The Power of the Buddy System

I'm back again! I didn't celebrate St. Patty's Day so I'm not nursing a hangover but I am down in the dumps that my area of Wisconsin is looking at getting some more snow again today/tonight. As much as I love the winter months when I get to snowmobile I didn't do that at all this winter so I am totally over it and the snow.

Moving on...

I mentioned yesterday in my weekly goals post that I was doing the 30 Day Shred with Tammy Jo {her blog: You Wouldn't Call it a Drinking Problem}. And today I just wanted to take a moment to sing the praises of the buddy system.

This journey to lose weight / make a healthy lifestyle change is hard. I've started this journey many many times before, even saw some success, but it has never really stuck with me for the long haul before. But I'm hoping to put that behind me and make this the time it all sticks with me.

I know that it all starts with me and that I have to want to make the changes and actually put in the hard work. But for me there is another factor to success. Having a buddy, someone who will work out with you and push you to do what you know you should do when you really don't want to do it.

It has worked in the past and it's working again now for me even though Tammy Jo is hundreds of miles away in Texas this time rather than across town.

Yesterday morning I just couldn't get myself out of bed so I decided I would work out after work. But while I was sitting at work for those eight long hours I had changed my mind and decided that I would just skip my work out for the day. I was tired, Dancing with the Stars was premiering and I was already going to miss the first 30 minutes, and honestly who wants to work out before getting to sit down and veg? Not this girl!

Thankfully Tammy Jo pulled through for me with the buddy system. She knocked out day one of the Shred and then proceeded to Instagram it and shared it on Twitter plus she texted me. So when I walked out of work I had all of these notifications waiting for me. How could I skip my work out now? Everyone would know that I was supposed to and then didn't. The answer was simple, I couldn't skip my work out. And I didn't.

This morning I was laying in bed after my alarm went off and was dreading getting out of bed to complete day two. But after talking to Tammy Jo, who was only going to TRY to get her work out done this morning as of last night, I realized I just needed to get up and get it over with. So I did it. And so did she.

While this journey is a very personal one and takes a lot of hard work and determination that can only come from within having a strong support system and a good buddy to help you out is extremely helpful if not necessary. At least for me it is.

2 days down, 3 more to go this week!

Do you use the buddy system?

I'm linking up with Kay from The Best of Intentions and Allie from Tales of a Twenty Something for Tough it out Tuesday.

Long Time No See

Hello blog world! Long time no see huh? It wasn't intentional but apparently I felt the need to take a month off from blogging. And some how that meant taking a month off from weighing in and working on my healthy lifestyle. I'm giving myself the side eye right now for that one...

But the important thing is I'm back, both on the blog and on the wagon. I'm here today to link up with the fabulous Carolyn to chat about my weekly goals. {Be sure to check out her blog if you need some inspiration!}

Since I am essentially starting over {again, for like the 1,000th time} I'm starting small with some basic goals to just get me wading into the shallow end.

1) 30 Day Shred 5 times/week. The goal is to complete the five work outs Monday-Friday with Tammy Jo {she blogs too! Check her out here.} Ideally I would get this done in the morning before work but I do have the option to get it done after work now that I don't have other family members to contend with for the TV time.

2) 64 ounces of water a day. Typically I get 80 ounces in a day when I'm focused on drinking water but I'm okay with getting the recommended 64 ounces {8 glasses}. We'll just see how this goes but the overall goal here is to drink more water {less Mountain Dew}.

3) Sleep at least 7 hours. Thanks to my fancy FitBit Flex tracking my sleep is a breeze! Some nights I struggle to get to bed at a decent time but I know that the more I sleep at night the easier it will be to get up and moving in the mornings.

Three goals for seven days.

I know I can do this, I've done it before. The hardest part will be getting around the mental roadblock that I can't or that it is hard. Yes, it's going to be hard to make changes to my lifestyle. I've been working on perfecting my bad habits for 23 going on 24 years already so they are not going to change overnight or be easy to change. But I know that I can start the changes, I've done that part countless times before. The real challenge will be sustaining those changes over the long haul.

But to prevent becoming overwhelmed with looking at the big picture I'm going to focus on seven days at a time. Or even better, one day at a time.

And that one day begins now!