Identify Your Barriers to Success.

Those who know me well know I’m not a morning person; I wake up one and a half hours before I have to be at work.  Not because it takes me that long to get ready or because the commute is horrible but because I need a good half hour of just sitting in front of the TV, not listening, not talking to anyone, just veg’ing before I can be expected to communicate in a manner that would be considered appropriate for my chosen profession.  So this morning as I sat there thoroughly enjoying my leftovers from “El Pinto” Mexican restaurant I thought to myself, “Wow, green chile first thing in the morning really helps wake me up!  But man those extra calories in this half of burrito are really going to weigh me down the rest of the day!”  Even though I knew I was going to regret eating that burrito I still did it, why?  So I did a little bit of research and the first article I stumbled upon was from NPR and discussed the similarities between drug addiction and over eating:   http://www.npr.org/2010/12/01/131698228/overeating-like-drug-use-rewards-and-alters-brain

Then I thought to myself ok so then how are we supposed to tackle this because I think by now we all know dieting doesn’t work and if it is a lifestyle change that we make then do we need to attend regular “meetings” to ensure we stick to this lifestyle change?  There has to be an easier solution right?

So then I found this article:  http://www.medicinenet.com/script/main/art.asp?articlekey=19464

With a few helpful tips such as:  Don't do it alone. Get help. If you choose to discuss your goals with others, choose people who want you to succeed.  Plan ahead and set limits for yourself.  But I think one important piece missing from this article for me was Identify Barriers to Success.  For me stress and boredom are usually my biggest barriers to success.  We all know that as soon as we are stressed is starts this vicious cycle where we eat poorly and slack on our exercise at a time when we need it the most.  My two biggest stresses in life are: fights with the bf and when I do something wrong at work.  Now how do I tackle these two things?  First, I need to learn from my mistakes at work and instead of thinking it’s the end of the world just calmly take notes when I’m being told why something was wrong and let it go.  Second, I am convinced if I text less there will be less fights so I will strive to only text the bf 5 times a day which at the current rate of about 30 a day will be a huge improvement.  Also we are both stubborn headed and let’s call it passionate when it comes to arguments.  If I feel myself starting to become irritated or angry I will attempt to put the argument on hold until after that day’s workout.

Now on to brighter topics, today’s workout will consist of a 15 mile flat course on the trainer that will take about 30-40 minutes followed by some ab work and stretching.  I will concentrate on doing 3 miles at a cadence of about 80 and 1 mile at 100. My goals for this week are to get a quality workout in 3 out of the 4 days left in the week.  With a track and swim workout on Saturday and hopefully a nice outdoor bike ride Sunday, it will be my first ride off the trainer for the season! 

How about you what are your Barriers to Success?  What is your goal for the week?