Inspiration

I cant even say how out of this world this week has been. It's been incredible. I am officially a gym junky again. I cant seem to get enough of the gym. I find an inner peace and motivation when I am in there like I can do anything. I walk in the front doors and the world stays out. I take in the moment and that's all there is. Me and the weights. Me and the bike. Me and the treadmill. I let everything out and get out of my head and focus on the moment. Just that one moment. When I am pushing it and the pain is too much I clear my head. Focus on my breathing. Moments full of meditation. I almost find everything slowing down around me and its all in perfect unity. I hear the beat of my music pulsing through my ears and I do another rep. The sweat beads up on my head then slowly rolls down the side of my face down my neck to be soaked up by my cotton cut off t-shirt. One more rep and I see my veins start to bulge out of my forearm. I look up and see myself in the mirror... one more rep. In my head I see my IdealShape a slim toned waist, ripped arms, muscular thighs, thick defined calves... one more rep... one more rep.. one more step.. one more moment closer to my goals... Just one more rep. I finish up and wipe the sweat from my face and head and start heading towards the exit and I open up those doors and I feel the world rush back into my head. The lack of money. The stress of school. The messy room I have to clean up at home. The friend I have to call back. The jobs I have to get done. Then I think... one moment at a time. I can do it all. One thing at a time... one moment at time and I know I will accomplish everything I ever dreamed of.

Mind Power

This week has been a strong week and I have realized yet another thing I already knew. Mind power. The part of us that makes habits and lasting change comes from our minds. Getting control over what we think can keep us from talking ourselves out of yet another work out, or talking us into cheating on our meals. Will power and determination start and end in our minds. We have to decided now and re decide every day what it is we want and how we are going to accomplish our goals. We have complete control over what we eat and what we do with our free time. Will we eat good? Will we get our work outs in? Decide now. Decide in ever moment. I love re learning things I already know because the more I learn the more profound the affect they make is. I feel stronger about my decisions. I also feel like I have more control over what I eat and how I work out. I found a new work out to try for the next couple weeks to see if the change will help with my weight loss goals. I haven't done much circuit training before and started today and loved it. I think mixing up your program helps with your motivation to get to the gym. Its like getting excited about a new outfit or a new pair of shoes and you just want to try them out. A new work out can really re spark your motivation to get in the gym.

I found this quote a couple weeks back and put it up on my mirror because I loved it so much.
"Life is pain. The pain of regret or the pain of discipline. Which will you choose today?"

Conquering

These last two days have been incredible. I have grasp control again and feel amazing! I forget how much two work outs a day make you feel. I have also managed to get my license back, which makes going to the gym easier. The best part of where I am at today is that my body feels great and I don't feel mad or regretful about what I've ate or what exercise I have done. Motivation and mental will can be as hard or as easy as we make them. The big difference about this week is that I decided what I wanted to do and did it, even if it meant missing out on hanging out with friends or getting out of bed way earlier than I would like. The biggest goal I have this week is when I am working out I am making sure I am pushing myself. There is a difference in going to "work out" or pushing yourself until your drenched and you know your heart rate has been up and your in good pain. I have also been amazingly sore this week, which is a good reminder that I have been pushing myself. I usually have a hard time getting sore and my body adapts to work outs fast. I plan on keeping this week in motion and working hard to keep my motivation and determination up.

I'm convinced that we can write and live our own scripts more than most people will acknowledge. I also know the price that must be paid. It's a real struggle to do it. It requires visualization and affirmation. It involves living a life of integrity, starting with making and keeping promises, until the whole human personality, the senses, the thinking, the feeling, and the intuition, are ultimately integrated and harmonized. Stephen Covey

Recommited

The burning fire underneath these feet of mine glows once again. I have found drive this week and it has been great thus far. I am sore as sore can be and loving every moment of it. I have found that it just took waking up and doing it. I find it really funny how we hit a bump in the road and it seems like the hardest thing we have faced yet and we get stuck trying and trying to get over it. The solution once we find it comes out quite simple. We do it. We stop trying and we just get over it and jump back in our forward motion. One of my favorite quotes is from a movie called Forever Strong and the quote is, "you try you sit, this is about doing". I have found this to be true. My other newly found realization is, that when you start to work out hard your body wants good foods. This week it has been easier to eat good because I have been pushing it in my work outs and afterwards I just want something healthy. I find when I am sitting around being lazy it is a lot easier to eat unhealthy foods. It took one heck of a month for me to figure such a little thing out, but we do go through struggles to become stronger and now I know the solution next time I find myself in this rut. I feel good this week because I know I have been working out and eating better. There is always more to improve and I plan on doing just that.

"There's a difference between interest and commitment. When you're interested in doing something. You do it only when circumstance permit. When you're committed to something. You accept no excuses. Only results" - unknown.

Battles

Everyday is a new battle that I intend to win. I will wake up everyday and put my best effort forth believing in myself no matter if anyone else believes in me or not. Who we believe we are and what we are capable of becoming is what drives us. There is power and potential in us all just waiting to shine through, to help us become the best us there possible is within us. We strive to push our limits because we have something to prove. I have something to prove. I have to know for myself that I can do everything I set my mind to no matter how scary or hard the battle is. Mistakes come along the road of life, we aren't perfect. We take those mistakes and we grow and we learn to never make them again. I can do this.

“We choose to go...not because [it is] easy, but because [it is] hard, because that goal will serve to measure and organize the best of our energies and skills, because that challenge is one that we are willing to accept, one we are unwilling to postpone, and one which we intend to win.”

Frustration

I understand that if life were easy we wouldn't grow or improve at all and today was an awful day. I mentioned before that I have been sick and today was the worst of it all. I am at a stand still physically, because I cant work out when I am sick or it will only prolong the process of getting better. I have either been really hungry or not hungry at all and I slept the whole day away. I read once that having strong will power isn't a gift you are just born with, but its something everyone can have and improve. Mentally I am not at my strong point either, but I know I can get back to where I was and even do better than before. I am glad for the frustration that life brings when we know we aren't doing our best. I believe set backs can only make us stronger if we stand up to them and push forward. We are all challenged in life with two options, one to become better than we ever thought we could or two sit back and float through life barley making it. I refuse to take the second challenge in life. I also refuse to let the people I come in contact with take it, and I will fight the rest of my life to help people understand and reach their potential. I strongly believe I was given a gift from my heavenly father that I am able to see people at their best even if they aren't quite there yet. I also believe I am here to help them and have been blessed with talents that will help me accomplish just that.
I will end with this quote.

“Don't wait until everything is just right. It will never be perfect. There will always be challenges, obstacles and less than perfect conditions. So what. Get started now. With each step you take, you will grow stronger and stronger, more and more skilled, more and more self-confident and more and more successful.”

Realization

I decided since I am making this blog to keep track of my fitness journey I need to be brutally honest with myself or I am not going to make it. The real start of this journey started in December 2010 and has come till now. I was incredibly determined when I first started working out and changing my eating habits. I had to research a lot, because I didn't have the knowledge I needed to change myself. I have studied a couple of books and read hundreds of articles on eating strategies and work out plans and enjoyed every minute of it. I was doing amazing and sticking pretty darn close to what I needed to do to keep progressing on this journey. I hit a few bumps in the road about one month ago when I found out I was getting my license suspended for one month. This wasn't what I wanted to happen, but it did and I thought all would be well... until I realized that my transportation that was getting me to the gym once or twice a day was just taken away. The next bump I hit, which is a good thing, but something I need to figure out was gaining friends. When I first started this journey I didn't have friends, which made doing my own thing and sticking to my plan quite easy. I didn't have anyone wanting to hang out with me which meant all my free time could be dedicated to the gym. I love having friends I just have to find a balance (which I have yet to do). The last bump I believe hit when I went on vacation to California and I decided to take the week off from working out and eating good. That plan wouldn't have been so bad had I known that when I came back home the caffeine and sugar cravings were going to haunt me like a bad dream. I couldn't shake the want for horrible foods and the temptations I had concord were back. There it is... the bumps which lead to where I am now. I have been eating terrible I barley get any work outs in during the week and to top it off I work and KFC and constantly get tempted by the greasy fried chicken. Oh... by the way this week I have been sick and feeling awful to say the least.
I read something that got me thinking today. "You should not, however, become discouraged; discouragement will weaken your faith. If you lower your expectations, effectiveness will decrease, your desire will weaken..."(Olsen 10). This is exactly me at this point in my journey. I have become discouraged and by doing so I have lost faith in myself to be disciplined and dedicated and full of motivations to accomplish what I truly want. My effectiveness to get up early and work out totally decreased. My desire has weaken but I have not lost my desire to keep trying, that's the whole point of my starting this blog and becoming honest with myself and how I have been slacking, because once I have admitted that I have I can change and continue on my course and succeed. That's exactly what I am going to do to...succeed.
I am going to end every post with a quote to go along with what I've said or what inspired me that day. Today the quote is by George Sheehan.

"Success means having the courage, the determination, and the will to become the person you believe you were meant to be."

Day One of this Journey

Hi, I am Whitney an average 20 year old girl. This blog is part of my new found love, fitness and health. I started this journey back in December of 2010 and it is still persisting strongly with a few bumps and set backs. My number one goal I have set for myself is to be around 135 pounds and 16 percent body fat by next January 2012, with a body that I can feel proud of and comfortable in. I want to be able to feel like I can jump in and do any activity without feeling out of shape. One day I am going to run a full marathon and am considering competing in a Bodybuilding competition. I am Majoring in Exercise science and nutrition with the hopes of being a well known personal trainer that changes lives. I want my journey to be a personal testimony to those out there that I will be able to help one day. I want to prove that getting your Ideal body is possible and nothing can hold you back if you have the will and determination to work for what you want. Here's the start of a lifelong commitment to exercise and health!