Greedy Proof That a Consistent Fitness Regimen Gives You Swagger

This pic is from this past November. I actually wish I wasn’t holding that magazine in my hand (my sister made pose with it), because I have very few “oh my gawd, I love this pic of me!” pictures. And I do love this pic. Just pretend you don’t see the magazine.

So, uhh, how about we turn this into a fashion post? This is an example of how I usually dress on the weekends when I’m out and about. In this here pic, I’m wearing:

Sweater poncho from Macys. Black turtleneck, jeans and dangly earrings from JCPenny (can you tell I love that store?).

I used to dress messy on the weekends and not take any kinda pride in myself. I’d just throw on whatever. But the more I started to care about my health, the more I also began to care about my physical appearance and how I present myself. I am in no way fancy with my fashion and I don’t spend a lot of time with prim and prep. I’m not a diva and don’t have time for high maintenance (but a shout out to all the divas, yo!).

It’s just great to finally wear clothes that fit right and feel good — clothes that I can move in without being all squashed and uncomfortable because of extra weight. Feeling comfortable and confident in your clothes gives you automatic swagger. Fitness will do that for ya. Dedication to your fitness regimen is guaranteed to put you in an outfit that gives you swagger and makes you say, “Oh my gawsh, I love this pic of me!”

Stay dedicated to yourself. Keep working hard, increase your swagger ratio and capture that picture-perfect moment for yourself.

Have a GREAT weekend!

XOXO,

Josie

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Learning to be Flexibly Consistent

I just completed week 8 of my Half Marathon Training. Just now. Like moments ago!

It’s Monday morning and I was scheduled for an 8 mile run yesterday, but yesterday I just wasn’t feeling it. My legs were still sore from the boot camp class on Saturday, I was tired, and there was no way I could escape both kids long enough to run that distance.

So I set my eyes on today, hoping the baby would cooperate with an early morning feeding and a late morning. He did and I was able to squish the run in before the husband started work. It was my first morning run in a long time and I must say, I miss them. There’s nothing like starting the day with a workout.

Unfortunately, I can’t always do what I want to do. I have other responsibilities, namely 2 kids I have to work around. Instead, I’ve learned to be flexibly consistent–pretty much the opposite of perfect.

For so long not being able to do things perfectly prevented me from doing them at all.

When my diet wasn’t perfect I might as well eat everything in sight.If I wasn’t able to go to the gym every day why go at all?

It was crippling.

Now I apply this Flexible Consistency concept to everything.

It’s not what I eat on a date night with hubby (which happened to be 2 margaritas and plateful of enchiladas at Don Pablos on Saturday.) It’s what I eat day in and day out that makes the most impact on the scale.

It’s not that I missed a workout while on vacation. It’s that I continued my training when I got back home.

Being flexibly consistent is a state of mind that has taken me a few years to master. It comes with practice and continual reinforcement that I am able to reach goals in a realistic and imperfect way. I think it started when I realized my diet had to be stateless. There is no on/off mentality anymore, just a string of decisions, all of which own.

Thanks for listening to me ramble. My mind wanders on these runs. :)

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