One Obstacle at a Time

I don't know about you, but if I see too many obstacles in my way, I tend to shut down. I get overwhelmed and can't figure out what to do next. One thing I've learned in the last year and half is that I have to keep things simple. I have found great success when I focus on one thing at a time.

My advice to anyone just starting on a journey toward better health is don't let yourself get overwhelmed. Focus on one or two things or changes at a time. Master those, then find one or two more things.

And now that I am further along in my healthy journey, this method of keeping things simple still apply. Like I said last week, I've learned a lot about fitness, weight loss and better health. But I cannot rest on my laurels. I keep moving forward to focusing on one thing at a time. Keep it simple, Sweetie!

Photo Credit: stock.xchng

The one thing I'm focusing on right now is running. My goal for 2012 is to improve to my pace. And I had great success toward that goal this spring. Then summer, and high heat and humidity, came. Which slowed me down. And I struggled mentally with that.

But after a season of continued focused, my running pace is showing improvement again! And that makes that simgle-mindedness worth it. One thing I love about running is that I'm competing against myself. I can always improve on my past performance. I'm not racing against anyone else. Every time I run, it's about improving my health.

As I keep running, the weight will continue to go. My pace will continue to improve. My love for running will deepen.

Okay, enough rambling. Here's my week in review.

Fitness: A great week! I worked out for a total of 206 minutes, including three strength training sessions. I had to rearrange my usual schedule (I thrive on keeping my schedule!) because of Hurricane Irene making a close approach to the South Carolina coast. Thanks to Janice for helping me rearrange my workouts so that I could get everything done with maxing out or injuring myself.

Monday: a.m. run
Tuesday: warm up on the exercise bike, followed by total body strength training
Wednesday: a.m. run
Thursday: warm up on the bike, followed by core and upper body strength training
Friday: a.m. run (usually on Saturday, but didn't want to run in tropical force wind/rain)
Saturday: legs and core Pilates
Sunday: rest day

Nutrition: A really good week here too. I did allow myself a treat of soft serve ice cream on Saturday which I shared with Ladybug (4 years old). That has been a good strategy to allow us both a treat without either one of us getting hyped up on sugar.

I also experimented one day last week with eating completely raw for the entire day. It was a fun experiment, and I definitely want to incorporate more raw food into my diet. At this point, going raw is not something that I could sustain. If you are new at healthy living, please hear this: do not try to make dietary changes that you cannot sustain for a lifetime. This is not a diet. Healthy living is a LIFESTYLE.


The Scale: I'm on a break from the scale for another week.

Non-Scale Victory: 1) I ordered a new bra this week and am down another cup size. One more cup size and I'll be able to buy off the rack! 2) I have over 1,000 minutes of fitness activities for the month of August!

Enough with my soapbox today. Thanks for your continued support and encouragement! Have a healthy week!