The Recipe for Success Never Changes.

This has been one of those weeks where I am forced to remember that what got me to the place I'm at now (losing 153lbs) hasn't been luck; it has been sheer determination, hardwork & perserverance and I would be a fool to think that it will take anything less to finish out this journey.

For the past 2 weeks I've been really trying to kick it into high gear both nutritionally & in my fitness- so much so that I've been drinking one of these babies for breakfast & dinner every day:

Looks appetizing, eh? This yummy concauction was made with: Vanilla Bean Lean Shake Powder (GNC), strawberries, spinach (hence the green color), water & ice. Luckily it wasn't until the last couple days that I realized adding a tablespoon of peanut butter makes these smoothies about 500x's more delicious (but also adds calories & fat).

So combining eating about 1200-1300 calories a day with exercising 5x's per week at a relatively high intenstity, you would think would equal a loss. Well, it didn't. In fact, yesterday morning the scale read 200. A number I would have been fine to never see again. I know I will continue to lose and that 200lbs will be a distant dream soon enough but I just didn't feel like the effort I was putting in showed up with the results I saw.

So what to do? What to do when you're eating crap you really don't even like, saying no to chocolate and late night snacks, and you feel like your hardwork isn't being rewarded? You just. keep. pushing. Here's a picture of me doing just that:

As I've mentioned before, I'm training for a 5K using the C25K program and for whatever reason there are days that I feel like a gazelle and that I could have gone farther, longer & then there are days when I feel like I want to just lay down on the treadmill & cry. Yesterday was one of those days; in fact, before I even got to the gym it was one of those days! I was TIRED, not feeling so great but I did what I knew I should and know has brought me the success I've seen thus far, I drug my butt to the gym and completed Week 2, Day 2 (for about the 3rd time now haha) and tomorrow morning I'll do the same thing (after a spin class this evening).

I'm choosing to operate from this principle: I know that anything that is truly worth having, is worth working your butt off for and I will push, push, push until I get where I want to be. Yes, the future isn't as clear as I'd like it to be and I don't know what next week's weigh in will be or the week after that, but I do know what I have control over and that's ME.

Sidenote: I'm excited that I've finally got back to what seems to be a regular blogging schedule; once a week on Fridays. I really do love blogging and think it has value to me, my journey, and hopefully to you all as well. Just a random thought!

Also, I also feel like I have about 10 million topics that I'm dying to write/share about with you all and I hope that you'll find them helpful/interesting as well as I'll be tackling them here in the upcoming weeks- just to give you an idea and tickle your bloggy tastebuds, some of these topics include:

• The negative side effects of weight loss (yep, they exist).
• My new relationship & how that ties in with weight loss.
• Skin Removal Surgery
• And more!

I leave with you this little piece of inspiration I saw yesterday on Pinterest...