It is or was my anniversary....

I had my 6 month healthy lifestyle journey anniversary on Sunday and I didn't even realize it. How dare I!! I can't believe it has been 6 months. It feels like just yesterday I was running for 30 seconds at a time wanting to die the whole 30 seconds!

Miss Anonymous Fat Girl had an awesome post today. All too often people lose sight and/or motivation for what they set out to do. I think that some of the people that drop off of the blog-o-sphere don't realize how many people read their blogs, care about their blogs, and care about that person in general. I care about each and every person whose blog I read and I love encouraging them to push forward, even through the hardest of times. There is support all around this place and it is completely amazing to see us all helping each other through this.

However, at the end of the day, healthy living is our personal choice. No one is taking the chocolate bar out of my mouth, or tying my shoes to go running. We make our own choices to continue on our journey, because it is just that. It is our journey, our success, our bad decisions, and our failures....or not. Sure we hit bumps in the road, but that's what the game of life is all about. Every bump is a challenge and the true challenge is for us to figure out how to push through it and continue, not to just give up.

I must admit, I am extremely impressed that I have made it 6 months. I was telling Love tonight that he one of the biggest reasons I have stuck to it. He was VERY doubtful that I would do it, because he had heard me say for 2 years that I was going to lose weight. I lost 20 pounds when we met(thanks to less booze and earlier dinners) and gained almost 10 back in the 3 months before my journey start date. He would ask me everyday "Are you going running?" He asked everyday and before I had the opportunity to think of excuses I would blurt out "Yes! I am!" and I would go. Now, the challenging stuff I did by myself, yes, but without his questioning, I could have fallen off track easily!

So, in honor of my 6 month anniversary, here is a list of 6 things that keep me on track:
1. I wake up between 4:45AM and 5AM most weekday mornings. I go to the gym right after waking up. No questions asked(most of the time). It can be hard, but I feel more awake and aware for the rest of the day.
2. I decide what types of food I would like to eat during the week, make my list and go shopping on Sunday. I decide what to make for breakfasts and lunches the night before and make it in the morning before getting ready for work.
3. I remind myself on a daily basis of how good I feel versus how I felt prior to this journey. My confidence has grown so much and I love myself and who I am.
4. On the weekends, I allow myself to enjoy my mornings*cough*sleep in*cough* and do my workouts when I feel like it. It's my weekend, I don't like scheduling, so I go with the flow.
5. I eat sweets when I want. However, I watch my portion control and I have found I rarely crave sweets after not having them for a while.
6. Love's support is definitely a huge reason why I stay on track. If something needs to be done around the house or an errand needs to be done and he knows I still have a workout to do; he tells me to go do my workout and he will take care of the rest :) It's so awesome having his support day in and day out. I don't know what I would do without him sometimes!

How do YOU stay on track?