Happy New Year and Happy Birthday to me!

Hey Friends,
Long time not chat, huh? Well, as was said in my last post, I was having a little rougher time dealing with the holidays than I expected. I just simply had to get them out of the way, focusing on the meaning behind them rather than what I want them to be, and forging ahead.
I have been doing pretty good with my eating habits, and semi decent on my workouts. I must admit, back a few weeks ago when I had decided that I was ready to change my mediocre weight loss progress into something awesome, I failed to be realistic about the  holidays that were sure to come no matter what my plan. I did ok, skipped some outings, picked and chose which ones were important, and had an amazing and carefree time on my birthday (which was Saturday, in case you didn’t know).

This week I plan to recap the past few weeks for you guys including:

• what made the holidays so hard for me…
• the awesome things I got for Christmas
• the EVEN MORE awesome things I got for my birthday seven days later
• how I had the best birthday I have ever had this year
• how I did on my chart that I started about a month ago
• where I am at emotionally with some stuff in my life about my weigh loss.
• how I want to help support all of you in your weight loss goals, and start some accountability chains

I really have to get you guys caught up before my Spring semester starts next Monday! Then I will be able to post regularly about twice a week. I have a plan!

For awhile, my blog may seem mostly like a weight loss (and sometimes food) blog, and for awhile, it sort of will be. This is just what I am choosing to focus on more right now in my life.

Also, if you have noticed Finding the Courage to Change got a HUGE facelift! I have also been spending my time (A LOT OF TIME) working on this. I really needed a better place to keep track of my workouts and such to help me stay focused. Please take some time to look around, and comment if you want to know more about something. Stop by and say hello! :-)

Thanks for reading,
  Monique

Thank You.

Hey There,
I obviously owe you all a HUGE thank you for reading. I had no idea (seriously) that anyone would be reading my blog at all anymore since it was so new to begin with and I had pretty much abandoned it all together. You have no idea what it means to me, and how your awesome comments brightened my day.

That being said...

Here is how my yesterday went:

 

So, here we go....
I do not have to wait until tomorrow or Monday. Now is now, and that's what I hold in my hands. 

I have to do this. 
I will do this. 
I AM doing this. 
I need this.

 Period. 

I have a plan. That plan is not going to go into action for awhile, though. I need to get a little better organized with it and fit it into the other parts of my life a little nicer. Eventually I would love to have a weekly weigh-in video with measurements, charts and all the tools that I feel will keep me visually motivated. Right now, my goal is simply to fill up that chart that I made and have on my office wall with as many smiles as I can before my 27th birthday on January 1st. I also plan on not weighing myself until then. No numbers whatsoever. No calories, no weights, no measurements. I really just need to get my body feeling the workouts, the clean, lower calorie and smaller portioned food and the workouts. I know what I weighed last week and have measurements from last month, so I can just reference  those in 26 days. You know, what usually happens as I go on these escapades is that I get discouraged so easily by the scale depending on which way that it moves, that I  pretty much become paralyzed by each friggin' tenth of a pound...which truly is ridiculous. Elle had (and has had) the most amazingly encouraging post(s) helping me to remember that this is a crazy long and super hard journey. I am so ready. If you're reading, come back to see my fun plans, and I would love to encourage you as well. Please let me know if you're reading and you have a blog and would like to be accountable with me! Even if you don't have a blog, I would still love to "meet" you. Please email me! I just got an email from a month ago and hadn't even realized that I got it because I had trouble with it.

Wow. How amazing it is that things turn out the way that they do, right? When I started this blog, I named it this title and it took a turn that I hadn't planned on it taking. Now, how wonderfully fitting the title is! I will indeed find the courage to change, and dig deep inside to give myself something to be proud of....that came from inside for once. How amazing that will be....and I hope you're here to share it with me.

Thanks for reading,
      Monique