You have probably heard that we are putting on a race in October– Run the ‘Hood Virtual 5K/10K & Kids’ Run. It’s for anyone, really, walkers/runners/woggers… any age, any ability. I’ve now finished 3 half-marathons and several smaller races, but I’ve never had a race where I am able to consistently run {slow jog?} for more than a few minutes at a time before switching to a brisk walk. I have never gotten the “runner’s high” that I have had so many friends rave about. I don’t care about being fast and with any race I do, my goal is simply to finish and not be last.

I would, however, like to be able to claim that I can run for longer than a mile at a time. Enter the Couch-to-5K program… The program boasts that anyone can go from a couch potato to consistently running 3 miles in just two months. Thirty minutes a day, 3 days a week, for 9 weeks. It almost sounds too good to be true, but guess what? It works! I have heard so many success stories from my fellow “non-runner to runner” friends and have been amazed at their progress each time. Read about Erin and Megan!

You can find the printable Couch-to-5K plan at Cool Running. I purchased this app for $1.99 to use instead and it’s awesome! You can use your own music, and a little voice will speak to you at the appropriate intervals to tell you to jog or walk. The program also uses GPS {if you choose} to monitor the distance you travel. When you are done with your workout, one push of a button and voila! you can share your accomplishment with your Facebook friends!

I know that several people signed up for the Run the ‘Hood 5K are planning on following this program and decided that I will finally take the plunge and follow this program from start to finish. You all know that I get bored easily and like to quit things halfway through, so I am COUNTING on you to keep me going, k? I will do the same for you, promise! I created a nice little place for us to go and share our triumphs and whines:

Couch-to-5K group on the ‘hood!

Yesterday was Week 1, Day 1 for me. I pretty much thought of every excuse of why I SHOULD NOT do this workout. It was way too hot, I was grumpy, I’m too fat for my workout clothes… Finally, I told myself to shut up and at 4 o’clock p.m., I laced up my shoes and got my butt out of that door. It was hot, yes, and I felt disgusting for not having exercised for so long, but I DID NOT DIE. I did each and every interval the workout called for. It was not pretty, but I finished. 2.07 miles! You can follow all my C25K workouts on DailyMile!

So, who’s with me on this Couch-to-5K adventure? Leave a comment below telling us who you are, if/where you blog and twitter handle if you tweet, and how you feel so far! Look for weekly updates and check-ins each and every Monday until the big race on October 22nd! I’m @lissajoy on Twitter, and I will be writing here on Mondays and on my personal blog throughout this journey!

Are you new to running completely? This “getting started running” guide will be your new best friend.

Have you signed up for the race yet? If not, we’ve got a swag and a finisher’s medal awaiting you!

Disclosure: I bought the Couch-to-5K app with my own money. If you click the button provided above, you will be able to purchase the app through our affiliate program, and we will make approximately $0.06 for every purchase, which might earn us enough for a pack of gum in a few years.

I met Heidi from The Write Fit at Fitbloggin’ (she was the awesome chic with JumpSport Fitness Trampoline™!) and we just clicked. She told me she’d love to write for us about self-sabotage, and I’m thrilled to share her thoughts with all of you!

We have all been there.  We have all been on diets, watched what we put in our mouths and felt the ecstasy of waist bands loosening, shirts blousing and having a bounce in our step as we feel particularly waifish.  But then something happens, those size X’s become size Y’s.  If you’re like me, you may have thrown out your size Y’s and low and behold you get to walk around looking like a two pound sausage in a one pound bag as my Italian mama says.  I reread my article on weight loss plateus from February where I was logging in at a righteous 137 pounds.  I come to you today as a 145 pounder.  It’s fine but what I find is that I have a sabotage “thing” going on and I know that I’m not the only one.  I think we can look at pop icons and see that it is a very common occurrence. 

Why does this happen?  Before I provide you with what the pros have to say, I’ll give you my reason.  After some reactionary emotional flogging, I have had time to just quietly consider why this happens to me.  Honestly, I get cocky.  Confident.  I think, “oh, I’m skinny now, I can eat whatever I want” and believe me I do.  Half a jar of peanut butter usually and other types of concoctions that I will not reveal publicly in the event I run for office.  There’s no secret why I gain the weight when I’m stuffing my face with a foodstuff that has 200 calories per two tablespoons if I am chowing down on half a jar at a clip.  It’s not that I do not enjoy being thin, it’s like I said, I just get super confident, I feel that I am naturally thin and I’m not.  There are very few people I know who are.  Maintaining a healthy weight or a goal weight takes discipline and awareness and often that awareness can become exhausting which leads me to another reason, my personal reason for sabotage plain exhaustion for weight gain.  I get tired of counting points, watching what I put into my mouth, I just want to eat and I get sloppy.  A naturally thin person does not overeat seriously, watch someone who is naturally thin.  They eat until satisfied and that’s it.

Now for the professionals’ opinion on weight loss sabotage: I found Dr. Blair-West website to be of particular interest and intrigue.  He believes that the, “80% five year failure rate in treating obesity and maintaining weight loss, is because obesity has been traditionally conceptualised as a physical condition resulting from a willpower deficiency.” Dr. Blair-West coins this notion, “Restrain Theory” and it makes a lot of sense.  The constant mindfulness or lack of willpower that comes with our conception of losing weight (or gaining weight) is exhausting and becomes a burden.  Blair-West does not offer this theory to give us an excuse to stuff our faces but offers us a different paradigm to shift our focus and provide a new lens for perceiving and approaching how we lose weight.  Visit his website: http://weightlosspsychology.com/portal/content/view/30/108/ to learn more about his point of view and papers that support his rationale.

In the end, know that you are not alone.  I often recall a bumper sticker that I read years ago that said, “I may be fat but you’re ugly and I can lose weight”.  OK, so that’s not very nice but it serves as a reminder that fat can come off…just look at Oprah, she is the Queen of yo-yo dieting if there ever was one and bless that woman, she has to show her gains and losses in front of millions every day.  As a fitness instructor I am self conscious about getting in front of my classes, I cannot even begin to imagine exposing myself to the masses like that woman.  Take a breath.  Visit Dr. Blair West’s site and know that fat and pounds are temporary.  We can reframe the way we interpret our thoughts and we can re-pattern how we think.
Perhaps it’s time to refresh and lighten the load of our heavy thoughts.

With Love and a Spring in Her Step,

Heidi Lauckhardt-Rhoades
The Write Fit
www.thewritefit.us
@aTweetLife

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JKJo67TMmec

This past Sunday, I completed my third half-marathon. I am not a runner, nor do I really care if I ever am. Some may say it’s their legs that get them through long races, I say it’s my heart.

I didn’t quite train as much as I had intended, funny how life gets in your way and then you find excuses flying into your head and it’s so easy to ignore that day’s tempo run and so on. The miles I did train have been filled with trying to ignore the funk in my own head that’s been plaguing me all spring, blisters, sunburns, and various aches and pains.

I run {and I use that term loosely} for charity. Plain and simple. I do not get the runner’s high that so many of you have mentioned. I do, however, get teary eyes and my heart swells after every donation I receive.

This year, I ran for charity: water. Inspired by my little boy’s clean water for Christmas campaign, my family decided that we would work together and put our hearts together and raise enough money to sponsor a well in one of the countries that so desperately needs clean water. We started in March, and our campaign ends in just 7 days.

Race Day.

I was up at the crack of dawn and ready to go. I drove to one of my favorite places on Earth, turned on my music, pushed start on my Runkeeper app, and off I went. One foot in front of the other, sometimes faster, sometimes slower.

The first six miles were awesome!

And then it just wasn’t. Squish, squish, squish. Blisters on the ball of my feet. Crap. The sun was beating down, which has been extremely rare in North Dakota this year, and it was hot. I ran out of water at mile 8. Double crap. I texted my “water crew” and figured they would be there shortly to give me refills for my fuel belt. Apparently {they are fired} we had a miscommunication and I didn’t see them until mile 11.7. Every step I grew thirstier {grumpier}, and I told myself that these women and children do this every.single.day. just to GET water for their families. Water. Dirty water laden with bacteria. I kept going. You would not believe how bad I wanted to just say “screw it”.

I finished.

Also? I finished two minutes faster than any other half-marathon in previous years. *FIST PUMP*

While I wanted to just lay down and die, I plopped my butt down into our side-by-side and filmed my kids while they ran their 5K. They were AMAZING! Seriously. So if you haven’t watched them on the video up above, do it now. I’ll wait.

While I may never run a two-hour half-marathon, I do know a few things. I will start and I will finish. Those 13.1 miles in between will mean a lot to me, to my kids, and to people in the world somewhere who don’t even have a clue that those miles are FOR THEM.

To donate to my Charity: Water campaign, click HERE!

Today’s mantra is brought to you by our most awesome social sister, Colleen! Read more from Colleen here and make sure you join us on the ‘hood tonight for SisterChat!

I cannot believe we are entering into our second week of May already! How did your first week
of the May your way challenge go?

Did you stick with the mantra for the week of I am strong?

I know I found myself using it a few times when I needed strength; it got me through a few
tougher workouts. And it helped me have will power controlling my food choices on several
occasions. So I debated on what we could add to our mantras and decided upon this:

I am worthy.

What does worthy mean to you?

Wor-thy [wur th ee]

1. having adequate or great merit, character, or value: a worthy successor.
2. of commendable excellence or merit; deserving: a book worthy of praise; a person worthy to
lead.

Do you feel you deserve to be happy and healthy? Are you worthy of a healthy lifestyle and allowing yourself to meet your goals?

Yes!! Repeat after me… I am worthy.

Write it down. Remember it.

You are worthy of being healthy. You are deserving of a workout every day if you want one. You are worthy of everything you set your mind to achieving. You must open your eyes and see how special you are. You must embrace yourself and realize you are worthy.

Go forward this week and remind yourself:

I am strong.

I am worthy.

Make every moment in May count!

I was catching up on some blog reading a few weeks ago and came across this post by my friend Kat. After reading her post, I had to go to Operation Beautiful and check it out. I was so impressed, I had to contact Caitlin and ask her some questions and make sure it was okay to feature her site for my post. She was very sweet and said of course.

Operation Beautiful is a site dedicated to self worth and stopping negative self talk. To quote the site ” The goal of the Operation Beautiful website is to end negative self-talk or “Fat Talk.” If this little blog only does one productive thing, I hope it helps readers realize how truly toxic negative self-talk is — it hurts you emotionally, spiritually, and physically.” Does this sound familiar to any of you. Maybe a challenge we had?!?!

Here are a few Q & A’s that Caitlin sent me to post…..

What is Operation Beautiful, and what inspired you to start it? The site started in June 2009 and I’ve received over 7,000 notes from all over the world since it started, including notes from Asia, Europe, and Africa. Operation Beautiful involves posting random notes in public places for other people to find. These notes typically encourage a positive body image or outlook and include phrases like “You are beautiful inside and out” or “Scales measure weight, not worth.” I was inspired to start Operation Beautiful after having a really bad day at work; I wanted to do something small and simple for someone else to make me feel better!

Can you tell us a little about you? My name is Caitlin Boyle and I’m 26 years old. I was born in Miami, Florida and now I live in Charlotte, North Carolina with my husband Kristien and two dogs. I majored in Creative Non-Fiction and Political Science at the University of Pittsburgh. I used to work as an urban planner, but now I make a living as a blogger, author, and motivational speaker. Operation Beautiful began on my personal site, Healthy Tipping Point.

Why do you think a note from a stranger can have a positive impact on a person’s esteem? I think it makes people smile when they realize how much goodness there is in the world. The idea that someone would do this for a stranger is so uplifting. Also, people place these notes in locations where negative self-talk often occurs, such as the bathroom mirror, the scale, or the changing room at the gym.

What’s your favorite Operation Beautiful note story? My favorite story is Vit’s. A teenager in Canada, Vit was in a treatment center for severe anorexia. Her doctors were concerned that it was going to eventually kill her. She slipped into the bathroom to throw up her lunch and found an Operation Beautiful note on the stall. The simple message – “You are good enough the way you are” – made her pause and reconsider her destructive behavior. She followed up with me a few months later and said she was out of the hospital and healthier than ever. Vit knew a stranger posted the note, but she felt like the timing was a message from God.

Why do you think so many women struggle with self-esteem issues? There is a lot of negative messaging in our society, and the issues start young – did you know the average girl goes on her first diet when she’s 8 years old? The biggest mistake we make is beating ourselves up for not looking like models or celebrities. It’s time we stop emulating or striving for a type of perfection that doesn’t even exist in the real world. It’s OK to look like a human!

What should be our “goal” in terms of healthy diet and exercise? I think the goal is to find something active that YOU like to do and regularly incorporate it into your life for pleasure, not because you feel like you ‘have’ to do it. Also, eat healthy foods and enjoy treats in moderation. Above all else, remember that the goal is HEALTH, not size or weight. Healthy looks different for different people.

What do you think? Do you think that maybe we can all put a post it note pad in our purses and get started? Just think of it. We could be the Sisterhood of positive thoughts. With very little effort, we can help make someone elses day better by one little post it. Just think of the places that people feel bad about themselves. How about the dressing room at Kohl’s or Target? Maybe the bathroom at work? The list goes on and on.

I have my post it’s ready to go. How about you?

We are so excited to have an awesome post from Mary Phelan, a.k.a the Fiddler’s Bride, today. She’s funny, kind, and a huge supporter of the Sisterhood and all of our members, and did I mention she’s funny? Oh, I did? Well, she is!

First, let me say I am OVERTHEMOONEXCITED and honored to be doing a guest post for the Sisterhood, a site that oozes support and encouragement with every click of the mouse or stroke of the keyboard. I’ve been a huge fan for a while now.

But enough about me. Let’s talk about you. After all, we are still in the Power of One Challenge, and that is ALL about one person and one person only, YOU. How are you doing on your health/fitness/weight loss journey? No matter what your goals are, it is a journey and for most of us, it’s a hard one at that.

I am here to tell you it’s time to stop kicking the dog.

Some of you know I am participating in a Biggest Loser-style competition at my gym. I was inspired to sign up for it by the success and support of the virtual challenges of the Sisterhood. (Who says the Internet can’t be a positive influence on people?!) I wrote about this program for the newspaper for which I write here http://bit.ly/fjH8OI.

The contest launched in late January with a kick off event. It was there that I met nutritionist Cara Zaller and learned about all the ways I kick the dog. Now, before you call the ASPCA on me, hold the phone! Kicking the dog is a metaphor for how we treat our bodies. Stick with me and allow me to do some ‘splaining.

Let’s suppose you have a dog (lucky you! Hubby is not convinced yet) and when you awoke in the morning, you gave this dog a swift kick. Each and every morning. Day in and day out, for weeks, months or even years. Do you think the dog would like you? Would the dog be friendly toward you? Kind toward you? Gentle around you? Be there for you in a pinch? Trust you? Of course not. The dog would not want anything to do with you. It would flinch, retreat and be royally pissed, rightfully so.

But let’s say after a few weeks or months or even years, you start to think ‘hey, this dog is still here… maybe I DO want to see if we can be friends. Maybe it’s time show this dog some love.’ You attempt to make amends. Will the dog be receptive at first? Not by a long shot. Will the dog wonder ‘what the **@#! is going on NOW?!’and look at you like you’ve fallen off your rocker? You bet. Will the dog trust you and react the way YOU would like for it to? Nope. Not at first.

But after a while, after seeing you at your best, after seeing you treat it kindly, gently and with thought, the dog doesn’t want to rip your head off or take a chunk out of your leg. The dog begins to breathe easier and hide less. You start to trust each other and invest in each other. This makes you feel great and the dog is one happy camper.

When we are not taking care of ourselves, we’re kicking the dog. We are kicking our own bodies. We all do it. Day after day. Week after week. Month after month.

Every time you’re not getting enough sleep? You’re kicking the dog.
When you give up on yourself? You’re kicking the dog.
When you go days without exercise, when you KNOW our bodies were made to move? You’re kicking the dog.
When you beat yourself up with negative self-talk that paralyzes you and keeps you on the couch, you’re kicking the dog.
When you don’t eat right or you smoke that next cigarette, you’re kicking the dog.
YOU.
And you KNOW you are not the kind of person that would ever do something so harsh. Ever.Why do we treat our bodies so badly?

When you start to make healthy choices and positive changes, it may take a while for your body to trust you and to get the message that you are on a path where you mean no harm. But eventually, the body gets that message and that is when you start to see results. You’ve changed your way of thinking.

I kick the dog in many ways, whether it’s staying up far too late or taking too many platefuls at the Chinese buffet. But in the past six months or so I’ve been making changes for the better and I think maybe this ol’ hound is starting to warm up to me.

Mary Phelan writes for a chain of community newspapers. She attends weekly meetings at the Our Lady of the Perpetual Weight Watcher, has dabbled in stand-up comedy, is an aspiring runner, a ‘Sisterhood gospel-spreader’ and an Irish fiddle player. She lives in Baltimore, MD, with her husband (also a fiddle player) and three cats. She blogs at Another Step, and Another, and is getting to know the Twitter playground @FiddlersBride.

Today Elaine from the Miss Elaine-ous Life is sharing her South Beach Success story!

On May 16^th of this year I was sitting in my bed and eating my THIRD cupcake for the day and probably my FIFTH for the weekend.  See, the day before we’d had my son’s 3^rd birthday party and there were too many leftovers, if you get my drift.

I looked myself over and realized A) I just “sneaked” this cupcake B) that’s NOT healthy in SO many ways and C) it’s time to make some changes.

I had seen a friend of mine and her husband lose weight on the South Beach Diet and thought to myself, “How hard can it really be?”  I felt I needed something to jump start my weight loss so I emailed her and she let me borrow the book right away.  I started the following Monday with the strict first two weeks of Phase 1.

And I won’t lie, it WAS hard.  I cried the third day because I just wanted a darn piece of fruit, which is not allowed in the first two weeks.  Neither are alcoholic beverages or caffeine.  And of course, no bread, no potatoes and a slew of other things I liked to eat and drink.  A lot.  I recall standing in front of the sink cutting up strawberries for the children and it took all my will power NOT to stick one or all of them in my mouth!

I followed the recipes and food guidelines in the book and by the 5^th day or so I’d already lost about 3 pounds.  I was happy with and motivated by my progress and since the sight of fruit no longer made me cry, I was pretty sure I could make it the next nine days.  And I did and I lost about 9 lbs. in those first two weeks!

During Phase 2 I was able to add some fruit back into my diet (Hallelujah!) and even red wine and that made the first 2 weeks well worth it!  I did not miss the bread as much as I thought I would and had gotten used to eating many salads with lots of fresh vegetables as well as lean beef and turkey, chicken, fish, eggs, nuts and cheese.  Oh and the famous SB “ricotta cream” for dessert.

Once I’d lost about 15 pounds total (after an additional month or so from starting…) I adapted the diet and added in some other carbs including sprouted grain breads and cereals and low carb tortillas.  I also started to eat some dark chocolate, a square or so at a time to help my cravings for dessert.

To date I’ve lost about 25 pounds but I don’t credit all of that to South Beach per se.  I also exercise at least 3 times a week, sometimes 4, and I’ve ultimately changed my lifestyle and the way I eat in general.  Yes, I do have times when I “cheat” but I simply do not eat nearly the amount of sugar and “bad” or “simple” carbs (refined and white flours) that I used to.  And I honestly don’t crave them.  I can leave a basket of bread alone at a restaurant and I NEVER thought I’d be able to say that!

South Beach is based on the Glycemic Index and there are certain things that are just too high on that scale that I also avoid including potatoes, carrots and bananas.  It also touts the fact that you quickly lose belly fat and I can attest to that – at least I know I did!

Although the first couple of weeks of South Beach were tough I think I’ve found an eating lifestyle (I loathe the word “diet”) that I can live with.  I would like to lose another 5 – 10 lbs. and do my best to maintain at that point.  I’m pretty happy with my body at this point and I feel I don’t use food as a “crutch” as much as I used to.

I’m running again and plan to do my first 10K in less than a week and I’ve also toned up by doing Zumba as well as some weight training and other cardio at our gym.

The South Beach diet definitely helped me jump start my weight loss and fitness goals.   If you are interested in the diet I recommend reading the book for both the information and for the recipes and food guidelines.  Here is a list of pros and cons on a good SB website, which includes other information and recipes for SB as well.

And now you can see the before and after shots showing my progress so far.

Thanks for reading and if you have any questions please leave them in the comments and I will do my best to respond.  I’m certainly no expert at SB but I know it has been a great lifestyle change for me!

Elaine, congratulations on your amazing success with the South Beach Diet, and thank you so much for sharing with the Sisterhood!!

Supposing you have tried and failed again and again.  You may have a fresh start any moment you choose, for this thing we call “failure” is not the falling down, but the staying down.  ~Mary Pickford

As I read through several weigh in posts on Wednesday, I noticed the recurrence of the worst 4-letter word I can think of.

“FAIL.”

Even worse, “fail”s ugly stepsister “EPIC FAIL” showed up, too!

And I’m going to be honest with you. It makes me sad to think that so many of you think that you failed or are failing, even if it was in creating a new habit.

I have not failed.  I’ve just found 10,000 ways that won’t work.  ~Thomas Edison

Why do we see no gray area between failure and perfection? There needs to be room for trial and error, attempts, tripping, detours, and hiccups.

There is no failure. Only feedback. ~Robert Allen

So much of what we do is above and beyond what we would normally expect of ourselves, but instead of focusing on the 100 things a day that we do exceptionally well, we berate ourselves for the one thing that we had trouble with.

The only time you don’t fail is the last time you try anything – and it works. ~William Strong

Let me tell you something right now.  YOU are not failing at weight loss.  YOU are succeeding at weight loss because you are trying. You try today. If today doesn’t pan out the way you wanted it to, you try again tomorrow.

There is no failure except in no longer trying. ~Elbert Hubbard

Go out today and succeed.  Then congratulate yourself for your successes.  If you meet an obstacle, figure out a way around it and try again.  Keep trying until you figure out a way to make it work.

I didn’t fail the test, I just found 100 ways to do it wrong. ~Benjamin Franklin

And I’m telling you, if I see one single person use the words “fail” or “epic fail” in their post this week, I’m gonna open a can of positivity on your arse…

I’m just sayin’…

GAH.

Having an idle body isn’t bad, though. After all, you’re trying to heal. Trying to get better. But then you turn to Dr. Google and read about injuries and how they can derail your training and ruin your goals and…..you just want to cry.

I’ve just described what I’ve been going through for the past few weeks. One injury after another. Tendinitis, IT band issues, mystery foot pain. All of this while I’m supposed to be training for a 1/2 marathon. I’ve sat on the couch and Googled incessantly. I’ve also been reading books and trying to figure out where I went wrong, or if I went wrong.

(Knowledge is power. I’m just sayin’.)

Through all of this, do you know what’s kept me going? What’s kept me motivated? What’s kept me from throwing in the towel?

You!

My Sisters in shrinkage keep me motivated.

Whether it’s my Team Shrinking Jeans Sisters (and Brother), or my A-Team Sisters, or just my Sisterhood friends, I am motivated by all of you.

I log on to the ‘hood and see a Sister posting about trying a new workout. I log on to the Daily Mile and see a Sister posting about a walking a entire marathon. I log on to Twitter and see a Sister posting about conquering a mountain. I log on to just about anywhere and YOU are there.

I am motivated to work through these injuries and get back out on the road, and today I did. Today I ran 6 miles in 1 hour and 11 minutes, and I thought about you the entire time. I thought about seeing you cheering me on; you being there to give me a virtual high five; you telling me that I can do it; I thought about all those awesome comments on the Daily Mile and Twitter and the ‘hood. I thought about you.

Thank you for motivating me. Thank you for being part of the Sisterhood and motivating others. Thank you for being you. I appreciate you so much more than you’ll ever know, and so many other people appreciate you, too.

So now I want you to answer a question:

Who motivated you this week?

And now I want you to go and thank that person. Right now. Leave them a comment. Shoot them and email. Pick up the phone. Do whatever you have to do to let that person know how much you appreciate their support and motivation.

Truth is, with everything that has been going on, I just haven’t FELT like working out.  I’m quite happy if I just maintain, and it is PAR-TAY time if I have a small loss.  And that’s okay.  There are times when working out just can’t be our focus, and we have to make sure that we stay in control and not go too crazy.

I think I’ve done a pretty good job with that, but seriously folks…it’s time to get back to it.  With everything going on right now, there has been just ONE thing that has gotten my tail into gear.

Wanna know my secret?

Lean in close…

Ready?

BATHING SUIT SEASON IS GETTING CLOSE.

But if I’m being honest, it isn’t just bathing suit season.  It’s the summer season in general.  I want to look good in my tanks and sleeveless tops.  I want to look fabulous in my shorts and my size 6 clamdiggers from The Gap.  I want to buy new cute summer clothes in a smaller size than I am now.

But isn’t that a vain way of looking at things, you ask?  Why yes it is, but there is nothing wrong with that.  We all want to look good in what we wear don’t we?  You know how it feels to go into a store and try on a pair of jeans in a smaller size and have those jeans fit.  It really is a pump your fists in the air right there in the dressing room because you know no one is looking kind of moment, isn’t it?  (Don’t act like you’ve never done it.  I KNOW you have.)  It makes us feel like all of that hard work we put in has paid off, and it makes us want to work harder.

So, if you’re having trouble getting motivated lately, think about going and trying on clothes and expecting to do a happy dance in the dressing room.  Sometimes it’s the little things that can get us going.

And I sit here writing this with almost every inch of my body sore because I’ve gotten great work outs in all weekend.  That’s a first in a while, let me tell you.  My plan right now is to take life as it comes, but get great work outs in when I can, so that I can look good in my bathing suit.

Talk to me…what do YOU want to look good in this spring/summer?