Revisiting the First Threshold.

I just read my first post.  It was made in November of 2011, just shortly after joining my gym.

I could look at this in one of two ways:

1) I have had more than enough time to get down into "onederland" and my current goal weight of 175 (which will most likely alter as I get there as I figure out what is actually necessary for my body...hopefully less than that even, but I am not going to let a number become the obsession...too many people get fixated on a number that's not realistic, and when they don't stay at it, they completely give up...not going to be me.  Wow, that was a long, long sentence :).  So, since I have had more than enough time to get to my goal weight, I must have failed.

------OR-------

2) Working out has become a lifestyle that I can't give up.  The diet (or eating lifestyle) needs some serious work yet, but working out---my legs HURT if I don't move them.  While not near my goal weight yet, I have visible muscle in my legs and arms.  My shoulders are also the obvious shoulders of someone who pushes weight.  My cardio abilities have allowed me to just start jogging--for miles at a stretch.

Sure, the scale still has a 2 in front of it (228 as of this morning), and I should, by rights, be much farther along than that by now.

But, if going by thresholds of five pounds, I have passed five of them, and in that movement, I have lost major inches, and look completely different than 255.

So, which do I look to? #2, of course!  It just can't be about the scale.  Yes, I need to get more disciplined about my eating (and no, it's really not about the pigging out...for me, it's kind of the opposite.  As a teacher who does extra duties as well, I can go WAY TOO LONG between eating anything at all.  I also have this thing about washing my hands before I eat (and if you think that's ridiculous, go to a public place and pick out some random teenagers to observe for a few minutes.  Watch what they do...then times that by 100...yeah, you will want to wash your hands too).  If I can't wash my hands, that limits what I can grab quickly between classes (and kids usually have questions, and so, really, it would just sit there anyways).  AND, absolutely no nut products in the school---which axes any of the healthy grab'n'go non-cold items.  That's PART of my problem.  The other part is probably ice cream.  I love it.  Can't help it.  And honestly, I don't want to live in a world without it :)

As I begin my morning (or began it), I am revisiting some old thoughts and goals, and drinking a smoothie (banana, frozen strawberries and blueberries, ground flax, whey protein, spinach, and some fruit juice to the blades to make it spin).  This is a jam-packed, healthy breakfast that is DELICIOUS...especially if you let the blades spin for a bit to make it creamy (if you do, you'll need a fairly big glass, as the air literally whips in and makes it amazing)!  But, I digress.  I am revisiting my goals and planning my day.  While it includes work I need to do for my grad degree, I very quickly realized my brain was orienting all of that around my workout, which will definitely include Pump, but also a bike or a jog.  My brain isn't trying to figure out how to get the workout into my work schedule.

That's progress.  That is not where I was at 255.  So, if I am sitting at 228, but that's my brain's reorientation, I will take it gladly, because I know that the next steps will only improve what I am doing.

Happy Thursday, everyone, and I apologize for the length! :)