Motivation

My sister-in-law told me earlier this week (and this isn’t the first time) that I’m her motivation. While I’m flattered, I always have trouble wrapping my mind around that. I mean, I’m fat, lazy and regularly fall off the wagon. How can this be motivating?

But then I realized that despite these things, I never give up.

And I can see how that can be motivational to someone. So, even though there are days that you feel like you’re just floundering, you have to keep going because you never know when you could be motivating someone to make a difference in their own life.

Now, if I motivate her, what motivates me? My son is my motivation. There are days when I want to attach my FitBit to him and see how many steps he takes in a day and then record them as my own. He moves that much! And I want him to keep moving! I don’t want him to ever fall into a sedentary life and forget how much fun running in circles around the couch! So, he motivates me to get my weight down and get my energy up so that I can keep up with him and be a great example to him as he gets older.

Kids are observant. They see EVERYTHING! If he sees me making healthy choices, he’ll want to do the same. And this doesn’t only apply to health. It applies to moral and ethical choices as well. Children are born as a blank slate. They love everything and everyone equally and wouldn’t it be wonderful if they stayed that way? But they learn from their parents what the right and wrong things are (even if these things aren’t the right and wrong things and even before their parents deliberately try to teach them these things).

And so far, this motivation is working! In the last month, I’ve lost 13 pounds and I’ve made massive changes to what and how much I eat. I’ve not had fast food, soda or delivery pizza in 42 days and I intend to keep this going well into the new year. The new year will also see me looking for a regular exercise regimen. This is truly going to be a lifestyle change rather than just a diet.

What’s your motivation? It can be a new dress, health changes, family or loved ones. Only you can define your motivation and nobody can tell you that your motivation is wrong. So, if you haven’t already found it, figure out what it is and let that motivation move you to be successful!

While thinking of your motivation, enjoy the most motivational song of the 1980’s.

Post Christmas and 11 weeks pregnant

How was everyone’s Christmas? Hope it was awesome!

This year, the family and I decided to focus on each other and not the commercial aspects of Christmas. In other words, we didn’t exchange gifts. This made for an extremely stress free Christmas! We spent time with each other, enjoyed each other’s company and gave thanks for what we have in life. 

I spent most of the holiday working, with only Christmas eve and Christmas day off (but I guess those are the most important days to have off) and with the in laws in town, thankfully didn’t have to do much cooking. In fact, all I did was bake the ham (Christmas eve) and the turkey (Christmas day). Both of which were delectable as per usual. My MIL did the rest of the cooking…collard greens, green beans, mac and cheese, corn bread, stuffing, sweet potato casserole, yeast rolls, fresh baked cookies, banana pudding, sweet potato pie…I think that’s it…In other words, a ton of food, of which I ate my fair share! I had one plate and was done for!

Well, Christmas is over and we’re almost back to a regular routine and I’m now 11 weeks and 3 days pregnant (as of tomorrow). I’m still exhausted and in dire need of rest. I really just want my energy to come back so that I can start working out a little again. Hopefully I’ll have more energy by the time I come back from vacation on January 15th. I’ll be in my 2nd trimester by then and that’s when the energy is supposed to kick back in. All I want to do is go for a walk for a couple miles without feeling like I’m gonna die

Oh, and I’ve gained 8 pounds…but I’m pretty sure most of this is bloating and water weight.