I'm So Excited and I Just Can't Hide It!

I'll keep this short, promise. I've hit another milestone, I'm finally under 200lbs, 197lbs to be exact! Hard work is paying off! I still have "fat days", I guess everybody does. Sometimes, I "can't" see the changes in my body but today it's been confirmed by practically every single moving thing: "you look different", "have you lost weight?", "where's the other half of you?", "looking great", etc ...

Just loving it! 47 more pounds 'til my goal weight!

Ranting ...

Yes! I need to get new clothes. It's nothing new but it's pretty official now. I'm drowning in most of pants that even a blind person can notice. I guess my hard work is definitely paying off. Even though the weight isn't coming off as fast as I would like (I know pulling Biggest Loser numbers is impossible), I'm glad that I'm still shedding some pounds.

I have and must go shopping but I hate it! There's nothing worse than walking into a store, seeing some nice clothes and then picking the largest size only to find out that it doesn't fit! It really does hurt one's ego and unfortunately I've been there way too many times.

2008 is barely over, time sure flies. My 26th (yikes) birthday is approaching and looking back at things, I've let my weight rob me from life's pleasures. I've missed out a lot! I'm in control now & there's no going back.

A Jillian Michaels Blog: Ditch the Fear of Screwing Up

I just love Jillian, she's the best! I'm attributing my success to her and she's my motivation. Yeah, I know, I haven't had the chance to meet her ... yet! Thanks Jillian !
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Ditch the Fear of Screwing Up (Jillian Michaels).

Let me give you a scenario. You were working out hard and eating right, but then you had one slip-up. You skipped a workout one day, or you overstuffed yourself at dinner one night. So then you decided this whole diet-and-exercise thing wasn't worth your while anymore because you "messed up." So now you're ignoring your workouts and eating crappy food — just because you felt like it was all or nothing. Well buddy, this attitude — this perfectionism and fear of failure — is the reason you're not finding success. It's time to let go of the idea that you can be perfect at this weight-loss journey — because that will NEVER happen! I'm just going to say it. You're going to fall short sometimes at some things. When it comes to weight-loss, it's guaranteed. There's no straight line from Point A to Point B. You can't just say, "I'm 200 pounds on Day 1, and I'll be 150 pounds on Day 54." There are weight-loss plateaus, bad weeks, parties, holidays, etc., etc. You try as best as you can, but I'm telling you right now it's absolutely NOT all gonna come altogether at once.

Being ambitious is a very good thing — in my life, I wouldn't have gotten to where I am if I didn't reach as high as I could. But if your ambition doesn't come with a little flexibility, you're setting yourself up for disappointment and lost motivation. If you don't allow for setbacks, you're only going to sabotage yourself. As long as you keep trying as hard as you can, you WILL get to your goal. Don't give up halfway through your journey because you didn't hit your goal at the precise moment you thought you would! You HAVE to abandon perfectionism and lose the all-or-nothing attitude. It can be less than 100 percent of what you had envisioned and still be success. The only way you can truly fail is to give up on yourself. One really common manifestation of the fear of failure is procrastination. If you're the person who always says "I'll start exercising next week," or "I'm going to eat just one more triple-decker bacon cheeseburger, then I'll start eating healthy," you need to address the fear underneath this.

We've ALL procrastinated at one time or another...but the stakes are a little higher now than when you were writing your Great Gatsby book report. We're talking about your health — don't you want to take that into your own hands? Then do it NOW. Everybody has obstacles to work through, but if you don't even start because you don't believe you have the ability to do it "right," you're just failing yourself. If you don't succeed at first, just give it another shot. One setback doesn't make the whole effort worthless — so don't believe if you had just never tried, then you wouldn't have failed. If you have people in your life who tell you that, you need to get them out of your life or tell them that what you're doing is about YOU. You have to accept the ups and downs as exactly what they are — small wins and small losses that you'll experience throughout the rest of your life. If you're having trouble getting started, or if you're feeling discouraged about not being where you want to be yet, break down your goals into smaller pieces — I promise it really does help bring you focus on the little victories along the way.

Whether you want to lose 10 or 100 pounds, you're not going to do it flawlessly. Accept that now, and don't dwell on the slip-ups. When you get frustrated, beat through that barrier, and become a stronger person for it. Now tell me what you're going to do to abandon the need to do everything perfectly, every time.

xoxo,J