Our runs are becoming more ambitious! As well I have upped our challenges to give us a strong finish. Here is the Workout Log for week five.
THE SCALE OF DOOM!!!
I've talked a lot this week with individuals about goals, which prompted me to want to blog about it. I find, just as I use to do, people set their goals based on immeasurable and damn near unachievable ideals. One of the worst goals we all tend to set in the beginning is, "I want to weigh x-number of pounds."
First off if you are using your scale as a measurement of success you are already setting yourself up for failure. I promise you this.
A scale is ONLY a fat loss and weight maintenance TOOL. A scale should never be used as a measurable GOAL. In short, monitoring your weight is just one of many tools you can use to achieve your goals but it should not be a goal.
Why? Well, weight fluctuates on a regular basis for everyone. We celebrate a pound lost today and beat ourselves up for a pound gained tomorrow. The majority of the time this flux in weight has nothing to do with losing or gaining fat. Instead the scale increase is showing us our water retention, food intake and processing, or even just simple swollen joints caused by tension or stress in our muscles.
When you spend all your time focused on "losing weight" you miss out on all the good things you ARE accomplishing. Your weight and your scale should be looked at as tools to help you succeed, not goals you want to achieve.
WHAT IS A GOAL THEN?
I tend to ask myself this question when setting a goal: "Is this something tangible that I can be complimented on easily?" If it is not, then it really is not a goal.
When you achieve a goal it should be like a light going off! It should be something people can see easily and celebrate with you. Things like finishing your first 5k, fitting into a brand new sexy dress or cooking everyone a new tasty healthy meal.
Yes, people may see something new about you and say, "hey have you lost weight?" but it is not your actual weight shown by the scale that they are complimenting. (Heck, half the time they ask this question you may have actually gained weight!) Instead, what people are noticing is how good you look in something you are wearing or how light and happy you seem that day. These are tangible things people can see you have accomplished.
I WILL NEVER LOOK LIKE HER.
That is right you will never look like her. Nor should you want to. Looking like someone you are not should never be your goal. You are guaranteed to fail this goal no matter what. It is literally impossible for you to look like someone else.
We are horrible to ourselves. Always comparing ourselves to another, always seeing tons of flaws and beating ourselves up with a focus on "dieting" and "losing weight" to obtain an impossible ideal we have set in our head.
I do it. I look at women shorter than me, at how cute, petite and gorgeously feminine they are. I look at women who are taller than me, like my little sister for example, and I wonder why I can't be thin like her and have her beautiful flat stomach. It is here, in thoughts like these were we preset ourselves up for failure as we focus on wanting to be something that is literally impossible.
This journey should NOT focus on becoming the best somebody else we can be. It should instead focus on becoming the best YOU can be! And guess what, you don't even know who that person is that you could become because you spend so much time focused on trying to make that person you could be into someone else.
This is not about being who you want to be and who you see in the shapes of others. This is instead about discovering the you that you can be! You and I have no idea who that person is, in fact, you won't even recognize her when she gets here because you NEVER thought she would! You NEVER thought she existed! That woman/man you keep telling yourself you can't be is stopping you from discovering the woman/man you CAN BE! So stop letting them!
Seriously, when I started this journey I NEVER thought I would be smaller than a size 12. I NEVER thought I would run a mile. I NEVER thought I would wear a small sized anything! Yet the woman I became showed me that SHE is a size 8, that SHE can complete a Triathlon and that SHE can wear a size small if she damn well wants to. After meeting this new woman I am becoming I am even more excited to learn all about her and what else she can do! Seriously, the woman I am now is so excited to meet the woman I will become that I just can't help but keep letting her shine through! Yes, every now and then the woman I am wants to be Angelina Jolie, but, the woman I am becoming knows that I am becoming something more than the impossible and that anything really is possible.
I promise you, anything is possible if you just stop limiting your possibilities and instead start letting yourself shine! What's your motivation?
~TigressSky~
THE SCALE OF DOOM!!!I've talked a lot this week with individuals about goals, which prompted me to want to blog about it. I find, just as I use to do, people set their goals based on immeasurable and damn near unachievable ideals. One of the worst goals we all tend to set in the beginning is, "I want to weigh x-number of pounds."
First off if you are using your scale as a measurement of success you are already setting yourself up for failure. I promise you this.
A scale is ONLY a fat loss and weight maintenance TOOL. A scale should never be used as a measurable GOAL. In short, monitoring your weight is just one of many tools you can use to achieve your goals but it should not be a goal.
Why? Well, weight fluctuates on a regular basis for everyone. We celebrate a pound lost today and beat ourselves up for a pound gained tomorrow. The majority of the time this flux in weight has nothing to do with losing or gaining fat. Instead the scale increase is showing us our water retention, food intake and processing, or even just simple swollen joints caused by tension or stress in our muscles.
When you spend all your time focused on "losing weight" you miss out on all the good things you ARE accomplishing. Your weight and your scale should be looked at as tools to help you succeed, not goals you want to achieve.
WHAT IS A GOAL THEN?
I tend to ask myself this question when setting a goal: "Is this something tangible that I can be complimented on easily?" If it is not, then it really is not a goal.
When you achieve a goal it should be like a light going off! It should be something people can see easily and celebrate with you. Things like finishing your first 5k, fitting into a brand new sexy dress or cooking everyone a new tasty healthy meal.
Yes, people may see something new about you and say, "hey have you lost weight?" but it is not your actual weight shown by the scale that they are complimenting. (Heck, half the time they ask this question you may have actually gained weight!) Instead, what people are noticing is how good you look in something you are wearing or how light and happy you seem that day. These are tangible things people can see you have accomplished.
I WILL NEVER LOOK LIKE HER.That is right you will never look like her. Nor should you want to. Looking like someone you are not should never be your goal. You are guaranteed to fail this goal no matter what. It is literally impossible for you to look like someone else.
We are horrible to ourselves. Always comparing ourselves to another, always seeing tons of flaws and beating ourselves up with a focus on "dieting" and "losing weight" to obtain an impossible ideal we have set in our head.
I do it. I look at women shorter than me, at how cute, petite and gorgeously feminine they are. I look at women who are taller than me, like my little sister for example, and I wonder why I can't be thin like her and have her beautiful flat stomach. It is here, in thoughts like these were we preset ourselves up for failure as we focus on wanting to be something that is literally impossible.
This journey should NOT focus on becoming the best somebody else we can be. It should instead focus on becoming the best YOU can be! And guess what, you don't even know who that person is that you could become because you spend so much time focused on trying to make that person you could be into someone else.
This is not about being who you want to be and who you see in the shapes of others. This is instead about discovering the you that you can be! You and I have no idea who that person is, in fact, you won't even recognize her when she gets here because you NEVER thought she would! You NEVER thought she existed! That woman/man you keep telling yourself you can't be is stopping you from discovering the woman/man you CAN BE! So stop letting them!
Seriously, when I started this journey I NEVER thought I would be smaller than a size 12. I NEVER thought I would run a mile. I NEVER thought I would wear a small sized anything! Yet the woman I became showed me that SHE is a size 8, that SHE can complete a Triathlon and that SHE can wear a size small if she damn well wants to. After meeting this new woman I am becoming I am even more excited to learn all about her and what else she can do! Seriously, the woman I am now is so excited to meet the woman I will become that I just can't help but keep letting her shine through! Yes, every now and then the woman I am wants to be Angelina Jolie, but, the woman I am becoming knows that I am becoming something more than the impossible and that anything really is possible.
I promise you, anything is possible if you just stop limiting your possibilities and instead start letting yourself shine! What's your motivation?
~TigressSky~
Thank you so much for this Ember, though it is the second time I've gotten to receive it, since we had that awesome talk last week... still it was well timed for me to finally get to read this blog post today, since today I restarted up my Daily Burn, and am refocusing on my health, nutrition and exercise... done moving now, done with b-day week... New Life, New Home, New Year... time to get a new start on Becoming the Woman I Know I Can Become :) ~ Aurora
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