Round 2- Day 17

Days like today make me really appreciate my dance background. Plyo certainly calls for a certain caliber of jump, and I'm grateful that I have such a strong dance foundation that taught me how to jump and land properly. It makes my body so much happier.

I can't get over how great I feel after doing plyo. It KILLS during the process, but right afterward... best feeling ever. Mix that with a hot shower, some great lotion and comfy pj's and you're good to go! Just lay back and enjoy the ride. Best high ever. Much better than eating a cheeseburger and fries ever made me feel. Of course, with the best highs, there is always sacrifice that has to come along with it. Don't get me wrong. It takes a lot of hard work, but it's all worth it in the end. It's something I have to remind myself every day. When those donuts at work are staring me in the face, I have to consistently think about how I'd feel AFTER eating that donut, and not how I'd feel WHILE eating that donut, because those are two very different feelings. Like I said- sacrifice must be made.

I don't want anyone getting the idea that I don't battle the same demons I've always fought. I still fight them every single day, and I'm not always perfect. But if I make a mistake, the best thing I can do for myself is to not give up. Just brush it off and keep going. Start making the right choices from there on out. No need to sabotage myself further. No need to dig that hole any deeper.

I still have to drag myself off my butt to exercise everyday. I still put it off slightly. There are some days when I'm totally pumped, and other days that I'm not. Some days I have to really convince myself that, yes, skipping one day IS going to affect me. Skipping one day IS going to hurt my progress. If I'm not going to totally commit, then what would be the point? The best way to handle this is to just think of the end results. Where to I want to be at the end of today? The end of the week? How do I envision myself a month down the road? A year? These are the things that keep me going.

A new little motivator that I've taken to using on occasion is to write down my starting weight on my hand, the weight I was at on December 12, 2008. The highest weight I've ever been, the weight I never plan on returning to. I got back to school on January 5th, 2009 and changed every thing from there on out. Yes, there were times when I fell out of the good habits I started creating, but the point is that I got away from that number. I started to move away from those old nasty habits. (You know, ordering Pizza Hut and never exercising. You know, never eating enough fruits and vegetables but eating way too many Cheez-Itz.)

That number was 199. One pound away from the big 2-0-0. No, I won't put them together. It makes it a whole lot scarier. Anyways... one pound away from being the same weight as Oprah (at the time). It was scary, but the looks on the faces of family members were even scarier. I was much worse than I had let myself realize. So on days when I am struggling to make proper decisions about eating and exercising, I write down 199 on my hand. Tiny, but big enough for me to see if I go to the fridge and reach for something nasty to eat. It's a good reminder of where I was, and where I will never be again. I'm now down to 174. 25 pounds. I have a long way to go still, but it sure as heck is a lot farther away from 2-0-0 than 199 is. I have nothing to be ashamed of anymore.

So what do you use to motivate you on the hard days? How do you suck it up and get going?