Making the Cut: The Struggle

I wish I could tell you that exercising has gone well for me lately. But it hasn't. It has gone horribly. Well for about a month and a half it went great, but then....not so great. I have learned a valuable lesson. Taking a two month break not only is a good way to gain some weight, but it also helps you lose motivation and momentum. So if that's what you're looking for, I have a great suggestion for you. Tested and everything. Unfortunately, that wasn't exactly what I was thinking would happen, so I didn't think there was much harm in taking a little break. Lots of harm. And now I'm stuck in a rut. I'm stuck in an exercise rut and therefore haven't actually done any exercising in about a month now...again.

I know. Bad. But I can't go back and undo the last month, so I might as well move forward. So here I am, moving on. Forgetting the last month of not exercising ever happened....or didn't happen....it's a little confusing. What's not confusing is that just because I come here humbly dumbbells in hand, opening up about how I have been seriously slacking that doesn't change my lack of motivation or momentum.

Back in May when I was working out all the time, I apparently lost my motivation, but unlike now it wasn't enough for me to completely stop. I want to get back to working out. I want to get back to doing something. But the thought of doing nothing sounds a bit better. How do I switch my thinking? Because that's the first step. If I don't change the way I think about exercise then no matter what I do or how hard I try, exercising will end the exact same way it has this time.

And the truth is that I have no idea how to actually go about doing that. But what I do know is that I want to change my thinking. I want to exercise. I want to be healthy. I want to feel good.

So here's where I start - or at least where I'm guessing I should start - I make goals. Simple goals. Goals that I can achieve and as I change my thinking, as I get back into working out my goals can change. So here's my goals:

-Work out 3-4 days a week during the month of December [And to be clear when I say workout, I mean do my Jillian Michaels workout on those days. A more intense workout then just doing some stretches.]
-Stop drinking so much caffeine, which means dropping to one caffeine drink a day at the most. [Eventually I would love to stop drinking caffeine all together or have caffeine on special occasions, like Friday pizza nights or the like, but baby steps. I'm afraid if I stop cold-turkey then I'll do good for a couple days until Addison and I have one bad day then...well, I don't think I want to know what will happen - so like I said baby steps.]
-Stretch on the days that I don't work out [I'm also thinking of doing some short youtube workouts that I have found just to keep me moving and doing something every day. I haven't completely decided though.]
-Eat breakfast every morning [I'm trying really hard to do this because my day always starts better if I take the time to eat, but some day it just doesn't happen and those are not good days. So it's got to be a goal to do it daily!]
-Drink at least two full water bottles full of water a day [I know you're supposed to drink more than that a day but I'm definitely not drinking even close to enough on a daily basis, so again baby steps. As I decrease the other drinks (pesky caffeine) I can increase my water intake, and hopefully start feeling better in general.]

Five goals. Five goals that I think I can accomplish during the month of December. Or at least five goals that I hope I can accomplish. Which is why I write here now. I don't often share my exercise and health goals, just that I want to or already are exercising and what I'm doing. But I thought by writing out my goals and publishing them to the world wide web I have a form of accountability. And I'm definitely needing that right now.

So there we have it. A post of confessions. A post of goals for December. A post of what you might call excuses. I just hope I can actually follow through with those somewhat easy goals. What are your exercise goals? [Don't wait until the new year, that's a bad idea. Plus why wait? Start now. Your health isn't waiting until the new year, why should you?] What keeps your motivated? What is your exercise schedule - when do you do it and what do you do?