Update

I took a 3 month hiatus from blogging so I would like to give you a little update on the past few months.

I have been going in high gear for almost a year and a half and my body was telling me to slow down for a bit and I really needed to get my mind "reset". I now realize that it is important to stop and let your body rest every once in a while, as well as your mind. One of my goals for the summer was to maintain my weight. So I still went to the gym, but I didn't push myself or spend as much time there as I had in the past and I didn't "beat myself up" if I missed a day at the gym or had a few too many treats. I succeeded in my goal to maintain my weight.

Another of my goals was to focus on was my emotional eating. I had been struggling a bit mentally and maybe allowing myself to get a little frustrated...a huge sign that I needed a break. I have gained better control of my emotional eating. At times, I still crave the junk food when I am tired or stressed. But I am trying to replace those cravings with other things, like working out or going for a walk to clear my mind. At times, I still want the pizza and I will allow myself to have it as long as when I want it, it is not tied to something emotional. I am still working on it and I am sure that I will be working on it for the rest of my life, and that is OK as long as I am making progress.

I also spent some time looking for motivation and inspiration. I have found so many motivational and inspirational quotes and I can't wait to share them all. I will try not to bombard you with them, I will try to spread them out a bit. There are so many great ones that really hit home with me and most of them I found on the day when I needed to read them the most.

In June, I had participated in the Johnny Miles 5k run. My time was not what I wanted it to be. I was hoping to break the 30 min mark but I didn't. I did it in 31:58 which was slower than my previous time of 30:41, so that was a little disappointing. I was also supposed to participate in a triathlon this summer which didn't happen as I had hurt my back so my training had suffered a bit and I didn't feel ready. I probably could have participated but it would have been at the risk of injuring myself further and I felt it just was not worth the risk. It may be a good thing that I decided not to do it because the water temperature was only 12 degrees and I guess the participants had to warm up their feet before they could move on to the biking leg of the triathlon. I so would not have enjoyed that!

So, where do I stand now? My weight this morning was 202.2 lbs but most importantly I feel ready physically and mentally to push through to my goal. Only 20 lbs to go and I can't wait to hit ONEderland!