I have a friend who has lost at least 15 pounds over the last few months and she looks great. She carries herself differently with a confidence I haven't seen in a long time, she has more energy and she can wear jeans she hasn't worn in over 5 years.
But instead of being psyched about it, she kept talking about how her family is coming into town next week for thanksgiving and she's still heavier than she's ever been. She really wanted to lose at least 10 more pounds prior to their visit and she couldn't stop beating herself up about it.
I think we've all experienced this - you have made some progress, you're feeling better and probably looking better than you have in a very long time but you're down on yourself for a variety of reasons. Most of those reasons aren't rooted in reality but it doesn't matter - the rules you've set up for yourself haven't been met.
I'm here to say this: take today, even just one moment today to just Stop It. Stop being pissed off at yourself that you only worked out once this week instead of 3 times. Stop being down on yourself for not running a marathon by the age of 25.
Stop berating yourself for having way too many slices of pizza last night when you promised yourself that you would not have it, no matter what. Today, focus on what you have done over the last month that has been positive. Spend a moment to write down some of the good habits you've developed, no matter how small and insignificant they seem.
Did you cut down from 2 cups of coffee to one cup of coffee? Did you order a salad at lunch yesterday when it could have just as easily been a plate of wings? Did you run around at the mall instead of sitting on the couch with a movie?
All of the small, good habits that you've started to incorporate into your life should be celebrated as accomplishments. You don't just go out and run a marathon one week after you've decided to run one. You build up to it. You run a mile a few times a week, then a couple of miles in the next weeks, then you build up to long runs on the weekend.
When you stop beating yourself up you will start to focus on the small, good habits that you've started to build upon. You will see that they will all be your "one" mile runs that will help you accomplish the Long Term Goal "the marathon".
