It’s just after the New Year and here I am again in the same
place. I feel like I’ve been here so
many times before. The broken record. You know what I’m talking about. You have the whole year ahead of you. It’s time for a change. It’s time to actually start treating food
like it’s something to fuel your body, not a reward. It’s time to run, bike, and swim faster. It’s time to lose weight.
But what about all those gains I made last year? Oh yeah, I did great for a few months, but
then it all fell apart and now I’m back to square one……AGAIN. As most of you know, last year was the most
difficult year of my life, so I guess I kind of have “an excuse”, but if it
hadn’t been for that, would I really be sitting here today at my goal weight –
feeling great?? Maybe, but probably not. I ask myself why is that? I have the motivation, so why doesn’t it
always come to fruition? I work out –
pretty much daily year round. I try to
eat relatively healthy, but yet I don’t make the gains I want – except in the
weight department – that seems to be no problem at all.
I remember doing a workout a few months again and the
instructor said “If you want to stop starting over, stop giving up”. It’s not an original quote, but for some
reason it really stuck with me. How many
times do we get frustrated because it’s just so hard to build that run base
back up again? Or it seemed so much
easier to lose 10 pounds a few years ago.
Why do we keep starting over?? If
we just build on what we have already achieved – just think where you could end
up.
Last night I had my first indoor cycle class and it was
hard. I had only been on my bike a
handful of times since August. My friend
Michelle looked over at me – and she said “every year” – “every year we say I’m
not doing this to myself again. I am
going to ride my bike in the fall so that indoor cycling is not so hard”. But did we do it? Nope, neither of us.
So here I am on January 7th, with a similar list
of goals for 2015 that I had in 2014. It
is time to start building again. I know
I’m never going to be perfect, but this year I want to put that quote into
action. I want to stop giving up and
starting over year after year. Yes,
sometimes life happens (like for me last year) and you really don’t have much
of a choice, but most of the time it’s just a lack of motivation and will
power.
I hope this post doesn’t come across too negative because it’s
really not intended to be. It’s simply
reflective. So I want to end on a positive
note and think about some of the things I did manage to accomplish in spite of
everything last year. I kept
running. My swimming and biking were
pretty non-existent, but through everything I kept running. I did miss a few weeks, but I logged running
miles nearly every week last year – and even ended with a 36 day run streak
from Thanksgiving to New Years. I
started weight training in October and have kept that going. I’m actually feeling stronger than I have in
ages. I put on almost 20 pounds last
year. I lost 8 pounds in Oct and Nov…but
ended up putting most of that back on in December. But as of this morning I’m down 4 pounds so
technically I guess I lost weight over the holidays.
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| A little collage I made of my Instagram Photos for my Run Streak |
I’m really ready for a change in 2015. Losing my parents in 2014 really put a lot of
things in perspective for me. It’s not
about being the fastest runner, or best triathlete, but it’s about being the
best me. It’s about staying healthy, fit
and active to avoid some of the awful things they went through because they
were not healthy.
Remember, none of us are perfect. If you are sitting here reading this, feeling
the same way. Don’t beat yourself
up. You are human. This is hard.
It takes hard work and dedication to achieve our goals, but WE CAN DO
IT!!!
Happy 2015 everyone!
What are you doing differently this year? Did you make great strides in 2014 or are you
like me and starting over?
