Training Your Mind

Date Night before the diet!

Hey! I hope you're all having a great week so far! I've had a lot going on this past week and a lot on my mind that I wanted to share with you guys. Maybe it will give you something that you need in your life too, or maybe it will just help you understand more.

This past weekend was great. Andy and I an awesome double date with our friends on Saturday night, and we spent his day off on Sunday as a family doing some shopping and cooking. I knew my classes started back this week, and reality would set in! But looking back, I still think we both enjoyed the weekend so much because we knew what was going to change on Monday morning.

Monday morning came. And so began mine and Andy's new "Fitness and Health Journey". Let me backtrack by saying that our lifestyle has always been so hectic that neither him nor I thought there was a way to make this happen. In past attempts over the years, we would either look at just fitness, but still ate horribly. Or we'd focus all of our time on eating right, and not add in any exercise. And while they are just excuses, we always used his work schedule, all of the kids, and lack of free time to get out of doing both. But something changed in us. We both were fed up with where we had gotten to. Weight creeping up, not feeling our best, and eating fast food more often.

Day 1!

So we spent the entire weekend getting ready for our new lifestyle changes come Monday. We joined our local YMCA because of their childcare option during workouts (a personal life saver for a stay at home mom of 3, sometimes 4 kids). We gathered gym clothes and bags, and spent Sunday grocery shopping for truly healthy options. We actually prepared and it made a difference! Monday came and we weighed, took before pictures, and got to it. Healthy meals and snacks, 2 hours in the gym, and for me personally, NO caffeine (Just water. I went from 3-4 sodas a day, plus multiple cups of coffee a day, to just water. 😲).

As I put in 45 minutes of cardio on Monday, I thought I was going to die. And when it came to the weight room I thought I was for sure done. But I did it! My kids were all being watched in the Kids Zone. My husband was at work. And for the first time in years I found myself in a gym. This used to be a big part of my life when I was single. I spent countless hours working out, jogging, or attending Zumba classes. But once I was with Andy, everything happened so fast. I was pregnant, we took my niece Destiny in (and eventually adopted her, of course), we got married, we moved, we had our littlest baby, Jonas. All within a few short years. So it was no surprise to me that along the way I had quit working out, or that we'd pick up pizza on the way home because that was easy. My gosh how life can go by fast. Because after all of that, here we are today!!

I'm now on Day 4 of my workouts. Day 4 of JUST WATER! And Day 4 of all healthy meals and snacks! But I've already learned something. And this whole thing is just now getting started. I've learned that starting to workout like you used to, after multiple years and multiple babies later doesn't work. I have to start over. This is an all new experience. I'm way behind in the fitness area of my life, and that's OKAY. I've got to learn and research how and what to cook because of how bad we had been doing, and that's OKAY. Why is it okay? Because I've made the change now. All of the other is in the past. But try telling your brain that.

My biggest take away from this week has been that my brain is my biggest enemy. It's full of old habits tempting me, or telling me that I CAN'T. But as I've ran my a** off this week, I've been having mental conversations with myself that are quite harsh. Because my brain is lying to me. I know we've all heard "mind over matter". And I've always believed that, but this week I've MEANT that. It's never my body telling me to stop, it's my brain. So getting over that, and telling myself that while working out has made more of an impact on me this week then anything else. I don't give up when I want to. I push myself. I don't quit at the first sign of struggle, I push harder! And for the first time in a long time, I'm determined to make a difference in my body AND mind.

I've used social media outlets for accountability and encouragement, and that alone has pushed me! I've got no signs of slowing down and that is something I am truly OKAY with. Andy and I have a long journey to go, but we're doing it together, and we can say that we are trying, and that's something to be proud of! I'm not only in the gym 2 hours a day working out my body. I'm there working out my mind and REtraining my brain to work with me to see results and make an impact.

I hope this is something that some of you can relate to, and I hope it helps encourage and motivate you to take the steps necessary in your life to hit your goals. Nobody's goals are the same, but together we can make stuff happen! Thanks for reading, and I hope you enjoy the rest of your week!