Being Prepared...

So one of my good friends told me to think of a blog as a journal.  Somewhere that I can share my thoughts and write how I am feeling.  I never really looked at this way.  I thought I needed something brilliant to say all the time and I didn't think I would be able to accomplish this.  Just like a lot of things, if you look at it in a bad way you will never see positive results.  So I decided that I am going to continue this blog, if for nothing else but to look back at my weight loss journey and be able to say I did it.

As many of you know I am a very social person.  I am always busy and I am not very good at telling people no  because I don't like to disappoint the people I care about.  I knew that there were going to be times that I would be invited out for drinks, dinner, or to a fun event.  This terrified me!  I was scared that I would not have the willpower to say no.  For instance two days after starting this lifestyle change ( I refuse to call it a diet) my sister-in-law Jamie invited me out to dinner at Tres Margaritas.  Ok, so the old me would have ordered a cheese enchilada with some rice and beans.  I knew this was not going to be okay and I did not want to revert back to my old ways.  So I had been contemplating telling her I wasn't going to be able to make it.  For me this really wasn't an option, I can't stop living my life as I normally would just so I wouldn't be tempted.  So I pulled up the menu and looked under their "healthy options", I can guarantee there was nothing healthy about these...except for the lettuce.  I read over all the options again and found the healthiest salad I could find and was somewhat prepared for dinner.  Before leaving the house I packed a baggie full of grapes so I wouldn't be as tempted to eat the chips on the table.  Once I got there I never even opened the menu again.  The waiter came and took our order and I ordered the salad and knew that everything on it was not healthy but I was scared to say anything for fear of spit on my food...I know you have all heard that rumor too!!! However I knew I was going to have to stand my ground and not allow myself to put that food in my body so I told him that I would like vinegar instead of ranch, no cheese, chicken or tortilla chips on my salad and could I please have  a glass of water.  This was one of my biggest accomplishments so far...learning to say no! This was huge for me because I knew I can still continue having my social life but it would be up to me to make the decision once I got there. If I know ahead of time I will look at a menu before going to a restaurant and I always take HEALTHY snacks just in case.  

This week my friend Heather invited me to Vegas in March (yes this is my 3rd time there in 6 months and no I do not have a gambling problem :).  I was thrilled to go but then hesitation kicked in.  Healthy foods in Vegas...yea right.  I knew that I would regret not going, so I decided to say yes but I was still worried about the food.  I have been trying to research some places that have more health conscious food but then I realized almost every restaurant offers salads and fruits its just whether or not you take advantage of this.  Yes I am still nervous about it but I have to be mentally prepared and not find an excuse to eat bad while I am there.  I am holding myself accountable to eat right and exercise while I am there.  Just like many people who vacation I think you look forward to where you will eat just as much as the company you are with and what you will be doing. I am more focused on enjoying my time there and not stress out over the food situation but I also know I cant be hard on myself.

I have determination and I refuse to have an excuse. Excuses are what got me here in the first place and that part of my life is gone.  

"You must do the thing you think you cannot do"

Nikki

The Beginning Journey

Hi my name is Nikki I am 27 years old.  I have had a few people mention to me that I should start writing a blog.  I am not really that great of writer and not really sure that my story is worth a blog, but I decided to give it a try and see if I like it :)

 On January 17th and 18th I had the honor of having a Life Plan and one of the biggest things that I learned about myself is the weight has been holding me back for a long time.  Things that I have always wanted to do but never did was due to the lack of confidence because of the extra weight that I have been carrying around.  I began thinking a lot about this and knew that I needed to fix this, but how?  During my Life Plan I was told that if you didn't have steps to reach your goal you will only be 30% successful, but if you map out how you are going to achieve your goal it becomes 90%.  With the help of Laura I began making laying down the road to begin this journey.  We talked about about my small goals and how I was going to accomplish these.  Eat healthy, sounds easy enough right?  Well nutrition has never been my strong point...lets face it I didn't get this way because I ate one too many bananas.  I had lots of questions and my friend Nick started answering them for me.  He explained what type of foods I should be putting in my body and what foods I should be staying away from.  He never just gave me an answer he would also explain it so I understood why I was doing this.  Next step join a gym.  Signing up was easy but committing to going there was another thing.  I also joined Weight Watchers just to give me that extra push.   Now that I had all my steps mapped out all I needed to do is put them in motion.

The biggest obstacle I faced was mental and I believe that 90% of your success if mental.  If you have the determination you will succeed but if you are not mentally committed you will not succeed. So I started asking myself some questions.  Was I really ready to do this? Can I do this? What if I fail? What if I don't lose the weight?  After running through every scenario in my head I decided now was the best time to start.  My biggest fear being: if I didn't start now I would just have a new excuse next week?

So I jump into this journey with both feet forward!  I started this new lifestyle on February 1st and it has been going great!  The first week I lost 8 lbs, the second week I lost 4.8 lbs, the third week I lost 6.4 lbs and this last week I lost 1 lb for a total of 20.2 lbs so far!!  I work out 5-6 days a week and I am doing stuff that I never thought I could do.  I have taken up Zumba, Hip Hop, Body Pump and lots of weight lifting.  However my new found love is running.  Never in a million years would I ever think I would love to run or be able to run!  I started the Couch to 5k and have loved every minute of it!

I know there are going to be challenges that I face along with the good and bad days.  However I am not worried about these.  I am mentally focused and know that I will have to work through these and may have to adjust or change things around to conquer these challenges.  I have so many people backing me and supporting me right now that if I ever get frustrated or discourage I have tons of friends and family that will get me through this.

I work for an amazing company that has given me the support and encouragement that I needed most.  I can't say thank you enough to all my amazing coworkers for being there for any questions and the encouragement you have given me to keep going.  Everyday someone else has come up to me with so many kind words and have offered to help me anyway they can.

I am so excited to keep going with this amazing journey and can't wait to start seeing more results, but most of all I can't wait to be healthy!