Encourage: a : to inspire with courage, spirit, or hope : hearten; b : to attempt to persuade : urge (source: Meriam-Webster)

Where are you in life? Is your glass half full or half empty? What about your nearest and dearest friend? Is her glass half full or half empty?  Maybe your without a job, divorced, overweight, credit cards are maxed out or maybe your none of these things. Maybe you know someone who is going through all or some of these things. Either way, I bet you know someone who needs encouraging or maybe you do!

So many times we go through things (hard things) and it becomes difficult to see the other side of things. We lose our focus, we eat to find comfort, drink to find comfort or shop to find comfort. We forget to leave bed because the day is just too hard or take a shower. We lose our encouragement. Sometimes we pull away from people because seeing people in this discouraged state is too hard and it’s hard to see people in this state.

This is when we need encouragement. I’m no expert by any means but I feel like I’ve had my fair share of experience. I’m not going to rehash it because those times need to be in the past. Reliving it won’t do any good but I can say I’ve come out on the other side for better. Thankfully along the way I had friends and family that pushed me to look at the better side of things. That helped me and encouraged me as I went along.  If any of you are reading this, there are not enough thank you’s to express my gratitude. That’s why from time to time you’ll see pictures with words of encouragement because I believe that you never know when the right picture, words, friends, or whatever will show up. I don’t know if something I post will ever lift anyone up but I’ll keep posting them just to give myself peace of mind. I also believe that encouraging others I’m also reaping the rewards of it myself.  It’s a two for one deal!!

Life is hard. There is no manual on how to get through it and sometimes the forest is not as thick as it seems. We just get bogged down in the smallest details and it turns in the ant hill into the mountain. We do this dieting. We get so bogged down in eating the right foods we forget that just eating less or adding a veggie or two to our day makes a world of difference. Swapping an apple for a candy bar is a big thing some days. Don’t diminish that. Celebrate it!  We all need to find little things in our day to celebrate to encourage ourselves. If exercising is not your thing and then you go for a walk, celebrate it!  Something is better than nothing.

We get so caught up in what we don’t have, what we don’t do, what we can’t do that we miss all the beautiful things in our lives. Maybe you do have less money than last year, but there’s got to be a sliver of silver lining in there. Maybe you’re getting more time with your children or you’re seeing your spouse more often.  There’s more to life than money. Yes, it does make life easier but sometimes it comes with a price and your willing to pay that price?

So I hope you have a great day and I hope that you enjoy your day.  Be sure to encourage someone so that you can get some of that encouragement as well.

An article came out yesterday in Marathon and Beyond about the top 25 marathon finisher medals in 2012 and BAM I was bit.  Hard.  (Article HERE)  Two of them are in my backyard practically. One in Mississippi the other in Mobile, Alabama.  How have I possibly let these two pieces of bling pass me by?!!?

I’ve been asked, “Why do you run?” Sometimes I’ll say, “It’s cheaper than therapy” or “So I can eat more.” The real reason……….for the BLING!!  I love my bling!!

This is the marathon that I’ve yet to do and I want to BAD!!  I’ve done the half but never the whole.

Maybe this will be the year…………maybe.

Anything you’re aching to do that for some reason you just haven’t done it yet?  Tell me!!

WHAT AN EXCITING DAY!!!!!  I’ve waited 6 months for today!!  6 months ago I put myself on a self-imposed challenge to lose as much weight as I could the healthy way by May 11th.  It seemed so far away at that time. It seemed so impossible. In fact, the 11th of November was the day before my birthday (birthday cake), days before Thanksgiving (soul food), weeks before Christmas parties (sweet treats), weeks before Christmas (more soul food) and just weeks before New Year’s Eve (hello adult beverages!).  Yes, I picked a GRAND time to lose weight.

Yes I would like to take this time out of your day and waste a few precious seconds to rant about what I “need.” Now this is not true needs. This is more like that ever growing to do list in my head that places copious amounts of stress on me saying “You NEED to do…..”

I “NEED”…………..

My t-shirt quilt to be done
My tutu for the Color Run to be done
I need to buy the supplies to make my tutu
My vlogs to be done (yes I’m going to start VLOGGING soon)
My toe nails to be painted
My porch post to be painted
My house to be pressure washed
My gutter has a leak, it needs to be caulked
I need to bike more
I need to swim more
I need to get to bed earlier
I need to stay up later to get more done
I need to get up earlier to be more productive
I need to work 8 to 5 so that we can pay a few bills
I need to be more organized
I need to declutter
I need to finish reading all the books I’ve got going
I need to remember where I put that customers invoice
I need to post more on Pounds To Miles
I need to be more social in social media

There’s a lot of things I do right and that I’m okay with. Today is just one of those overwhelming, can’t move fast enough, need an assistant type days.  At least they’re on paper and I can quit thinking about them momentarily.

I think I’ve wrote about this before  but I have really come to learn intentional mini victories can cause major victories. To me that sentence alone should be enough. Done. We can go home now.

My running coach from day one constantly set me up for victories. At first I seriously fought with it (mentally I don’t ever think it was verbally). It didn’t feel earned. It didn’t feel natural. I mean, we’re suppose to suffer, sweat and at the end of the day, HOPE for a victory. You don’t intentionally get them. Right?

Maybe so. Maybe. OR Maybe not. So as I was saying, Coach J. from day one  had all my workouts set to give me a mini victory because he knew I needed them.  I was not only physically in a rut but mentally as well. Looking back, yes to both but more so to the mental rut. So as I was mentally fighting this whole mini victory thing all the way, little did I realize that by doing what he was doing, he was increasing my confidence in myself.

So how does that translate into your diet?

Setting myself up for mini victories each week has been a huge help to my diet. Setting the bar too high on my weight loss can easily back track my efforts. Set attainable goals. 10 pounds in one week, maybe not. 2 pounds a week? That’s better.  Diet is a huge mental thing. I was constantly thinking about how much I would love a 8 p.m. snack, 9 p.m. snack. Oh, how about just one cupcake?  All those things were my battles. Not because I was hungry but because I craved them.I thought about them. You know, there’s more to a day than just eating. Eat to live, don’t live to eat.

So what can you do?

Breakfast:
I still believe it’s the most important meal of the day. You wouldn’t drive your car on empty tank why do we expect our bodies to function on an empty tank? So are you a skipper? Hate eating breakfast?  Eat a piece of toast for a week.  The next week, add half an apple with the toast. Make simple and attainable goals! 

Late night snacking getting the best of you?

Ever heard the saying……..

Eat like a king for breakfast, like a prince for lunch and a pauper at dinner. 

There’s been a many times I’ve had snacks that were well over 200 calories and not to mention how large my dinner was. I was eating like a queen all day!  So here’s what you can do, popcorn only after dinner but no later than 8. How about just Jello after dinner the next week. Next,  eliminate them every other night. Keep it going to those late night cravings are gone.

• Wanna really help the victories, take out all the trigger foods out of the house. If it’s not there, you can’t eat it!

• Maybe it’s drinking more water. Adding a bottle of water in is an improvement instead of the Diet Coke.

• How about journaling your food. Aim to complete one day of journaling. Knowing what your really eating is sometimes a huge wake up call. 

Don’t believe me, start with one day. Then maybe two days, then maybe a week. See where I’m going with this?

Don’t wish for mini victories or wait for them to happen. Make them happen!!

Found this and thought I should share!  Sounds yummy!

Genius! —– 1-2-3 Cake. I love this idea!!!
You need two boxes of cake mix. One can be any flavor you prefer, but the other MUST be Angel Food cake mix. Mix them together (shake them in a big bowl). Then simply store the mixture in an airtight container until you get the urge for dessert. Then just put three Tbsp. of the dry mixture in a big coffee mug and stir in 2 Tbsp of water. Microwave it for one minute and you will have a single serving of cake! Top with fruit, ice cream, whipped cream or whatever! Awesome for those of us who want something sweet every now without making an entire cake!!!

I hope the month of May is ready for me!  I’ve got big plans for it!!  I hope you’ll join me!

Click HERE to download!

By the way, if you’re not familiar with a Plie Squat, here’s a great example

For the last 5 months I’ve had to be very diligent and mindful of what I eat, how much, and what I do in order to have a successful 6 month deadline. So what am I using? Well,

BodyMedia

I’ve posted about it before (click here). It’s been one of THE most important things I’ve owned. I know exactly how many calories I’ve burned or not  each day. It’s taught me that on off days I typically burn about 2323 calories and to meet my daily goal (2785) I need to walk/run 3 miles.  It’s helping me become mindful of my lifestyle and holding me accountable. You can purchase them here

MyFitnessPal

The website MyFitnessPal.com has been huge for me. I’ve tried just using a notebook but in all honestly this has been the best way for me. Since I always have my phone with me  it’s an app I can keep on my phone (much easier than a notebook). It’s free (yay free) and it has a scanner so all I have to do is scan. Bam. No excuses!

Scale

I love my food scale. It’s like the BodyMedia. I can see how much I’m eating. I know what 56 grams of lunchmeat looks like. I know what 32 grams of peanut butter looks like. Including pretzels, almonds, steak.

Tip:
If you weigh the same items enough, eventually you know that two handfuls of tiny pretzels is a serving size. The repetition is a teaching tool within itself. It’s building a good habit! 

GARMIN FORERUNNER 305/  CONNECT.GARMIN.COM

So there you have 4 tools that I use day in and day out. Yes I still have to do the work but having some help never hurt anyone.

What helps you stay successful? I’d love to hear from you.

Every day

I claim I’ve been a runner since 1999. 5k’s, 10k’s, Half marathons, marathons. I maintained the exact same weigh till 2004, which was a good weight. A lean weight. Then in 2004 my weight started increasing, I call it happy fat. I got a little happy I got a little fat. But then somewhere my happy fat just became fat. F.A.T.  Fat.

However, I’ve never stopped running. Maybe not as many miles but I ran.

I’ve recently shed 40 pounds since November 11, 2012 (P.S. my birthday is  11/12. I might have gotten a little fire under me the day before my birthday about my weigh).  A close friend of mine who is a nutritionist helped me figure out how many calories I would need to eat to lose and then she encouraged me to train for a half marathon that she was training for. Okay she was training for the Boston Marathon, the half marathon was a training run for her! So I ran. My times were okay but it was more about just putting one foot in front of another.

Now fast forward a couple of weeks and I decided I was going for a 6 mile run. My hips were tight. My back was tight.  But I ran. It was the next week I started noticing a few changes. Running was suddenly easier on my body. I was running a little faster, I felt light. It wasn’t just one run, it was multiple runs. And I realized, I didn’t realize how much weight I was carrying on this frame before these runs .

I realize that very few people wake up and go “Man, I feel heavy.” Unless you need to take a probiotic, that might be the exception. I realize that a lot of people sometimes put on weight but keep up running, working out, and think “Oh, I feel just fine.” Here’s a test, grab a 5 pound weight and take it running with you. Now add another 5. Then another, and another. How did that feel? Now put all that down and go running. Now, how did that feel?

According to a study conducted by Dr. Stephen Messier (July 2005, Journal of Arthritis & Rheumatism) for every 1 lb. of weight loss, there was a 4 lb. reduction in knee joint load or knee pressure. It was also suggested that people who lost 10 lbs would be subject to a total of 48,000 less pounds of pressure every mile walked.  

There’s also a rule out there that a runner can expect to gain 2 seconds per mile for every pound lost.  

All I can say is I’ve never felt lighter. I hate I carried  around  the extra weight (40 pounds extra to date) but I am so glad it’s gone!

My point is………..I didn’t feel it on my body. I didn’t feel the weight. Or I thought I didn’t. It’s like that episode on The Office where Jim keeps adding a nickel to the inside of the phone receiver so Dwight never really notices how heavy the receiver is.  And then he takes all the nickels out and WHAM Dwight whacks himself in the head with the phone receiver. Yeah well, that’s kind of what running without the weight is like (less the head pain).

So if your pants are getting tight and the scale is increasing in numbers, maybe you should ask yourself, Do you feel it?