Pictures

Such a motivator. What is it about pictures that can create and cause such emotion? Whether it's a picture at my skinniest, my best or my worst, it always seems to cause negative emotions for me. When I look at pictures of me when I was tiny, I get sad because I don't look like that anymore, and I didn't appreciate it then! When I look at pictures of me now, I get frustrated, angry and sad because I wonder to myself, how did I get here? We all wish we could somehow magically be our goal weight overnight, but obviously life doesn't work like that. I feel discouraged right now because I have continued to fail over and over again at getting my motivation into the correct motion. I've been there before, all I did was live and breathe motivation for change, and I was successful. Why is it so hard to get back into those shoes? Why do we regress?

Patience

My boyfriend reminded me the other day that when dieting the biggest thing you have to remind yourself of is that you won't see results right away, and the key is to stay motivated. The first week you won't see the pounds drop, not even the second. When you're doing it right it takes your body some time to catch up to what you've been doing and realize it. After about four weeks of sticking on track your body will start to accelerate and you'll really start to notice the results you've been pining after. So, when you don't see your numbers changing - stay on track, because soon enough that hard work will begin to show!

Passion

When I was little my best friend at the time and I used to be obsessed with camping. We were always saving our money to buy a new tent, and spent most of the summer sleeping in our backyard in a tent. I loved it! Thinking back, it comes as no surprise to me that as soon as a group of friends and I decided that we would go on a camping trip this summer that my passion came flooding back in.
My boyfriend and I are so excited to go on our new adventure and have been buying all the necessary supplies for our 30 km backpacking/camping trip in June. With this has included the purchase of new hikers. Yesterday we went on two long walks to work them in.
I've decided that when you find something to be passionate about you can really stop thinking about exercise, and just have fun!
This re-found passion of mine is a great opportunity for an active summer, and I am actually excited about exercising... that almost never happens.

Relationships

I'm not alone in my quest for skinny jeans...actually being on a skinny body. Millions of people struggle with their weight. Millions of women look in the mirror every morning and sigh. We all feel alone in our battle, but the truth is...we're not. It's a problem, every room has an overweight person in it - if not obese.
Why does this happen to the best of us?
There are plenty of reasons why people gain weight....depression, grief, laziness, overindulgence, excuses, etc.
Well I don't put the blame on my boyfriend for my weight gain, I do know that our relationship is a huge factor in why I am back in tight jeans and sighing in the mirror every morning.
When we met I had maintained my weight for nearly THREE years. Fast forward another three and a half and here I am with a muffin top and stretch marks on my hips again.
Relationships are not good for someone watching their weight. Boys eat more in general, and when they suggest bad food we cave, when we go on dates, it's to a restaurant, or to the movies (with lots of popcorn), when we go away for the weekend, it's fast food restaurants we stop at. Relationships can be the best thing, or the worst thing on a diet.
Right now my boyfriend is also on a health kick, which has been good motivation for me, but the other night when he wanted chocolate, it wasn't long before I was walking back into our apartment with a Deep and Delicious cake for myself, and M&Ms for him.
Like I said, no blame on him for that part, I'm just as guilty for suggesting him caving too. We are bad for each other in that respect. So, to all you out there with a partner that you gained weight with... I suppose it's time to start saying yes to the word NO!