A swift kick up the arse!

I am now into week four of the Marathon Weight Loss challenge and I'm incredibly frustrated with my weight loss.  The first week I lost nothing, the second week I lost four pounds and this week again I lost nothing.  There are just over 9 weeks left to go and I know that there's no way I'm going to hit the magic 26.2 pounds in that time.

Last week was a bit of a washout what with 2 parties and my son's birthday cake to contend with - to be honest I am relieved that I didn't gain any weight.  But again, this week has been difficult with exercise because my husband and I were out on Monday night, Tuesday night I had drama group here at my house (so again, no exercise).  I have no excuse tonight, so I will be doing the Jillian Michaels DVD, and thank goodness for it because at least I can see some calories coming off on My Fitness Pal!

I think sometimes it is so easy to get stuck in a rut.  Life gets in the way and it almost feels like we are treading water where weight loss is concerned.  Part of my choosing to take part in the Marathon Weight Loss challenge was extra motivation - so to prevent exactly this sort of thing from happening.  But what it really comes down to is that I need a swift kick up the arse!  I need to make time to exercise, instead of all these excuses.  The fact is that I could go out for a walk in my lunch hour, if I were really serious I could wake up 40 minutes early and do my DVD workout then!  I would still need to fit in my 5k training, but that is three times per week (32 minutes each time) and if I'm struggling to fit that in - well - I need to re-evaluate my priorities!

It's a tricky situation because whilst I am still utterly determined to lose the weight and ultimately I know I will succeed - it's purely the length of time it takes to get there that is frustrating!  I can't ever see myself going back to the way I was before.  I know I have implemented positive lifestyle changes and that's all for the good.  But, I guess with a week and a bit of falling out of routine, it's just shaken me a bit and it becomes easier to make excuses for not exercising!

If I really put my mind to it and aim to lose 2 pounds per week to see the Challenge out, I would have lost 22 pounds by mid-September - which would mean that I would only be 11 pounds off my goal weight.  I need to keep reminding myself that victory is SO close!  But I need to stay focused to reach that goal!  One of the ways I thought I can do this, is my implementing one of Jess at Run with Jess's suggestions for seeing weight loss.  It's one thing to look in the mirror each day and to notice physical changes, but this clever jar idea with glass pebbles is fab!  Each pound you lose you move from the jar "Pounds to go" to "Pounds Lost" and slowly you'll see the balance tip!

The plan is to put this somewhere prominent where I will notice it every day.  I also want to take more photos of my journey.  I think it is important to record every 10 pounds or so and that way, sometimes if you hit a bit of a rut (like I have now), you can look back through the photos and remind yourself how far you've come!

So - no more excuses!  I'm off to change into my workout gear and exercise!

By the way - I have done my first ever guest blog at Eat Teach Blog which will be featured later this week (Saturday 14th July), watch this space for a link to the entry :-)