on my way to the ice cream aisle to grab some Vanilla Yogurt Blends and almost immediately a challenge sprang to mind and my feet chartered a new course. If I could make it a whole month without ice cream and not even notice it, then I could go for a WHOLE YEAR! I know, I know... WHOA. But I couldn't help it. A challenge is a challenge, even if it does come from some hidden corner of my psyche and is presented to myself. I can't turn it down. I think it's the grown-up extension of the childish "double dare."

So here I go, one whole year without ice cream! (Or frozen yogurt - it's a gateway drug.) At least I already have 12 days down! 344 more to go - darn you leap year! Keep me in mind in June when I'll have to forego my traditional Dairy Queen ice cream cake which has stuck by me (and probably on me!) for many years.

How about you? What does your subconscious challenge you to give up this year in order to emerge a new and healthier you?

Couch Potato Syndrome

All the signs and symptoms are there. I've tried to hide it from my husband. I've made excuses. I've even tried to justify it. But the truth of the matter is, I'm a couch potato. Alright, fine. I'm a couch potato. There, I've admitted. Hello, my name is Amanda, and I'm a COUCH POTATO. I've been sober for I've not been sober yet.

I really thought and hoped that exercising 6 days a week would be all I actually needed to do to cover my bases on the "activity scale." Ohhh how I wish that were true. Unfortunately, exercising for even an hour a day doesn't give me free reign to spend the rest of the day on the couch. Studies show that we need to be moderately active throughout most of the day. This was easier to accomplish when I had a job that had me on my feet quite a bit throughout the day. But now, as a stay-at-home-mom, I spend a lot more of my time on the couch than I should.



Well that ends now. I need to be active again outside of my exercising activity. From now on, I'm going to try and be on my feet at home during the normal workday hours, getting things done instead of watching TV, reading a book, or staring at the computer screen. Just think of the added benefits... my house will be so clean! I might even get to organize some of the closets and and cabinets that I've been putting off! And my daughter will probably run out of things to do during all the extra playtime! (Ok, that last one is probably a bit of a stretch... she's 3. She doesn't seem to run out of energy. Ever.)

Now I must find a sponsor to keep me on the wagon. I wonder where you can buy the 'X' Years Sober badges....

You Have to Start Somewhere

I imagine that most people who are looking to get healthy do not like the number that looks back at them while standing on the scale. I'm right there with you! It was made even worse yesterday when I gained 6 pounds simply by buying a scale that actually worked (and I was really hoping the doctor's office scales were wrong!) While I understand that weight is not the be all end all when determining how healthy we are, we do have to start somewhere and we may as well start there. As I was sharing this with some friends today, one of them asked me, "you're not going to post your weight on your blog, are you??" After only a moment I determined that YES, I am. One big part of this blog for me is personal accountability, and I can't think of anything more motivating than admitting my starting weight to the world ((gulp)) and being up front about my goals.

So here goes. I started my challenge on December 26, 2011 and on that day, I weighed 140 146 pounds, which may or may not sound bad until you pair it with my (non)height of 5'2". Unfortunately, that height and weight combination lands me firmly in the lower end of an overweight BMI- 26.1 to be exact. A healthy weight range for my height is 105-135, but knowing my propensity to gain weight rather than lose, my goal is get to the lower end of that range. But a goal without a deadline is completely pointless, so I needed to determine how long it would take. Instead of picking a deadline at random, I decided to map out the weight loss to see how long it should take. Healthy and maintainable weight loss stipulates a loss of 1-2 pounds per week, so on my planner I put a goal down each week. Some weeks I subtracted 2 pounds and 1 pound other weeks, but each time writing down my NEW weight. This helped me see my realistic goal of losing 30 pounds by May 28th... just in time for my wedding anniversary!! The added benefit of mapping out your weight loss like this is encouragement - it's very easy to get discouraged when a week goes by and you don't see much movement on the scale. But if you're comparing it to your weekly goal instead of your long term goal, you'll see that you're right on track and will be much more encouraged.

Well enough about weight, especially my weight! Hop on your (hopefully accurate) scale and get your starting weight, grab your planner, and create your own weight loss map!