Making A Commitment; and Sticking To It

Commitment is defined as: the act of committing,  the state of being committed, the act of pledging or engaging oneself, or a pledge or promise; obligation. You are promising yourself you will do something. Last week, I made my own commitment; and here’s why.

A few months ago, my boyfriend found out he was going to be going out of state for 5 weeks for work. Opportunities like these don’t happen often, so I told him he had to go because it was only 5 weeks, and it’d be a great opportunity to go somewhere he’s never been before. While I knew I was going to miss him a lot, I realized that with him not being around on the weekends, I was going to have a bit more time to do anything I wanted to do. Obviously climbing would still happen sans him. I was going to be able to talk to him during the week and on weekends, but aside from that, I HAD time; ME time.

I’ve already made a commitment to be healthy and fit, and I’ve been able to stick to it for the last 3 years. Even though I’m totally happy with my weight and my fitness level, I’m still not happy about certain parts of my body; my thighs and butt, with my abs a close 3rd. But this is every other girls’ “trouble” spots, or the “I hate how my ____ looks!” spot. I know I’m “big boned” or “solid” and I’m fine with that, but I’ve never really had tone in those areas. Even when I did P90X, I didn’t see a huge difference in those areas. And I got even more unhappy about those areas when I watch videos of us climbing.

I decided I was going to workout 5-6 days a week, all month, and mean it. By the time my boyfriend came back, I would be happier about how my body looks as a whole.

I have so many workouts, DVDs, and now the amazing workouts from Bodyrock to keep me in shape. I also use an app called My Fitness Pal where I log what I eat and see how many calories I’m eating per day, how much of each nutrient I’m getting, and if I’m going over any nutrient and by how much. Most of my workouts, I usually end when I’m starting to get warm. There haven’t been many within the past year where I finish and feel some sweat dripping. I don’t fully base my grade of workout by sweating or not. I also base it on soreness, and if I feel like I did enough. I think what I was doing before was working out, and convincing myself I felt like I did enough, and even though I only fluctuate in weight +/- 5 lbs, I wasn’t happy doing that to myself.

The above caption says: To be a winner, all you need to give is all you have. My boyfriend left Thursday evening. I took Friday off, and started off on the right path. I got up Friday, took care of a few things, then worked out for about 30-35 minutes. Later that afternoon, after taking care of more things, I worked out again for 45 minutes. It felt really good. I did the same thing yesterday, morning and evening, and logged what I ate. Rather than sit on the couch and watch TV all day, I chose to do something else. I’m not going to workout 2X/day during the week, but when I do during the week, I’m going to have the same intensity and mindset. I’m going to basically do what I’ve been doing with more oopmh, and not stay at the tiny plateau I’ve hit.

I also went climbing today, and did pretty good. I almost said no but if I didn’t go, I’d be upset because I would’ve chosen to be lazy rather than do something I really enjoyed. Plus if I chose not go to because boyfriend wasn’t there and I was bummed he’s gone, then I’d just be depressing. I was also in the house for a good part of the weekend, and I needed to get out.

My commitment will also span past this month. I don’t want to be half motivated during my workouts, and I don’t want to tell myself that I did enough when I feel like I didn’t. I’m not going to overdue it, but if I have the time to do at least a 30 minute workout, I’m going to do it and give it all I’ve got.  Doing what I’ve set my mind to and doing it, feels really good already. I obviously have other things going on this month and in life, but I’m not going to let them get in the way. I’m always going to have time to workout, I just have to be in the right mindset and want it.

**Update post soon to follow**