Motivation Mondays - 9/3/12

9/03/2012 *Sara-Marie* 0 Comments

During the last month, I have had great success with changing my eating habits via the Whole30 program. One of the things that helped me so much during this time was blogging about it daily! It kept me motivated and accountable, knowing that I had to post everything I was eating. I didn't want to let anyone down by cheating or giving up - and most importantly, I didn't want to let myself down. Now that August is over, I began to think about what I would continue to blog about so that I could keep this momentum. And that's how my new blog series, Motivation Mondays, was born.

Every Monday, I will post about my successes, struggles, and goals for the week. I hope to not only keep myself motivated but to also inspire others.

Now that I feel as though my eating habits are finally under control, I have two big overall goals that I'd like to accomplish:

• Break up with my scale
• Focus on my fitness 

They say that breaking up is hard to do...

One of the rules of the Whole30 that I didn't find important enough to adhere to, was to stop weighing myself. Every morning, I get out of bed, use the bathroom, get naked and jump on the scale. EVERY. MORNING. If the number is something I like, I feel great and start my day. If the number is something I don't like, I get mad, frustrated, and think about how I could do more to make the number move in the right direction. But after reading this article and this article  multiple times, I have now acknowledged that I have an unhealthy relationship with my scale.

It’s psychologically unhealthy to allow a number – any number – to determine your worth, your value or your self-image.

Amen to that.

Getting stronger

Since I was focusing so much on changing my eating habits during the month of August, I didn't focus too much on fitness. That's going to change this month. I really love spinning/cycling so my goal is to go to spin class 3 times a week. In addition, I will do 3 high-intensity interval training (HIIT) sessions. I want to have strong arms, lean legs, and a solid core!

When I'm traveling for work, I will still be able to do the HIIT sessions so there should be no excuses! Don't let me give you any!

I already feel as though I am getting stronger which is fueling my determination to keep going. I felt like I was on cloud nine when I experienced the following last night:

Seriously. 4 real pushups may not seem like a big deal to most, but it was a HUGE accomplishment for me. Just 2 months ago I couldn't do 1 - I had to rely on kneeling or incline pushups which were still hard. Now I hope to add more and more reps every day!

So here's to ditching my scale and building some muscle!

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