Powering Through...and the Inspiration of Friends

As I continue my little self evolution I've come to realize that last week I had a weekend where I probably came close to rock bottom for a little while there.

The thing that had started was all that previous week I had been working out after work, I had kept on seeing results of losing a little bit here & there. Well then on Saturday morning I got on the scale & saw that I had regained it all somehow. Now I've watched on Biggest Loser & have seen that sometimes your body will do that where for whatever reason it will just retain some weight.

Well instead of thinking about that & staying positive I just took the weekend & treated myself like crap. The coup de grace was mixing a combo of 3 Monster Drinks & probably about a half or more of a bottle of Grey Goose Vodka. It was fun for awhile but then after all was said & done I realized that I had just made myself self destruct once more.

So as I started this past Monday I made the decision until the day of October 15th rolls around I'm no longer drinking alcohol, energy drinks or Starbucks. The reason for this is that alcohol never really solves any problem but only goes to create more for me. I usually only drink while being a social creature but even then drinking like a crazy person usually leads me to eat a bunch of garbage that I don't really need. As for the energy drinks & Starbucks, it came down to the calories... I can't justify putting 200-400 calories in my body on a daily basis unneccesarily. It's really counter productive.

So this whole week I've been free of all 3 for the first time in I don't know how long. I've managed to take off about 4 pounds & I'm making progress at the gym so that's all that matters to me right now.

The other thing I'm going to start working on is trying to be a much more positive person... I've watched enough TV lately & I started to realize that people that are negative really annoy me & I will change the channel and try to keep them out of my life. Just like I had to end one "friendship" in the past week. I had to explain to the person that she's a great person but just not great for me. Reason being every time I talked to her she was complaining about something, whether it was work, her husband, her family or her general life situation. Now I understand that we all have our points in life when we are down, trust me I know I've written more than my fair share of those things but at some point you have to say enough is enough & find the positive in your life.

So as I've said before I'm inspired by my friends... One of my friends has a b/f that's currently deployed to Afghanistan for a year. But every time I talk to her & every time I see her she's a very out going & up beat person. Yeah every once in a while she has moments when she misses him but I think that's only to be expected.

Another friend was put on a shift where she never saw her husband but after a discussion about how they could make it work she seems to be happy now or at least doing her best to make it work.

One of my other friends always comes to work and he's extremely positive & in fact his whole family is positive. They have to be 3 of the greatest people I have ever met and each one individually is special enough to light up a room. I love it though when you get all 3 of them together because they blow the roof off a place.

One of my friends moved from Vegas to Florida & is now headed off to my hometown of Great Falls, Montana. She told me about the fact that at one point she didn't treat herself well but now she's moving on with her life & taking it in a new positive direction and I couldn't be happier for her.

Another friend, well I call her a friend, technically I'm just a follower of hers on Twitter but she's a friend of a friend and as they say, any friend of yours is a friend of mine! She had a really rough week but in the end she spent time with some of her great friends & she's bounced back perfectly fine.

That's what we all need to do. Just surround ourselves with the best people, people that are positive and want to see us succeed just as much as they want themselves to succeed. People that don't use you & abuse you but push you & inspire you. Yet when you feel like you're falling down they're there to grab your hand & lift you back up to where you need to be.

Those were just a few of my great friends stories. I know I probably don't tell them enough how much I appreciate each & everyone of them but I truly do.

Everyone has a story but how many of those stories are mostly positive? My story has had it's ups & downs but I'm working hard to make myself like my great friends who just see the best in everything. That's why I'm always there for all of my friends as much as I can be and the friends of friends on occasion. But even I have to have my limits & know that I can't help everyone, some people just need to figure things out for themselves. You can point them in the right direction but it's their choice if they want to go that way.

Negativity is like an anchor, either you need to just pull it up and start your ship moving on a new adventure or you can continue to let it drag you down and hold you back.

Well I say "Anchors aweigh!" This adventure, this chapter of my life has just begun. I'm excited for what the future will bring even though I'm not quite sure what that will be!

Self Ultimatum: Put Up or Shut Up

This is my blog update to make it known publically what I've been letting people know privately.

I've thought about it, I've talked about it & I've written about it.... Well now it's time for me to put up or shut up. By the end of this year at the least I will weigh under 200 pounds for the first time since I don't know when. My real goal will be to be between 180 & 190 by the end of the year.

If I'm not below 200 pounds by the end of the year though I might be thinking about it, but I won't be talking about it or writing about it anymore. Eventually a person starts to sound like a broken record repeating the same thing over & over and not doing anything about it.

I've made an ultimatum with myself to get this done by the end of the year. I can only watch myself self destruct for so long.

Since I have made the ultimatum about not talking about it if I fail, I'm going to say that I will not fail. I'm not saying what I normally say, "I don't plan on failing" or "I'm going to do my best to not fail." I'm saying I won't fail. I know I can do this & I know with perseverence I can do it.

I just got done with my first post work workout & this is only the first of many more to come. I know what has caused me to fail in the past & I will not let those things be an excuse for me failing again.

Anyways this is a brief blog but I just wanted everyone to know where I stand right now. I'm not the best of gamblers so take this betting advice with a grain of salt. I'd say put money on me completing the goal because I haven't been this determined to do anything before...

Day 1 of Putting Up or Shutting Up: COMPLETE