You ARE Great!

Greetings and salutations my friends and happy 2011!

I realize that every time we roll into a new year, millions and millions of people make resolutions. They resolve to make changes, to do things better than they have previously. Sadly, much of this resolve will dissolve over time, and many people feel stuck, and sad, and frustrated, and angry at themselves for not following through. Others will make excuses why their resolve failed, pointing fingers are others rather than looking inwardly at him or herself.

I'm not here today to try to make people feel badly about not finding success in past resolutions...instead, I'd like to offer hope in a new way. Positivity.

You see, I've been the 'big boned girl' (that's the nice way my friends and family would help me to defend the fact that I was fat/overweight/obese) most of my life. For awhile, I'd resigned myself to staying firmly in that role, as it seemed that there was no way to make those changes no matter how hard I tried. It took its toll, though. I felt pretty worthless in my own skin...it isn't a good place to be, even for a short period of time (let alone for 20 years).

Finally, for whatever reason, I had my epiphany, my breaking point. I WAS going to do something about my weight. I knew it wouldn't be easy, I knew there would be good days and crappy days, but I would push through. Along the way, I learned something really valuable...positive self talk. Too often, we get stuck on the negative aspects of ourselves. We focus on our fat thighs, the last minute run through the McDonald's drive-thru that resulted in 1000+ calories consumed, the 'muffin top' above our jeans, or whatever negative aspects of you that you just don't like. Let me share a little secret with you...and listen up because this is big...the more you focus on loathing who you are, the less successful you'll be in changing any of those things.

When you start to make changes and work towards goals, you CANNOT focus on those stubborn things that are refusing to get with the program. I'm almost 2 years in on my own fitness journey...I've lost a considerable amount of weight, I've built a lot of lean muscle mass, but you know what? I still have fat thighs! Yep, there I said it...the top six inches of my thighs still carry a lot of lumpy, gross fat. There's clearly still work to be done. But you know what else? There's several inches less of lumpy, gross fat there now than there was two years ago? And you know what else? I can do push-ups on my toes! LOTS of them. And guess what else? I have developed some abdominal definition, and shoulder muscles that look good in a tank top, and calves that look great even when I'm not wearing heels! Most importantly, I've realized that I'm not worthless, that I'm intelligent, have a great sense of humor, am eloquent, have a kind heart, and that I'm strong both physically and mentally.

So while you may feel discouraged during parts of your journey, I have to ask (and I'm borrowing this quote from Chalene Johnson--the creator of great fitness programs such as Turbo Jam, Turbo Fire, and ChaLean Extreme), "What positive things have you said to yourself today? Acknowledge your greatness." Come on...shout it out there, if not to the world, at least to yourself. It's important, it will help you stay on track and remain true to yourself.

Take a look at the picture at the top of this blog post. That concrete block wall and concrete pad are pretty darned ugly. They're a bit crumbly around the edges, it's a boring grey color...it's tough to find something beautiful and great in that. However, look at what it was able to do...it allowed a beautiful pink flower to grow in its midst. Instead of seeing the ugly crumbling concrete block, see the beauty in you. Look for and find your beautiful pink flower and remind yourself daily of how great you truly are.

Drop me a message or join me on Facebook so you can have the opportunity to share with me your greatness. I'd love to hear all about it!

Your Personal "Why?"

Greetings and Salutations my friends! I was chatting with an acquaitance on Facebook the other day about why I started my fitness journey. It was a good conversation...one that reminded me of where I was, where I am now, and where I want to be in the future. In reflecting upon her question, I was reminded of how I became the person that I was just under a year ago...fat, unhappy, no self-esteem...and the person that I am today...fit, healthy, positive, and ready to take on the world. It's amazing what a mere 300+ days can do to a person.

The most miserable I ever remember being was when I was in high school in the late 1980s. I was the 'behemoth' of my peer group at 5'9" and weighing in at a 'hefty' 142 pounds. I remember recording my weight in a journal every night, knowing that my friends were topping the scales at 100-110, and there I was, the rotund one, knocking on the door of 150 lbs. Sure, I was a good eight inches taller than they were, and when I look back on those days now, I don't know what I was thinking. But the funny thing is (funny, sad, not funny, ha-ha), some of those 'friends' of mine told me I was fat because I didn't weight 105 pounds and I couldn't wear a size 1 or 3 in Guess jeans (yep, I'm going 'old school' on ya'!). In fact, some of those same 'friends' would head out into the school parking lot during school hours and throw cookie containers and other junk food trash on top of my car to make me feel even better about the fact that I weighed 40 pounds more than they did. Another of their favorite ways to empower themselves was to follow me down the hallway, oinking like a piglet and mooing like a cow. And you know what? Their cruelty was really effective. I allowed them to take away my power...I allowed them to take away my self-esteem...I allowed them to have their dreams and to take away mine. I became a shadow of what I could have been.

I went through a major part of my life with very little self-esteem. I did a pretty good job, for the most part, hiding that fact, but I truly thought pretty little of myself until the time I was well into my 30s. But in typical fashion, I started to spiral into a rut where I didn't like myself much, and that took over every aspect of my life...my marriage, my career, my outlook, everything. I was down in the dumps, I wanted to feel good about myself, and I didn't know what to do.

On April 2, 2009, I took the initiative to take one small step to get my life back. That was the day that I decided that I was in this for me, me, me. I simply HAD to love myself for the person I was, but I knew I had to make some improvements to truly feel that love. I started pushing play that day, immersed myself in learning everything that I could about fitness and nutrition, lost weight, empowered myself with strong muscles, and learned to love me. Instead of worrying incessantly about things that I couldn't control, I learned to manage the things that I knew, without a doubt, were 100% within my own control. Funny how that makes EVERYTHING in your life better. With my improved fitness was better health, a better marriage, a better career, simply a better outlook on life. Just because I made the decision to empower myself with good exercise and nutrition.

I had to ask myself a very important question, "Whose dream did you build today--yours or someone else's?" (Jeff Olson. 2005). If you spend your whole week, month, year, or life, trying, or even allowing someone else's dream to build, rather than your own, you're doing yourself a tremendous disservice. Sure, great things do come out of doing for others. I'm not going to deny that, but what about you? What about what YOU want? Where is the time you deserve to achieve all of those fantastic things you desire?

So here I am...almost a year later still continuing on my journey to be the best me that I can be. And yes, those are my pictures there on the top of the page. I figure there's no better way of being accountable to goals than putting that first picture out there!! There you have it, there's my 'Why?' What's yours?

If you'd like some help on your own fitness journey, I'd LOVE to help...send me a message from my coaching page.