Goals and the DREADED Exercise

I normally set big goals for myself like “I will lose 30 pounds by the summer”. Well, I make it half way there and then get discouraged and fall off the wagon. Needless to say, I never make it to the end goal. The end goal just seems like it is light years away and so unreachable.

This time around, since I am focusing on making a life change, I decided to test a new approach since the previous approach has not worked. I decided that my first goal would be to lose 5 pounds – no matter how long it took. I am refusing to even think about how many pounds I need to lose all together or the end weight I want to be at. Just thinking about that discourages me – it feels TOO hard. Thinking of 5 small pounds seems very doable and definitely in reach. Well, I am happy to report that as of this morning, I have MET MY FIRST GOAL! 5 pounds down! Now, I am aiming for another 5. If I keep this pace I will be where I want to be by summer without ever having to stress about it.

I know that fitness is a huge part of this journey. I have always said “I hate exercise”. I’ve since realized that this kind of negative talk will surely keep me from meeting my goals. If I am thinking “I hate exercise” then I WILL hate it. Needless to say, I am working on more positive self talk. I left the negatives behind when we left 2009 (ooh – rhyming and all – pretty catchy!) Anyhow – I am focusing on just doing. The past few days I mentioned that another small goal I set was to work out at least 3 times this week. Yesterday I reiterated this by telling you that Pete was committed to kicking me out of the bed at 5:30 am today so I can work out. Well, much to my surprise (and Pete’s dismay) – no one kicked anyone out of the bed. The alarm went off, I gave myself a couple of minutes to wake up, then I got up and went downstairs to start my boot camp dvd. Guess what, that damn DVD was nowhere to be found. For a split second I told myself “that’s okay Anna, you tried. You can just come back and try again tomorrow” ER – NO! I quickly realized what I was doing and put my willpower to the test. I was not going to let a missing dvd be the reason I missed my first workout and my goal. So, half asleep, rummaging through 200 dvd’s, I found it! Popped it in and proceeded to keep pace with Tony Horton and his 2 compadres. I won’t lie – I had to stop for a few seconds to catch my breath and wipe the sweat off my forehead – but I did FINISH the dvd. May seem insignificant to some, but for me it’s a big accomplishment. Now – I have 2 more before the end of the week. Totally doable.



My brother in law (who’s crazy into fitness – very well versed in it, too) posted a comment yesterday about a jump rope routine. I have a jump rope and may try a little skipping this evening just to acclimate myself and try something I haven’t done for a while. I strongly suggest this to anyone else looking for an “out-of-the-box” workout. I’ll let you know how that goes.