I was reading another person’s weight loss blog as I was watching The Biggest Loser and I started to think to myself–I am good at chronicling how things are going for me but I have stopped discussing how I keep myself motivated. It has not been a cake walk. Let’s discuss how I have been at the same weight since April–I have losses and then the wedding had me gain that back. Then after six weeks of boot camp I don’t even lose 2 pounds. Even though I try to say I don’t look at the scale, I still do and it’s discouraging for me. But! I have not once lost my momentum. And this is a first in my life. So what exactly is keeping me going? How do I get up at in the morning and go to boot camp and still put all of myself into the workout?

1. I vigilantly keep track of the inches I am losing. Even if the weight isn’t coming off as fast as I would like it, the inches continue to decline. When I was working out with Jacquie I went down almost an entire size during that time, and that was over two months. I lost close to 5 inches off my chest!! Then with boot camp I lost a significant amount of inches off my middle area–almost 8 inches of my waist and hips in six weeks. When I am at the gym, this is what I think about. This is what keeps me going when I want to stop. It also tells me that the weight is actually leaving me and that even if the scale isn’t representing, I know I am building muscle.

2. I am becoming addicted to working out. It happened slowly. At first I dreaded working out–I was so out of shape in January, more out of shape than I realized. Jacquie shocked my system–she made me do what is called a dynamic workout. So I was doing jumping jacks, running on the spot and then introducing me to weights. She introduced me to proper form and what “good” pain felt like. And it was all new and it was hard and I whined like a baby. But slowly I could feel myself get stronger and was able to run for longer. And that motivated me to keep going. And I didn’t stop, which I normally did. I wasn’t able to make working out a part of my life before, I always had excuses. This time I felt guilty if I didn’t go to the gym and therefore didn’t skip it. During this time I was planning my wedding, I was starting at a new store and trying to prove myself, I was busy. Yet I didn’t let it hold me back, I found the time. Now I have nothing but time, and am motivated by the new things I can do in my boot camp class (like mountain climbers and jogging two laps around the parking lot) as well I have a workout partner–Wendy. I like having someone to go to boot camp with, it keeps me accountable. Plus I enjoy our chats before and after the workout.

3. The changes in my body. When I started this journey in 2010 I was so big I had no neck, I couldn’t see my ankles, when I got on an airplane I needed an extension for the seat belt because it wouldn’t fit around my waist. Thin women complain about the one bump they have, usually their muffin top. I, on the other hand, had two very large rolls in my middle section, that I hated, plus a large butt. During this time I got smaller, first my neck started to return, then I could see curves in my waist/hip region. Then, when I started working out with Jacquie I started to be able to see my ankles again, which was truly an exciting moment! And then in May, on a visit to Robert, I didn’t need the extension for the belt seat. I was over joyed in that moment!! And of course there was the bra shopping event in August where I could fit into regular sized bras. Every time a tiny milestone happens it fills me with joy and keeps me going at the gym and when I go to eat.

Now I don’t want you readers to think that every day is like dancing with puppies and kittens. Every single week I have a moment when I feel discouraged, when I want to give up or that I flat out want to eat a big cookie and not obsess over the amount of sugar and calories in it. But a little bird chirps in my ear and says that I have worked too hard and come too far to stray from a plan that is working. I love and hate that voice in my head.