Mo-Vember??

I know we've all heard of the whole Mo-Vember movement, where men across the US (maybe the world?) let their faces grow thick with their manliness in an attempt to raise awareness of men's health. 

I don't know if that actually is successful (I did just ask Chad if he knew what it was all about, and his response was "it's about guys learning about prostate cancer or colon cancer or something..." so at least he's up on current events...), but that's not really what I'm here to write about today. 

I decided over the weekend that, rather than November being about Men's Health for me (since I'm not a man), I will make it MY Health November. 

You see, after getting married, I really feel like I took myself on a dietary honeymoon, if that makes sense. In my weight loss journey, I tend to set little goals for myself, and having a specific event that I want to be at a certain weight for really helps me stay focused. So after the wedding, I think I let myself relax too much. I stopped thinking as much about what I was eating. I wasn't working out every day. I was spending my evenings drinking leftover wine out of the box.

So, I am taking My Health November to refocus myself. My life and goals for myself didn't end when I got married. I still have so much to look forward to with a healthier body, with a body that I am comfortable and confident in. I don't want to take pictures for our first Christmas card as a married couple (maybe... I haven't quite decided if we're those people yet) and have people get it and go "why is Chad taking a Christmas picture with Buck and Santa and not Carly???" I don't want to be in Kristine's bachelorette party and wedding pictures and be the fat friend. I don't want to go on our belated honeymoon to Hawaii and be wearing a mu-mu and yoga pants the whole time.

Time to refocus.

I'm Cleanin' Out My Closet

But not in the sense that Eminem was doing it... more in the literal getting rid of clothes sense.

I have to say that might be the most freeing part of losing weight. Getting to go through my closet and looking at my clothes in a completely different light (and not just because I just changed a lightbulb in there, ha).

I've noticed over the past few months that some clothes that I used to LOVE because they were so big and comfy and cloaked me in happiness now do NOTHING for me. My size XL pajamas bring me nothing but frustration as they fall down and get me all tangled up in my sleep. If I had to run from a murderer wearing those bad boys, I would inevitably trip and fall and I would have to pray that the size of them would camouflage me and make me look like just a pile of blankets. A pile of blankets with a gun.

And my work shirts? The ones that I would wear on a rotation because there was only a few of them that I felt okay in? Yeah. Those don't get worn anymore. I put one on the other morning because I looked at it and said "oh, I haven't worn that one in a while..." and I put it on and it felt like some sort of strange bubble around me. Almost like one of those sumo wrestler halloween costumes that has the fan built in to keep it blown up (except my shirt didn't have an awesome, self ventilation system). 

And this super cute top that I tried on at Target and found it to be shockingly comfortable and flattering (I realized as I was putting it back on the hanger that it was a maternity shirt... no wonder I looked skinny in it). That shirt has turned into a dress for me... throw it on over a pair of leggings with some boots, BAM! Say hello to my Valentine's day outfit. 

Moral of this story is that, even though my weight loss slows down every once in a while and I get discouraged, I need to take a look at the tags on the clothes I'm wearing now compared to the ones I was wearing 6 months ago. And getting rid of those clothes that I was so familiar and comfortable with before is just a symbol of how far I've come, and the fact that I'm not going back there.

Bounce Back

As per my old habits, I fell off my good workout routine over the holidays. It's not like I was COMPLETELY sedentary, I still tried to work out at least 5 times a week, but I wasn't pushing myself as hard, and most of the work I was doing was being cancelled out by my disregard for healthy eating habits.

I kept telling myself that I would get back to two a day workouts, 75 minutes of cardio, running regularly, and having just lean meat and veggies for dinner... just as soon as the madness of the holidays passed.

I had the best intentions, I really did. But it's amazing how hard it is to get back into those good habits. Not just because I am prone to those thoughts of "I'll just wait until next week to start again", but also because your body can get so comfortable with it (or at least mine can). I realized that the 45 minute workout that I used to do no problem now left my legs and lungs crying for help. So what have I been doing? Stopping. Saying "well shoot, it's better than nothing" and calling it a night.

And yes, it IS better than nothing. Half an hour of cardio is better than sitting on my couch all night obviously, but it's not helping me get any farther with my weight loss. 

The only thing I keep telling myself is that as long as I'm not going BACKWARDS, I can still go forward... right?

Pros and Cons of Being a Lone Wolf

We all know that sometimes (most of the time), it's easier to hold yourself accountable for working out when you have a workout partner to keep you focused and cheer you on. But I'd be lying if I told you that I don't occasionally like be a one woman wolf pack when I'm working out.

When I first started running, I NEEDED my homegirl Greer in order to get my ass out of the house and pounding the pavement. Not only did she help me actually get up and do it, but she was also really encouraging and gave me such positive feedback, even though I could barely run the distance between two telephone poles without needing an oxygen mask.

But now that I have been seeing such progress with my fitness, I almost don't even need her (don't get me wrong, it's still about 500x easier to drag my butt out of bed at 5:45 in the morning when I know she's there waiting for me). We both have so much going on in our lives, between relationships, aches and pains (for real though... we aren't even 30 and we complain about back aches and finicky stomachs that prevent us from getting out of bed in the morning), that it's really up to me to make sure I'm still doing what I need to do in order to reach my goals.

So that brings me to the point of this blog post. There are certain pros and cons to having a workout partner.

Pros:

* someone to help hold you accountable for your workout plans

* a built in cheerleader when you meet a goal or beat a time, etc

* the feeling that you aren't alone in your goals and struggles

* having someone to keep a healthy level of motivation (wanting to do as well as them)

Cons:

* if your partner bails, you lose accountability to yourself

*  if you keep progressing on your own, the feeling of your workout partner holding you back

* getting in a rut if you feel like your buddy won't want to do something with you

Anyways, those are just some things that I've noticed the past couple months as I've been feeling like I'm plateauing with my weight loss. 

Does anybody else feel like they have these problems when it comes to having a workout partner??