Category Archives: Motivation

Training our beagle puppy

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Toby the beagle

We added a fur-baby to our family back at the beginning of September. We named our little furry treasure of licks — Toby. As much as we love him, dog training has been a bit of a challenge.

Beagles are known for their stubborn natures. I did not know this until we had one. He is very treat motivated however! I have learned quickly that the best way to train him is to use treats and lots of praise when he does something good. He does get scolded for doing things that he shouldn’t. I try to use hand gestures and a different tone of voice so that he knows when he has misbehaved.

We have only had him for over two months and the training still continues. I imagine that he will be fully potty trained within the next few months so I am trying to be as patient and consistent as possible.

One of the most awesome things about having a dog (aside from all of the snuggling and fun fetch-type games) is that he LOVES to go for walks! So it gives me extra motivation to get some exercise in! :)

Do you have a dog? Does your dog motivate you to get more exercise in than you normally would?

Musical inspiration

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Music inspires me. It motivates me. It cajoles me to keep pushing forward; to continue to invent myself and discover who I am so that *I* can make a difference in this world.

At the gym or during my walks, music plays an essential part. A certain song will come on and my body will be covered with goosebumps and I will get chills all the way down to my feet. The music pushes me to go further than I had ever imagined.

Fly — a song by Hilary Duff, is one of those songs that pushes me. I loved it from the first moment I heard it. It holds so much more meaning *now* than it did then. I am keeping the inspiration going so that I may get those Christian Louboutin shoes yet (at the 200 mark!)!


In a moment, everything can change,

Feel the wind on your shoulder,
For a minute, all the world can wait,

Let go of your yesterday.

Can you hear it calling?

Can you feel it in your soul?

Can you trust this longing?

And take control,

Fly

Open up the part of you that wants to hide away

You can shine,

Forget about the reasons why you can’t in life,

And start to try, cause it’s your time,

Time to fly.

All your worries, leave them somewhere else,
Find a dream you can follow,
Reach for something, when there’s nothing left,
And the world’s feeling hollow.

Can you hear it calling?
Can you feel it in your soul?
Can you trust this longing?
And take control,

Fly
Open up the part of you that wants to hide away
You can shine,
Forget about the reasons why you can’t in life,
And start to try, cause it’s your time,
Time to fly.

And when you’re down and feel alone,
Just want to run away,

Trust yourself and don’t give up,

You know you better than anyone else,

In a moment, everything can change,
Feel the wind on your shoulder,
For a minute, all the world can wait,
Let go of yesterday,

Fly
Open up the part of you that wants to hide away
You can shine,
Forget about the reasons why you can’t in life,
And start to try,
Fly
Forget about the reasons why you can’t in life,

And start to try, cause it’s your time,

Time to fly.

In a moment, everything can change.

I find myself thirsty for more inspiration and maybe a BodyBugg?

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I read every single blog on my sidebar, every single day for inspiration.  Because I know that these people are going through what I am going through OR they have already gone through what I am going through and now their blogs sort of act as mentors (of sorts).

Not so long ago there was this stigma that if you weighed over 300 pounds you were well on your way to having to resort to gastric bypass surgery or some other form of weight loss surgery in order to lose weight.  It’s a scary thing.  As a woman who has had 3 c-sections, I can only say that I imagine these surgeries to be 10 times worse (and c-section recovery is no picnic.  Especially after the first few days when you are afraid to cough or poop).  A friend of mine who weighed over 600 pounds had gastric bypass surgery.  It was a Godsend and saved his life.  But even he admitted that a year long recovery and a drastic change to his diet was really extreme and hard.

So i’m on a mission to find other people who have lost half of themselves without surgery.  It’s an obsession really.  For the first time in a long time, I am seeing things with eyes wide open.  I have a picture of *the new me* in my mind (one without dark circles under her eyes. hydrolyze anyone?).  This picture is clear as day, I tell ya.  And I have come to the point where I don’t care if it takes me 1 year or 10 years to get down to 150, I will do it y’all.  I will.

And also… I would like to throw out there that I don’t think there is anything wrong with having weight loss surgery.  Everyone makes a choice as to what will work best for them.  It’s all related to weight loss and it’s all a journey no matter how you choose to get there. And it is definitely NOT the easy way out.  When they take out half of your stomach and re-route your intestines…. it is FAR from the easy way out.

4 weeks of my own journey has brought me to so many wonderful people.  Really.  I am so lucky to have found so many that I relate to in different ways.  And I love that we’re all rooting for each other!

I found a few memoirs that I want to read:

  1. Half-Assed
  2. The Amazing Adventures of Dietgirl
  3. My Other Body: A Memoir of Love, Life, Fat and Death

Has anyone read these?  If so… what did you think?

Lastly, i’m thinking of getting a BodyBugg.  You know, those black things that you attach to your arms as seen on The Biggest Loser?  Right.  That.  I’m not sure though.  There is a sale on them right now for $199.  But from what I have read, the cost doesn’t stop there.  You also have to pay a monthly fee to enter in your stats and upload your caloric burn for the day.  So it seems kind of expensive.

What do you guys think?  Is it worth it?  Is it like a magical piece of equipment or is it just a glorified pedometer?  Is there a better/cheaper alternative?  Basically, I want to track how many calories I burn in one day.