Investing

Earlier today I read Pat Barone's post titled The Olympic of Permanent Weight Loss. Do check it out if you get a chance. I read through her 8 elements of what it takes for permanent weight loss and the 5th one called out to me with bells! It reads:

5. Investment. To reach their goals, world class athletes invest in themselves by finding excellent coaching, support, training, education and equipment.

I am totally in agreement with that statement. If you aren't willing to invest in your own health, then what are you willing to invest in? You only have one body (yes, cliche, but oh so true)! Why not take care of it?

One way I invest in myself it is by trying to be a mindful eater. I am not a dieter. In fact, I don't like the term diet. I see it as limiting or eliminating foods, and that's something I can't get with and will not do.

I just do my best not over indulge. I am a self-described cookie monster. They are, by far, my favorite sweet. I can't pass up a warm chocolate chip cookie. It makes me happy just thinking about them...but I digress. Even with cookies, I can eat them without going overboard.

For example, the evil goodness of Girl Scout cookies arrived yesterday. There was a point where I could open one of those sleeves of cookies and devour the entire sleeve in 20 minutes flat. Not anymore. The cookies were delivered about 10 am yesterday morning, and I didn't open the box until 8 pm last night. Even when I opened the box I didn't eat one. Instead, I took out 1 serving (5 cookies) and placed them in a baggie for my lunch. I then placed the remaining cookies back in the box.

It was that easy!

I'm investing in myself by controlling what and how I eat.

Mardi Gras Mambo 10K

Below is the image that is on the t-shirt participants in the Mardi Gras Mambo 10K received.

10k race #

Here's my race # from this past Saturday's 10K:

- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

Not so hot this month

My running/walking petered out this month. Not that I'm not doing it, just didn't do it as intensely as I did during January. I'm not giving up though! I'm sticking to my goal of getting 480 miles by December 31, 2010. It can still be done, I just have to get in more miles in the coming months.

The weather this month was just awful. At least awful for us Southerners. Outdoor activity was really limited. Anywho, I'm back at it. This past week I did two personal 5Ks, and I did a 10K yesterday. With each run/walk, I lowered by average pace. So I'm pretty impressed with myself.

So far this month, I'm at 13 miles. I aim to get at least 20 by the end of the month. The weather this week is supposed to be really nice, so I think it can be done.

Some months are better than others...

40 mile goal reached

I set a goal on Nike+ to run/walk 40 miles during the month of January. I accomplished the goal with 2 days to spare despite the unusually cold weather we had during the month.

Hooray!