What's stopping you?

12th September 2015

 If we did all the things we were capable of doing, we would literally astonish ourselves

Well thank you rain, been awake since exactly 3.33am, good job I went to bed early or I'd be really tired right now, instead I'm good and raring to go.  I had the best day yesterday too which helps.  Had some much enjoyed me time, as my bestie couldn't make it, I was gonna do the housework then I thought nope, it's sunny, that doesn't happen very often and I fancy me a walk and that's exactly what I had.  A couple of hours, enjoying the scenery and the peace and quiet on Cannock Chase, no 3G signal on my phone so complete disconnectedness.  I do love the chase and the heather looks stunning at this time of year, plus it helped me earn 7 Activity ProPoints, bonus!

I then had me an hour round the shops before going for my massage, finished my day off by cooking myself a delicious tea, steak and spaghetti, it works and was delicious. 

I was going to garden today but with the rain that's going on at the moment, I don't think I will be, instead I'll spend some time in the kitchen I think possibly or chilling with my mom, who knows I may consider the housework, I keep putting that off.

What's stopping me?  Procrastination if I'm honest, plan old putting it off, I just find it a little tedious, actually a bit overwhelming, I know it's a big job and it's just getting started that sucks, once I'm into it, I actually start to enjoy it and I absolutely love the results.

Mmm am I talking about my housework there or how so many of us feel about sorting our eating habits out and tackling our weight!  So let's change this now to weight, because I'd be avoiding the issue if I pretended people don't disappear from meetings in the summer, they do.  We're more similar than we care to admit, then once the kids go back to school or we've had our holidays we put off returning to our meeting, then we realise Christmas is on the way and we finally get back on it.

So what's stopping you?  Because let's be honest, there's no time like the present to make healthy lifestyle changes and it's all too easy to put it off.   Here's a thought, because I don't believe putting it off is just down to lack of motivation or laziness, did you know that procrastination can sometimes be a sign of low self-esteem!  You're delaying starting because you have a subconscious fear that you're actually going to fail, is that what's holding you back?   Well go tell your subconscious to do one because you are going to succeed, make realistic changes and tweaks, get yourself the support you need and you will do this.

Remember what I said about the housework, before it seems like it's going to be such hard work and unenjoyable, well we can feel like that about weight loss, but once we see those results and realise we can have fun, eat delicious food and still lose weight, we wonder why we ever put off starting.

Break it down, set yourself small goals, yes we all have an overall target, but by setting mini weight loss goals, it'll keep you going week by week. 

Then there's the plateau, we all hit them, once the honeymoon period of weight loss journey wears off, you know that first few weeks of woo hoo great weight loss, oncve it slows down and people stop noticing, we can start to forget why we started, this is a great time to sit down and make a list of why you started, what's improved in your life since you've lost weight and how it's going to carry on getting better.

And don't give me the "I just don't have time to think about it this week" line, I use that too often myself.  I know most of the time we have a to do list longer than our arm, and the thought of adding to it makes us shudder.  But really isn't prioritising our wellbeing the most important thing in the world, because if we don't do that, one day we'll get sick and we won't be able to do anything. 

Routine helps here, get into the habit of spending 15 minutes planning your meals for the week, or allocate 20 minutes a day to having a walk, you don't have to go somewhere to do walking so it's the quickest and easiest activity, just pop on your trainers and walk from where you are. 

Cooking from scratch doesn't have to be time consuming, my tea took 15 minutes yesterday and that was only because the spaghetti takes 11 minutes to cook as I used frozen vegetables for quickness so no chopping.

So come on no more excuses, acknowledge you're putting it off and honestly answer the question "What's stopping you?"  Then realise it's an excuse and get started, if you're already doing it, go you! 

I'm looking forward to seeing my BeYOUtiful members this morning, they're doing it, they realise it works and they're enjoying the journey.  Here's to a great weekend - you in? 

And yes I am going to tackle the housework, I've talked myself round!