Well, I’ve got 3 questions for you…

Sorry about the delay!

Well, I have finally moved into my new home, unpacked and I am starting to feel more settled. I am glad that the last 3 months are behind me so I can move forward to a much happier and healthy place as I unfold a new chapter in my life.

A friend of mine, Drew Taddia, who is a fitness expert (and so much more!) asked me three questions:

1)      Where is your focus?

2)      Are you widening your scope of success?

3)      What is your environment like? Who and what do you surround yourself with?

So I thought I would share my answers with all of you.

Let’s start with: Where is your focus?

To be completely honest, the last few months my focus has almost entirely been on getting through my days. So now that I am ready to move forward, I have one goal that I would definitely like to set my intentions on achieving which is eating more nutritious food. I mentioned in a previous post that nutrition is an area that I find most challenging. I have clear understanding on what healthy choices are, so that has never been a problem for me. Where I stumble is eating enough food to allow my body to perform in a way that I will achieve my desired goals. This will be my main focus over the next while along with drinking more water. As for my workouts, they are right on par.

Next…  Are you widening your scope of success?

I wasn’t exactly sure of what he meant by this question. I had to ask Drew to explain it to me. He has a health and fitness radio show that he airs every Sunday evening called True Form – Exploring Mind and Body and he did one of his shows on this topic so he sent it to me to listen to. For those of you who are interested in listening to it as well, I will add his link to the bottom of this page. After listening, I was pleasantly surprised by what I heard. He talks about creating a path to success.

First is commitment. So what does that looks like on my journey? The biggest commitment I made was with my personal trainer. I pre-paid for my sessions in advance. This will encourage me to stay on track.

Second is accountability. In the past if I had set a goal for myself, I would tell a couple of my closest friends what it was. I certain didn’t want to tell too many people just in case I didn’t achieve it. Who wants to look like a failure, right? This time I decided to do things a little different. I decided to tell the world. Ha! Well, at least those who are interested in reading about it. I decided to do this blog and it has definitely held me accountable. As you know, I wanted to make this a weekly blog but with everything that has happened over the past 3 months, that has not happened.  I have been overwhelmed by the thought of writing it, to be honest. I feel like it is one more thing I need to do and because I want to do my best, I end up not doing it at all. The great thing is that I have people asking me all the time when I am going to post the next one. I am happy that I have decided to make this public because like it or not I made a commitment to myself and in the end, all of this is for my benefit. So if I haven’t written in a while, please send me a encouraging message!!

My trainer has also kept me accountable. We agreed that I would see him twice a week and twice a week it is!! He also has asked me to take my pulse and weigh myself daily. More about this in a later blog. He gets me to write a food diary and a workout journal. All of which keeps me held accountable for my actions.

Third is progress. Before I began this journey, I took before pictures and measurements. All of which I have hidden away where no one will ever find them!! I am so glad I did it because it is the last time that I will ever see myself that way again. It’s pretty exciting knowing that I am moving to a new, happier place in my life. Besides looking for increases on the scale and increases in my measurements, I have already noticed that I sleep so much better. Since I have moved into my new home, I have actually been waking up without an alarm clock (which has never happened!!) and I have watched the sun rise almost every day! What an incredible and beautiful way to wake up and be reminded how truly blessed I am!! I haven’t woken up feeling refreshed in a very very long time! To me, that is great progress! These are small but great changes that are leading me in the right direction.

So onto his last questions: What is my environment like? Who and what do you surround yourself with? These are great questions and the answers have changed quite a bit over the past 3 months. I am now living in a beautiful home that I love so much!! It was everything I wanted and more! I am so grateful that I found this place. I wake up every day feeling happy. What a wonderful change! Who I surround myself has also changed quite a bit. They say it’s though hard times that you see who your true friends are and the people that really love and care for you.  I am so grateful for the friends and family who have stood by my side, called out of the blue to see how I was doing, took care of my baby girl for me (my kitty), given me a place to stay while I was evacuated, offered me clothes and makeup when I couldn’t get back into my home, brought me goody bags, gave me their favorite CD’s to lift my spirits and those people that helped me move. The list goes on and on of how generous people have been towards me. I appreciate every little gesture people have done for me. Even as small as wishing me a great move and asking how my new place is. They are small but meaningful and these are the friendships I want to put my time and energy into.

For those of you that want to listen to Drew’s show on Widening Your Scope of Success, here is the link:

Thank you again for you time… I’m sure that not all my posts will be this long but I had a lot to share.

Have a wonderful week!

Sherry

I showered today! Does that count?

I have had many goals in my life. Many that I have accomplished, some that have come and gone and a small handful that consumes my every thought. The ones that have consumed me day in and day out, year after year are the ones that I am working to accomplish this year. So what is so different this time if these thoughts have consumed me for such a huge part of my life? Simply put, I decided. I made a decision. I am choosing every day to take steps that will lead me in the directions of my goals. I have had days that I have felt so successful and others that I celebrate the smallest thing like having enough energy to get up and shower. It may sound ridiculous but I am sure some of you can relate to what I am saying. With everything that has happened in the last two months; the evacuation, my break up, having to find a place to live, moving etc. I have to admit that showering is actually a victory on some days!! All of this and trying to stay focused on maintaining my efforts at work and keeping my focus on my personal goals.

So what does the next year hold for me? My two main focuses are to get healthy and get in the best shape of my life.

I have had many health challenges in my life and quite frankly, I am done with all the labels. I’m done identifying myself with these illnesses and health challenges. I want to be someone who wakes up in the morning and thinks “I feel great!” with no buts at the end of that thought. Just “I feel great!”

I also want to be in the best shape of my life. Now when I say that, what I really mean to say is that I want to be in shape, plain and simple, because I don’t think that I have ever really been in shape before. Not even as a young girl. My dream when I was a little wee one was to be a gymnast and a dancer. As I got a older and reached my teenage years I wanted to be a fitness model and a dancer. (I think there is a theme here!!) Dance lessons are clearly in my future!! Lol!

I would love to be described as athletic, fit and strong. To be muscular would be a dream come true for me. I think women with muscle are stunning!! As I mentioned in a past post, I feel like a women stuck in a child’s body. Being so slender, I can’t help but to feel that I have no curves.  I know that having muscle definition will give me more shape and some lovely curves. Up until now, I always wanted to just LOOK the part but I have really changed my desires with this. In the next year, I want to truly BE fit in every way. I am going to be working on my form, my strength, my endurance, my body composition and my flexibility. I have hired the perfect personal trainer to help guide me with this. I will be writing about Nick in a future post and I will explain how differently he trains than any other trainer I have had in the past. I couldn’t be happy with who I found!!  I feel like he is a gem and he has my best interest at heart.

I would also love to gain at least 12-15 pounds. In the past month and a half I have been able to gain 3 pounds (I got up to 4 but it didn’t stick!!). It may sound silly but I am going to celebrate every pound I gain!! It is such a victory for me!! The more weight I gain, the more muscle and bootie I have the potential of having! Lol!

Up until now, whatever my  trainers have asked me to do in the gym, I have done. No questions asked. Where I fall short is my nutrition. I know it is the missing link for me and one of the reasons why I have never succeeded at gaining weight and muscle. It’s my stumbling block! Now don’t get me wrong, I have eaten clean and healthy for more than a decade now but when it comes to what I need to eat and how much to eat  to fuel my body for the extra work I am doing in the gym, my eyes just glaze over. My past trainers have always told me to just eat more food but I have no idea what that means! Does that mean eat another egg? A steak? 3 more potatoes? I have no idea but I do know that my nutrition has never changed no matter how hard my workouts have been. Nick is helping me reprogram my nutritional habits and is teaching me what I need to eat to accomplish the goals I have set for myself. This will be his greatest gift to me! They say that nutrition is 80% of why people are successful when it comes to getting in shape so I am excited for his guidance and lectures if need be! This one is going to take some work.

These are just a few things I will be working on… I will have more to add in future posts.

I hope everyone has a great weekend coming up! Thank you for reading my thoughts!

Sherry