OK, for once I can actually see a difference in my physique and I find that very exciting. Honestly, I have some older pictures and can see huge differences between those and my latest photos. What stands out to me the most is that my chest seems tighter and my “love handles” have shrunk. My posture has also improved so much and that's from the confidence these other changes are giving me. I even had someone tease me today about getting in shape and then he patted my stomach. Upon doing that, he looked at me and said “You're really getting there!” It made me feel great.
As I reflected upon these changes I realized that it isn't just the physical that has changed, it is the mental as well. For instance, this week I was forced (due to the job responsibilities I have) to move my workout schedule around a bit. Normally I'd be lifting Sunday, Tuesday and Thursday, but this week I'm lifting Sunday, Wednesday and Friday. Usually, when I do this, I have a hard time getting up for the workout. Today the plan was simple: fasted cardio in the morning, weight workout in the evening. I woke up at 3:30 a.m. for my fasted cardio workout before work and thought “I could just do this with my weight workout tonight and get some extra sleep right now” but I knew that the fasted cardio would be better, so I got up and headed out to the gym. I had an awesome cardio session and enjoyed listening to music with my new Shure e2c ear buds that arrived yesteday from amazon.com. That decision set the stage for the rest of the day. Today is high carb day and I've been enjoying the carbs, but I've also managed, for the first time in weeks, to really maintain my macronutrient ratios. I honestly believe this is due to the good decision I made when I first opened my eyes this morning.
I will be heading out to the gym later to do my weight workout. It is my favorite workout in the Fat Loss III series because it involves deadlifts. I absolutely love doing deadlifts. I feel so powerful when I can lift that heavy bar off the floor for repetitions. This particular workout also works my chest and I've missed my chest workouts. I'm pumped to get back into the gym for my weight workout tonight. I need the time by myself to just focus on all the things going through my mind these days and to absorb what is happening via this group shred.
Today I'm not shy to say that I'm proud of my accomplishments. I am proud of the fact that I will be at the gym twice today. I am proud of the fact that I've gone 6 days straight eating clean. I am proud of the fact that I haven't missed a single day of getting my accoutability photos up. Most of all, I am proud of my change in mental attitude that is accompanying the change in my physique.
Before I sign off, I wanted to mention that I spent some time reading older posts on Christy's blog. I love the attitude about gratitude. It is definitely true that when we focus on ourselves and the changes we can make on our own, great things happen. Even in a relationship with someone else, the tendency is to point the finger at the other person, but if we focus on the changes we can make in ourselves, the other person generally makes the changes in themselves that we want to see and everyone is happy. It is just smarter to focus on changing the things we are in control of rather than trying to change the things we are not in control of. The attitude of gratitude takes us right down that path. Goals, focus and gratitude for what we accomplish is definitely a recipe for success.
Until tomorrow…
