A personal training & food journal. Read about our weight loss progress at Train With Ron in Chicago, our nutritional habits and the life changes we're making to get in shape and stay healthy!

February 16th was our last update and I feel I’ve let too much time go by. I’ve been busy, sure, but more than anything I’ve felt my progress slipping and my motivation draining. We’ve been going at this since November of ’09 and I have yet to reach my ultimate goal. My thoughts were that the last thing I want this blog to become is a place where I whine and moan. I want to inspire and motivate. So I didn’t write my feelings down thinking it won’t help anyone if I spread the negativity I felt. Truth is, that those types of struggles are the reality of so many people that maybe I was wrong not write during that time.

I wasn’t being vocal about my struggles with anyone and let it fester. I allowed myself to be convinced by my negative thoughts. I guess it was falling back on old habits. Bottom line, I’ve created the situation I am in and so I have complete control to get myself out of it. There is nothing wrong with getting stuck and asking for help. I shouldn’t take that as a sign of being incapable or inadequate. I realize how difficult it is to accept that as fact when you’re frustrated, depressed or just plain angry about a situation but I think you have to actually say the words to yourself over and over again so that you can accept it. You have to return to thinking positively. That’s easy to do when you’re feeling good and everything’s going well, but positivity is most effective when you are feeling down. I hope I can get back to being a little bit of that for you.

So what happened? …you ask. Well I was feeling discouraged in my inability to lose these last 25lbs. I felt that ‘it wasn’t meant to be’ moment where you want something so much and you think you’ve tried your best to get it but, it’s just not in the cards. You’re not that person and just accept it. Deep inside I knew I wasn’t doing everything I could but I felt that what I was doing enough. On top of that I cut down on the number of days I was going to TWR and told myself that if I’m going to continue this I have to hold myself even more accountable. I have to go out and run or bike or whatever … something … anything to prove to myself that I’m still motivated enough. Not to mention I have to improve the food all over again because with everything else that has been slipping as well. So if I don’t eat right all of that working out is erased (almost). Where I ended up was with an extra 8 lbs roughly. I returned to being afraid of the scale and ignoring it.

Our personal trainers Matt, DB and Ron at TWR are THE best. When I finally opened up about my struggles they had tons of suggestions and inspiration for me. I had to be ready to accept their help before I could ask for it. They have such an awesome balance between motivating you and allowing personal accountability that it teaches you how to inspire yourself. I have such a strong urge to want to do well for them and for myself that when I don’t, I feel like I’m letting all of us down. I feel like we’ve all put a lot of effort into the first 50lbs lost that it may take twice the effort for these last 25lbs – 30lbs. I have to remember though that there is so much outside of the gym that I have to do too. I have to be more responsible.

Before this turns into a novel I will wrap up but on a positive note. The last couple of weeks I’ve added a day or two of running and happily report that that darn scale shows I’ve lost 2 lbs. Very happy about that. I’ve got a pretty awesome running partner and I’ve got a really good feeling that I’ll be able to reach my goal. Food is a large focus too and I’m going to make sure that I don’t let it slip again. I have to really remove the little things like how much sugar is in my coffee, making sure I don’t eat too late, really being disciplined about water in take and keep up with smaller portions more frequently rather than large meals.

Thanks for reading and I’ll update you soon!