Secret to Success

Our weight loss challenge at work is under way.  It's been a nice way to promote team work and collegiality.  I have been doing what I can to support my colleagues with information about nutrition and sharing my “secrets to success.”

People always ask me "What did you do?"  "Can you help me?"

The most important thing you can do to lose weight is to track your food.  I can’t begin to tell you the difference this has made for me.  If you are not currently tracking your food – through calories or Weight Watchers or another system, I strongly recommend you do that.  It’s the best way to see your eating trends and probably the only way someone can help you if you need it.  I track calories using MyFitnessPal.  I wrote about how to use MyFitnessPal here:   Flexible Dieting Basics and Tracking Calories with MFP.  

I know, however that not everyone is ready to track calories and can’t be bothered with Weight Watchers points.  Even if you are tracking calories, this post is for you!!!

The two most important things I have learned about nutrition:

ONE:  You MUST read nutrition labels! Look specifically at the following: calories, protein grams, fat grams and carbohydrates. (Fiber is good to look at too, but if you're just getting started, don't think too much about that just yet.)

When looking at the nutrition facts, consider if the food is worth the calories? Is it worth the fat grams? Is it worth the carbs?

For example, look at these two granola products:

Each one’s serving size contains 10 grams of protein, 3 grams fiber and a minor difference in fat grams (4.5 vs. 5).  However, the serving size of the Nature Valley granola is ½ cup, containing 210 calories and 32 grams of carbohydrates.  The serving size of Bear Naked granola is ¼ cup, with only 130 calories and 13 grams of carbohydrates.  Even if you double the serving size of the Bear Naked granola to make it equal, that doubles the fiber and protein, making it a Win / Win product.  I put granola in my yogurt, so ¼ cup is more than enough for me.

TWO:  PROTEIN!!!  You want to make sure you have enough protein in your diet.  Unless you have a kidney problem you should aim for at least 100 grams of protein per day.  I don’t eat a snack or a meal unless it has at least 15 grams of protein in it.  If it doesn't, think to yourself, "How can I get more protein into this meal (snack)?"   Protein helps to stabilize your blood sugar, promotes muscle growth, it helps to sustain your appetite longer.

My go-to sources of protein are:

Chicken, chicken, chicken, chicken

Ground turkey

Protein Powder (I use whey protein.  I buy it at Costco.)

Cottage cheese

Egg whites
Eggs

Feta cheese (I add ½ oz. to a salad or to an egg frittata)

Fish – salmon, haddock, tuna

Lean ground beef

Did I say chicken?

I buy 10 lbs. of chicken breasts from the local meat market.  I rinse and cut the chicken into portions, then marinade it in Italian dressing for 1 - 2 hours.  I cook all of the chicken on the grill (even in January).  When the chicken is thoroughly cooked, I take it inside, and wrap the chicken and then put it in a ziplock freezer bag.  I store the cooked chicken in my freezer.  I use it for lunches and dinner throughout the month.  It's a life saver!

Other protein sources include nuts, seeds and beans (legumes), but these also include a significant amount of fats (nuts) and Carbs (legumes), so you have to be mindful of those in consideration for the amount of protein these contain.

I wrote about protein on my blog here: Protein

There are several products which are supplemented with protein:  cereals, oatmeal, granola, and bread.  Anything that has 10 or more grams of protein in it is worth looking at.  Pay attention to the labels.  You want to be careful of anything that seems high in calories.   

Final thoughts:  

If you are trying to lose weight, start reading about nutrition, educate yourself. Many people have been overly and mis-educated about food from different nutritional programs they have followed.

We are told that certain foods are bad, or that you should only eat some foods in combination with other foods.  In my humble opinion, the only “bad” foods are white bread and things which are high in refined sugar.  White bread really has no nutritional value whatsoever, although I do eat garlic bread when we eat Italian.  During cycling season, I will eat a PB and Jelly Sandwich on white bread right before a long bike ride.  As far as sugar goes, it's in everything, so you need to read your labels and be aware of how much sugar you are consuming!

I recommend that you disregard what you think you know and start to read and learn more from reliable nutrition sources.  To further educate myself about nutrition, I subscribe to both BodyBuilding.com and MyFitnessPal for their weekly articles. They include helpful information about both exercise and nutrition. I've also picked up several recipe ideas from MyFitnessPal. 

If you hear or read something telling you to not eat an entire food group ... that you must buy their product for guaranteed weight loss .. if you have to write lengthy notes to remember what you're supposed to do ... or refer to a book to follow it, it’s probably not for you.  The reason I follow flexible dieting is because you really can eat what you want, as long as you stick to your calories and try to stay within your daily macros (carbohydrates, protein and fat).

It's practice. As you read labels and start thinking about how to get more protein into your diet, you will get better and better at it. You will start to become smart about what you eat and you will understand how your nutritional choices affect you.   Some foods affect me differently at different times of the day. For example, I can't eat a bagel for breakfast. It carb loads me too early and sets me into a tail spin of hunger that lasts all day.  But if I am out on the run, need lunch and don’t have time to sit down for a salad, I will grab a multi-grain bagel at Dunkin Donuts for lunch and eat a protein bar from my emergency stash.  In the late morning or afternoon, a bagel doesn’t disrupt my blood sugar the same way as in the morning,

So, read your labels and make sure you are getting enough protein!

Here are links to other posts where I have discussed nutrition.  They are worth a second view if you are serious about flexible dieting as an option.

Carbs:   The first in a two-part series dedicated to carbs.  What are they?  Why do we need them?

Carbs 2:  Part two.  WHY are carbs such a struggle?  What's good?  What's better?  What's best when consumed sparingly?

Nutrition 101:   I talk about meal prep and give examples of the food I eat on a daily basis.

Wonder Woman:  I explain how I got the nickname "Wonder Woman" by tracking all my calories and macronutrients.  I give a brief explanation of macros here.

A Calorie is Not a Calorie:  This post talks about the different effect foods have on you.

Question for you: 

(Answer in the comment section below.)

What's on the menu for today?  Anything good?

Now:  Subscribe to new posts!  When a new post is added, you will receive an email notice so you can check it out.  I promise:  no SPAM and I won't share your email address with anyone.  Look at the top right side of the page to subscribe.  

Follow me on Instagram:  @tracoleman99

When Doubt Creeps In

I am SOOOOOOOOO incredibly excited!!  We are having a "Biggest Loser" challenge at my school to start the New Year off. What is super fantastic is that 49 people signed up for the challenge!  Forty-nine staff!!!  The group ranges from teachers, paraprofessionals, clerks, custodians, school nurses, athletic trainers and even our school administration is involved!

Yahoo!!!!

Last week was Week One.  Today was the day of truth when everyone weighed in for the first time.  The nurses are doing the weigh-in's, so I only know what people report to me themselves.  I am encouraged.  I had some very positive feedback.

I want to share a story with you.

One lady needs to lose over 100 lbs. She told me, "Tracey, I lost 7 lbs."
My response:  "Awesome!  I'm so happy for you!  That's fantastic! Keep up the good work!"
And she answered, "I just need to believe because nobody else does - my husband, kids or relatives don't really think that I will one day lose all the weight...I still have big hope."

Awwwww!!!

This got me to thinking about my own journey...and yours...

The doubt and the judgement of others really plays a huge factor in our success or failure.  BUT, we can choose whether we want to listen to them or not.  We MUST develop our own mantra to keep us motivated, to keep us focused.  Because the moment we listen to the naysayers, when we give into our own fear of failure, we will surely fail.  To overcome this, we MUST maintain our focus on our goals.  We MUST believe in ourselves.  We MUST tell ourselves, "I can do this!"




This post is dedicated to my friend at work and to others like her, who have started the journey and need a whole lot of self-confidence and encouragement along the way.

You CAN do this!

Make this your mantra!

You must know that there will be setbacks along the way.  You will experience failure.  BUT these setbacks and failures do not make YOU a failure.  Consider each one a learning experience.  You can do this!!  Doubt will come in and take over if you allow it.

Couldn't say it better myself.

I think I can...I think I can...I can!  I know I can!

Two years ago I weighed 232 lbs.  I endeavored to lose weight and change my life.  It took me a while to find my path, to figure out what I needed to do to be successful.  But I did it!!!  When others doubt you, just ignore them, go out and accomplish your dreams.  You can do it!

July, 2013

Christmas, 2015

Question for you: 

(Answer in the comment section below.)

What do you tell yourself to keep yourself motivated?

Now:  Subscribe to new posts!  When a new post is added, you will receive an email notice so you can check it out.  I promise:  no SPAM and I won't share your email address with anyone.  Look at the top right side of the page to subscribe.  

Follow me on Instagram:  @tracoleman99

Tracking Nutrition with MFP

In my last post, Flexible Dieting Basics, I went over four basic steps to tracking your calories using MyFitnessPal (MFP). You can use other calorie counting apps as well, but MFP is the one with which I am most familiar.  This post will go over some of the nice features of the program, to make it even easier for you to use.

I am quite "religious" about working out, but I didn't really see results in my physique until I started being serious about my nutrition.  Flexible Dieting works!

Breakfast:

With the newest version of the app, you can copy yesterday's breakfast in one simple step.

To add yesterday's breakfast, just swipe to add and it's done immediately.

Copying meals:

From day to day, I often eat the same foods for lunch or dinner. I can log into MyFitnessPal on my computer and copy that meal to the current (or future day).  This is not available on the mobile app.

This was my dinner last Thursday.  If I were planning to have this tonight or tomorrow. I could log into MyFitnessPal on my computer and quickly add the meal to tonight or tomorrow's dinner.  It takes 30 seconds.

Recipes:

You can input your own recipes and import recipes from the Internet on MFP. When adding a recipe to your meals, you simply add the meal from your recipes and it automatically updated the calories. It's great! It also is useful to see exactly how healthy recipes are and if they really align with your nutritional goals.

Adjusting your calories and macros:

I lead an active lifestyle, which is a big change from where I was two years ago. I also lift weights, so I need more calories and a lot more protein than the default settings in MFP.  I adjust my calories and macros every time I update my weight in MFP. If my goal is to lose the 6 pounds I gained during the holidays, MFP defaults my settings to 1,660 calories.  This is not enough for me and I need a lot more protein than MFP recommends because I lift weights. 

You won't know right away if the default settings are right for you or not. You have to see how you feel after tracking your food for a while. Then adjust accordingly. You have to make sure you are eating enough.  No one should eat less than 1,300 calories per day.  If you are eating somewhat clean and getting in at least 100 grams of protein each day, you are probably okay. If you feel really hungry or tired with the default settings, increase by 100 calorie increments until you feel better.  

To change adjust your calorie or macros, you have to go to "More", on the lower right side of the screen.  Then go to "Goals."

You will see your current weight, your goal weight and what your goal is.  I want to lose the weight I gained during the holidays, but not too fast.  You also see your activity level.  I had to put mine from "Active" to "Lightly Active" because I'm not riding my bike as much and my job is relatively sedentary.  To adjust your calories and macros, select that under "Nutritional Goals."

I  manually increased my calories to 2,000 and reduced my carbs from the default of 50% to 40% and increased my protein from 20% to 30%.  This works best for me.  When I follow these macros, I feel best.  If I cut my calories too much, I feel hungry, tired and irritable.  

Be careful with this! You WILL be hungry at first. Your body is trying to adapt to the change and you will feel hungry. (Eat celery sticks and carrots to help between meals.) But I know now that when I feel hungry, there is a difference between between that and "the munchies" or cravings.  

MFP Community:

There are forums on MFP and you can read differs people's success stories, ask questions and add friends. Your MFP friends will see your feed, with updates to your daily goals, exercise and weight loss. Your MFP friends will cheer you on as you go. It's one way to establish a support network of people who have common goals. 

Food diary settings

You can adjust the settings on your food journal to make it either private or public. Making your food diary public means your MFP friends will be able to view your food and provide you with feedback if you need it, this is entirely optional. I would keep mine private, but I have friends who ask me for advice and tips, so I let them see my food journal so they can see what I eat and how much.  (This is done under "Settings" and "Sharing and Privacy."

Completing Your Food Journal:

At the end of the day when you complete your food journal, MFP makes a prediction of how much you will weigh if you keep eating the way you ate today. Don't pay too much attention to that. It can trick you into under-eating because you will think, "If I eat like this every day, I'll meet my goal sooner." OR if you go over on your calories and it tells you that you will weigh MORE in a few weeks, you can become discouraged easily.

This is Friday's food journal.  I was 25 calories over, including the calories added in for exercise.  (I don't usually eat my exercise calories, but I did yesterday.)  Click on "Complete Entry."

MyFitnessPal tells me what it projects I will weigh if  I eat like this every day.  You can't really go crazy with this prediction because it could make you a little batty.  Just be cautious.

The trick is to TRACK everything you eat! EVERY THING! Make adjustments as you go. Only by accurately tracking your food can you see what affect different foods have on your calories, macros and overall weight loss (or gain).

Two years ago, I weighed 232 lbs.  When I decided to lose weight, it was a series of trial and error.
When I started tracking my calories, I lost all the weight I wanted to and quickly.

Christmas, 2015

Challenge for today:

If you haven't created your account in MyFitnessPal, go ahead and do that.  Log your food for today and see if you can copy today's lunch to tomorrow.  Even if you don't eat that for lunch tomorrow, you should be able to delete it with no problem.  Experiment with the program and see if you like it.  It takes a little time to get used to, but it's really very easy.

Here are links to previous posts where I have discussed nutrition.  They are worth a second view if you are serious about flexible dieting as an option.

Nutrition 101:   I talk about meal prep and give examples of the food I eat on a daily basis.

Wonder Woman:  I explain how I got the nickname "Wonder Woman" by tracking all my calories and macronutrients.  I give a brief explanation of macros here.

Protein:  Getting enough protein was probably the biggest challenge I had when I started this.  This post gives examples of my "go to" protein sources.

A Calorie is Not a Calorie:  This post talks about the different effect foods have on you.

Question for you: 

(Answer in the comment section below.)

What did you do this weekend?  Did you get in any good workouts?

Now:  Subscribe to new posts!  When a new post is added, you will receive an email notice so you can check it out.  I promise:  no SPAM and I won't share your email address with anyone.  Look at the top right side of the page to subscribe.  

Follow me on Instagram:  @tracoleman99

Flexible Dieting Basics

So, it's a new year, you want to lose weight. You are tired of your standard weight loss programs. But you don't know what to do, or you are not satisfied with the plan you've chosen.

Best Tip of 2016: Don't diet! Diets don't work. They set you up to go off the diet, they don't promote long term success, and most people gain back all the weight they lost AND then some. So strike the word "diet" from your vocabulary. 

The most successful way to address your food is to think about it in terms of "nutrition." You eat to live, for survival. Food is nutrition.  

If weight loss is your goal, start thinking in terms of how what you eat affects your goal.  I follow flexible dieting, which basically recommends tracking your calories, and looking at how the food is comprised of "macronutrients" (macros).  Macros are the amount of protein, carbohydrates and fat in the food you eat.  You want to have a fair balance of each type of food group in your nutrition.

This has been the key to my success in losing weight and keeping it off.

I know people who try low (to no) carb diets and lose weight.  But when they go off that diet, they gain the weight back.  I know people who go on Weight Watchers and lose the weight, make it to their goal and then gain it back.  Whatever nutritional plan you follow, you have to keep in mind that it may help you to lose weight, but sustaining the weight loss can prove to be difficult.  With flexible dieting, I adjust my calories and macros depending on my needs.

Right now, my goal is to maintain my weight, which means eating more calories than when I was trying to lose weight.  I still count them and I still try to hit my target with the macronutrients.  Sometimes I'm off.  There are days when I'm over with carbs and fat and under with protein, but on the whole, it has been very successful for me.  The nice thing about tracking your macros is that if you are eating enough food, it's easy to adjust your macros, depending on what your individual needs and goals are.  For example, when I was riding my bike every other day, I ate a lot more carbs than I do now.  My body needed them for fuel.

So, where do you begin? If you're not used to tracking calories, the thought of it can be daunting and completely overwhelming. It takes a little getting used to, but it's easy as pie once you do.

Step One: download a calorie tracker such as MyFitnessPal. 

Step Two: set up your account and input your vital statistics (age, height, weight and goals).

Step Three: start tracking ALL of your food and drinks. If it has calories, add it. If you drink coffee with cream, add it. If you drink a glass of wine or have a beer, add it.  

Step Four:  Pay attention to portion sizes. A cup is a cup, not "I think this is about a cup."  Measure!!!  A pork chop is probably 3-4 ounces, so MEASURE to get the right quantity.

I use MyFitnessPal (MFP) and am familiar with it and the settings. MFP has you add your food by meal. So you add your foods under each meal.  The nice thing is you can scan the bar code on almost every thing, which makes it easy to add.

Say you want to have Raisin Bran (or something else) for breakfast, click on "add food", then click on the bar code scanner image to the right of where it says, "Search for a food", then aim it at the bar code of the food you want to eat.  It will search for your food.  Click on the check and add it to your food journal.

For in-between meals, add them under snacks.  For non-scannable items, like meats and fresh fruits and vegetables, enter the name of the food to add it.  If you eat out, MFP has a large number of menu items from lots of different restaurants. 

There are more features to MyFitnessPal, which make it super user friendly. I will add another post on this over the weekend.  I am including links to previous posts where I have discussed nutrition.  They are worth a second view if you are serious about flexible dieting as an option.

Nutrition 101:   I talk about meal prep and give examples of the food I eat on a daily basis.

Wonder Woman:  I explain how I got the nickname "Wonder Woman" by tracking all my calories and macronutrients.  I give a brief explanation of macros here.

Protein:  Getting enough protein was probably the biggest challenge I had when I started this.  This post gives examples of my "go to" protein sources.

A Calorie is Not a Calorie:  This post talks about the different effect foods have on you.

You might be thinking to yourself, "Why bother keeping track?" I get it!

I spent 11 out of 12 months in 2014 trying to lose weight by doing things my own way.  I didn't use MFP, my gym has its own calorie tracker and my trainer tried to get me to use it. I hated it. I couldn't be bothered. So for 7 months I did what I wanted and lost a whopping 15 lbs.  that's pretty pathetic.  

I was losing weight in 2014.  But it was slow in coming off.  I did what I wanted nutritionally because I thought I knew best.

When I started training with Mike, I told him point blank, "I hate that thing. I can't figure it out and I'm not going to use it. I'm a 'Lifetime Member of Weight Watchers' and I know how to eat."  While training with Mike, I did lose weight, but it was very slow in coming off.  What was better for me at the time than losing weight, was the self-confidence I gained. Mike really helped me to believe in myself.  And I needed that.

It wasn't until I started training with Dmitriy and he had "the talk" with me, that I started to track what I was eating and really learned how different foods affect my calories and macros and how I feel.  When I started to do that, the weight came off so fast that my wardrobe could not keep up. I went from a size 16 to a size 14 to a size 12 in one month. Two months later I was a size 8. It was crazy. By the end of August I was a size 4, and that's where I remain today.

January, 2015

March, 2015

August, 2015

You don't have to believe me. You can doubt. You can do things your own way. I do understand. I've been there. But I guarantee, if you try it, stick with it and work through the kinks, it will work.

Tracking Calories with MFP:  Some features of MyFitnessPal (MFP) explained.  This post has some tricks of the trade.

Nutrition 101, I talk about meal prep and provided you with several recipes and meal suggestions to get you started.  Check it out!

Nutrition Hot Topic:  Is it bad?:  Thinking about food choices.  What's good?  What's not?

Carbs and Carbs 2:  Two posts about carbohydrates.  Make sure you read these!!!

Fabulous Fiber:  A brief discussion about the benefits of a high fiber diet.

Protein: Lean protein is key to weight loss.

Successful Secrets:  Two simple strategies I practice every day which helped me to lose weight and to now keep it off.

Successful Secrets: Part Two:  How planning my week's meals helps me to stay on track.  Menu and recipe ideas.

Foods to Try:  These are foods I try to always keep on hand and a couple recipes too.

Cravings:  Some tips on how to stave off and handle cravings when they hit.  

Wonder Woman:  I explain how I got the nickname "Wonder Woman" by tracking all my calories and macronutrients.  I give a brief explanation of macros here.

A Calorie is Not a Calorie:  This post talks about the different effect foods have on you.

Challenge for today:
Create your MFP account and log your food all day!  See how you do!

Question for you: 

(Answer in the comment section below.)

What nutritional program(s) are you following or have you followed in the past?

Now:  Subscribe to new posts!  When a new post is added, you will receive an email notice so you can check it out.  I promise:  no SPAM and I won't share your email address with anyone.  Look at the top right side of the page to subscribe.  

Follow me on Instagram:  @tracoleman99

Back to the Drawing Board

So, it's January 3, how is the New Year going so far?  How are you doing with your goals for 2016?  

My friend Jackie and I went hiking yesterday.  It was cold at first, but we warmed up as we got moving up the mountain.

I have received several messages from my friends and followers that either things are going great ... OR ... that they are so discouraged about how poorly they did over the holidays or that they did not reach their goals for 2015.

I completed 100 Days of Gratitude on Facebook on New Years Eve.  One of my friends from church started her 100 Days last week and she posted this picture of her walking the pool, saying that I inspired her.  I am so happy for her and I am thrilled that my blog is making a difference.

Today's post is all about starting fresh.  It doesn't matter whether you had a bad month or a bad year.  Maybe you had a death in the family, lost your job, had to care for a loved one, moved into a new home, or maybe it was something else that got in your way.  While ALL of that affects us and impacts our progress, today is your day to say, "I'm okay and I'm NOT going to let my circumstances keep me back."

It's time to go back to the drawing board.

I'm going to be honest with you, because what would the point be if I didn't practice what I preach? Between Thanksgiving and New Years, I gained 6 lbs.  I'm not happy about it.  So, I am going back to basics with my nutrition.  I am eating lots of vegetables and lean protein.  I am drinking at least 16 oz. of water with every meal.  I have carrot sticks on hand to eat when I have the munchies.  I know I can do better than I did the last month.  I have no excuses, just that I wanted to eat what I wanted to eat.  I got lazy with my nutrition, skipped meals, took shortcuts.  But today is not a day to feel shame or guilt, it's a day to say, "All right, let's make this happen!"

Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation.  The old has passed away; behold, the new has come.

2 Corinthians 4:17 (ESV)

So, if you are feeling bad about your weight, about how you feel physically, stop it now.  If you have to, say to yourself, "Cut it out."  There is absolutely NO good resulting from feeling guilt or shame about your weight or the current state of your well-being.  Develop a mantra to drown out the negative voice in your head.  If you can't think of your own, try one of these:

"Today is my day.  I can do this."

"2016 is going to be the year for me."

"I believe in myself.  I will succeed."

My husband decided to lose weight and get healthy this year.  So I have become a bit of the food police.  You should hear me, "Drink the entire glass of water."  "What are you doing with those chips?  Stop that now!"  He thinks it's hysterical, but at the same time, he wants my help and wants to give me a hard time, so I'll amuse him for a little while, but eventually he needs to make wise decisions on his own.

This is me.  "Stop, this is not okay to eat."  "Here's an orange, you can eat that."

Unless you have a life coach or a partner to support you, you need to figure out how to be your own food police.  If you have left over holiday junk food, I give you permission to throw it all away.  Go ahead and clean out the fridge and throw it in the trash.  It's probably old and stale now anyway.  It's NOT worth the calories anymore.  You are worth better than that.  Take advantage of the New Years sales at the supermarkets and stock your fridge up with fresh fruits and vegetables.

Make a new playlist on your iPod or phone and get out there and move your body.  I particularly like this one:

Let's Go by Calvin Harris feat. Ne-Yo

It's not about what you've done, it's about what you're doing.

It's all about where you're going, no matter where you been.

Let's go!

If you need help with your journey, message me.  I'll invite you to my fitness group on Facebook if you're interested.  Sometimes the additional support can be very beneficial.

Challenge for today:
Take at least 30 minutes today to go for a walk and reflect on what is good.  Think positively about where you are today.  You are beginning a new journey, to transform yourself to a new way of life.

Question for you: 

(Answer in the comment section below.)

How are you doing so far with your goals for 2016?  What is your mantra to keep you going? 

Now:  Subscribe to new posts!  When a new post is added, you will receive an email notice so you can check it out.  I promise:  no SPAM and I won't share your email address with anyone.  Look at the top right side of the page to subscribe.  

Follow me on Instagram:  @tracoleman99

New Year, New Mindset

Happy New Year!

How was your holiday?  When my husband is off, we spend New Year's with his family in Nahant.  The kids are growing up though and want to do their own thing.  I have mixed emotions about that.  Hanging with my in-laws is a lot of fun for us, though.

Maria and I took a walk to the "end of the Earth" (as Maria calls it) yesterday.  It was so peaceful.

Brian makes such corny faces in pictures

Today marks the first day of 2016.  This year will bring several big occasions for our family.  My son graduates from high school.  I graduate from grad school.  Brian and I celebrate our 25th Anniversary.  My niece celebrates her 30th birthday.  I have my 30th high school reunion.  Both of my kids get to vote in their first presidential election.  Hopefully I will get hired as an Assistant Principal and start a new career.

This morning, I took a walk down to Dunkin Donuts, saw the beach.  Seriously, I heard it calling me.  I ended up walking the entire shoreline all the way to Lynn.  My husband had to come get me because they wanted breakfast and I wasn't there.  I felt bad (but not really), like a little kid for walking too far.  Sorry (not sorry?).  I didn't mean to stall breakfast. Honest.  I just wanted to walk.  It was beautiful.

Lunch today:  Weight Watcher's vegetable soup and a protein shake.  Back to basics for me.

Many of you will endeavor to begin or rejuvenate your own journey towards being healthier and fit.

My friend Jackie posted sort of a "Dear Ann Landers" note on my Facebook page the other day.  The woman talked about starting a diet means gaining weight.  She went on to talk about the importance of being healthy and having a positive self image.  I briefly talked about this here: "Content, not complacent."

The reason most people start a diet or a fitness journey / goal on January 1 is because they are not content with how they feel or how they look.  They want to be healthy and ... the holidays are finally over.

Last night's dinner:  Chicken Alfredo, lobster with butter, meatballs, an egg roll, a chicken finger and kale salad.  It was sooo delicious and I was full.  I don't need to  lose any more weight, but I can't continue to eat like this and keep the weight off.  So, I'm focusing on healthy eating and exercise to keep myself on track.

In my last post, I gave some strategies for accomplishing your goals: Resolve to Change.
In this post, I want to talk about the importance of having the right mindset.  If  you want to lose weight...to be healthier...to begin or renew a journey towards fitness you need a plan.  However, without the right mindset, you will fail and end up where you started.

One of the things I actually liked about Weight Watchers was attending the weekly meetings.  Listening to the speaker, hearing feedback from other members, learning new strategies.  It really helped me to develop a positive mindset about weight loss.  Where I failed to have long term success is when I gave up.  I met a roadblock, got lazy and threw in the towel.

Mindset is key

When you first set out on your journey, typically you are pumped about the new beginning.  You are excited to change your life.  What you must keep in mind is that change is work and work is hard, so when the newness wears off, that's when giving up is too easy.

Finally, brothers, whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is just, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is commendable, if there is any excellence, if there is anything worthy of praise, think about these things.
Philippians 4:8

Develop your own personal mantra.  What you will say to yourself over and over so you can accomplish your goals.  It's what you need to rely on when the going gets tough.  For me it was basic,  "You have to do this, Tracey.  You can't give up."  Whatever it is, it should be simple and easy to remember.  It's what you say to yourself when the going is good and when the going gets tough.

Keep your motivation high.

If you're on Instagram, follow people who are super motivational about fitness.  Here are a couple of my favorites:

Monica @runeatrepeat
I actually subscribe to her blog.  She talks a lot about running, nutrition and various things that make me smile, laugh and sometimes think.

Elif @elifcanbulat_  (she has some awesome videos) and
Daniella @dandxb.lovesbeingfit (she is so motivational)

Raymond @theonlinecoach (he is super strong) and
Chris @mma_yogi (I think he's the coolest yogi)

I often search for images on Google about fitness, weight loss and motivation.  I will post these on Instagram or Facebook as a reminder to myself.  Why did I want to start this journey?  How am I going to stick with it?  Here's my most recent search:

These are some pretty inspirational images.  Find the ones you like, download them.
Upload them to your favorite Social media or make them the wallpaper on your PC or phone.
Regular reminders help keep your motivation high.

Having the right mindset is key to long term success.  If it's weight you want to lose, a marathon you want to run, weights you want to lift, aches and pains you want to get rid of...whatever it is, you have to resolve to STICK with it!  When the going gets rough, don't quit.  If you have a set back, if you "fall off the wagon," don't let that derail your overall efforts.  Change takes time.  It's worth the effort.

This is true!!!

It's a journey, not a sprint.

Questions for you: 

(Answer in the comment section below.)

Did you do anything special for New Years?  What are your goals for 2016?

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Follow me on Instagram:  @tracoleman99