Knowing Your Limits

        Today was a networking event after work at my internship. For the last two days I've been able to avoid sweets and overeating (recently this has become a major success for me), but today there were a bunch of hors d'oeuvres-including desserts-sitting out for us to eat while we mingled and I ate more than I would have liked. Then, I got home and had pie, cake-in-a-mug, and other sweet snacks until I was past full.
        I need to remember that at least at this point, I can't have 'just one.' I need to seriously give up gluten and sweets totally for this month if I'm going to start on my way to eating cleaner. Eventually I'd like to try a method of eating similar to the Paleo diet, but I need to stop overeating and end my cravings for sweets first before I can manage that. I think I'm more likely to be successful if I start with one goal-being in control of what I eat-and if I start small, by first eliminating only a couple things from my diet.
        However, I do have another goal, but it's easy for me to work on now because I've seen so much progress so quickly. I am working on being able to complete ten push ups in a row. I've wanted to do this since I couldn't even do one push up in elementary school gym class, but never really tried to train for it until about a month ago. For the past few weeks I've timed how long it takes me to do ten push ups at least every other day. I started at 24:45 but now I'm down to 1:47. It's been amazing how much I've improved now that I'm actually trying.
        I've made a quote wall on my room from mostly pins from Pinterest-most of them are from the blogger Tina Haupert's (Carrots 'n' Cake) 'Fitness Inspiration' Pinterest board but I'm going to get into the habit of reading them at least three times a day: in the morning, when I get home from work, and when I go to bed. They're great quotes and really motivate me, but I need to keep them in my mind and believe in them-and myself-in order to stick with my resolutions and reach my goals.
        I need to remember the progress I've made with push ups and that when I really try, I can accomplish so much more than I think I can. This will be my go-to song (I know it's not new, but I've been loving it lately):

        And this will be my quote:

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        We can do it. FIGHT ON.

Train Like a Champion

     Today was a new day. I'm finally at a place where I know that I'm a new person. I am the kind of person who eats fruit when she wants something sweet (which I did tonight). I am the kind of person who doesn't quit or eat food that doesn't help her reach her goals I am the kind of person who works hard and gets things done. I am committed to my goals and won't give up.  

     I recently started reading Dan Ariely's latest book, The Honest Truth About Dishonesty and there was a part that spoke to me-that we don't have a good sense of who we are, instead we observe ourselves and judge what kind of people we are from our actions. Ariely uses the example of if we give a needy person a sandwich, we think well of ourselves. 

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     This sentiment also reminded me of another quote I've heard recently: "If you want to be a champion, you have to train like a champion." I must act like the person I want to be. There are so many quotes that speak to this:

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     The more I act like the ideal of myself, the easier it will be until I actually am that person. Although there are a lot of goals I have for myself, I first want to focus on my fitness and health goals. Tomorrow I will detail those goals and in future posts I want to go into more background but for now I just want to express that I will change. I am changing. I am strong enough. I am the person I want to be.