goals Archives

3 Things to Learn From Your Friend’s Weight Loss Journey

August 22, 2019 6 Comments

3 Things to Learn From Your Friend’s Weight Loss Journey {& How You Can Apply It to Your Own Goals}

3 Things to Learn From Friend's Weight Loss Journey | ChocolateMusings.com #weightloss #motivation #learnfromothers #habits

Here are 3 ways you can learn from your friend’s weight loss journey. Well, these are ways that I’ve learned from my friend’s experience. I hope by sharing what I’ve learned, you will find some motivation to tackle a big, looming goal in your life, whether it’s weight loss or not. I believe we can all learn from our friends. Here’s what I’ve learned (so far) from my friend’s weight loss journey.

Use a Fresh Start to Make a Fresh Start

Do you find it harder to focus on your health goals in the summer? I do. Usually, I take summertime as an excuse to do what I want without regards to previous set goals. With the dawn of a new schedule due to school back in, I want to refocus my efforts.

To succeed, I need to make fitness & weight loss a habit and learn a few things from my friend’s journeys in the meantime.

Learn From Friend's Weight Loss - share | ChocolateMusings.com #goals #weightloss #sharing

Motivation From Others

Creating a healthy habit takes time and sometimes, a great example. My friend, Ani, over at allthatlifestuff.com didn’t let down her guard over the summer, and her motivation and focus are really inspiring! I signed up for the program she’s on (even though I’ve done it in the past) and used some of her techniques to change my daily eating regimen.

She’s using a point system and tries to find meals or food that cost 0 points. If you get used to eating the foods that are lower points and you’ll have better success.

One of the hardest things for me to do (and I learned to gain confidence because of my friend) is to share. Sharing this very personal part of my life is oh-so difficult. I hope that by me sharing, I am passing on the goodness I’ve learned from my friend’s weight loss journey and give you whatever motivation you need to take on a big goal in your life.

Train your mind and create a weight loss habit, and you’ll succeed over time. I’ve always tried to find a way to cheat in the past. My mindset would revert to “what can I get away with?” Don’t make an exception. Decide if you want it or not. If you do, then do it.

Things to Learn From Friend’s Weight Loss: Don’t Try to Make an Exception Out of Everything.

Printable Tracker Game Board – Turn anything into a game!

$6.00

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Learn From Friend's Weight Loss Journal Prompt | ChocolateMusings.com #journalprompt #journaling

Do you have a goal in your life where your mindset works against your progress? (Not Necessarily Weight Loss)

Learn From Friend's Weight Loss - Focus | ChocolateMusings.com #goals #weightloss #focus

Change of Ideals & Focus

After reading Ani’s blog posts, I didn’t want to get away with anything anymore. 17 days in, and I’ve successfully been below my point allotment every single day. Even the day that my boss made me Key Lime Pie for my birthday and I had a huge slice. I’m down 10+ lbs and excited for more.

On the day that I had the pie, I didn’t want to eat it (it was my 4th day in), but I didn’t want to be rude. So I figured out the points and knew what I had left to spend for the day, and I adjusted. I find that when I’m required to be too rigid, I usually snap.

Things to Learn From Friend’s Weight Loss: Focus

Learn From Friend's Weight Loss- No Excuses | ChocolateMusings.com #goals #weightloss #noexcuses

Past Programs – Past Experience

I couldn’t bring myself to do Whole30 again after I successfully completed 30 days because I felt like I was depriving myself and tried to rationalize the choices I was making.

Any time I start rationalizing, I know it’s not going to last very long. At the end of two weeks for many diets or programs is when most people face their demons – do they want to continue or not? I don’t feel any demons, at least, not yet.

Things to Learn From Friend’s Weight Loss: Don’t Make Excuses!

Learn & Build

But that doesn’t mean that I didn’t learn from that experience. Many of the techniques, recipes, and foods I found work really well for my current project. Do you believe that any single diet or regimen is the answer? I think I’ve finally discovered that isn’t the case. I like to take ‘truths’ from different sources and put them together to make the result that will form a habit. To make something that ‘sticks’ in the end.

What I’ve Learned from My Friend’s Weight Loss Journey (So Far):

Share it with others to push yourself forward & they will motivate you in return
Focus on your goal
Don’t see what you can ‘get away with,’ instead see how you can make the program (or schedule) work for you.

Do something every single day that reminds you of your big goal. Track your progress, create a habit in your life.

Choose someone in your life you can trust, and share your goal. Do not make exceptions for yourself.

You are the one who set this goal, so don’t act like someone else is forcing you to do it. Don’t try and ‘get away with decisions’. As I learned from my experience with Whole30, healthy living is a choice. Make your choice be to succeed with your goal.

This is what I learned from my friend’s weight loss journey. Leave me a comment of something you learned from your friends.

What goal are you working towards? Which family/friends will support you? Choose one (or several) to tell about your big goal. What small step can you take every single day to realize your dreams?

Find someone who motivates you and benefit on that motivation. Write down the things that they do to push forward in their own goals. How can you apply those principles to your life?

I Did It…Or at Least Started – Getting Healthy and Changing Habits

November 15, 2018 8 Comments

Backstory & Disclaimer

Remember a while back when I said my husband was an evil genius? Well, I’m still scared, and he still is a genius. Not that I didn’t want to lose weight, but the whole idea of permanent change scared me. I’d have to give up sweets, treats, soda, all the things I knew I binge-ate and showed on my hips. If you didn’t read the first post, I would recommend it. This is my journey to get healthy and change habits.

Disclaimer: Here’s the deal, I write this for my benefit and accountability. I also write in the hopes that I may help and inspire someone else. I won’t approve comments that trash or are ‘judgy’ to me or anyone else. Fair warning: if you’re here to cause drama, move on. These are my opinions and my thoughts based on my own body and research. Now, as Forrest Gump says: “That’s all I have to say about that.”

Getting Healthy and Changing Habits

I window-shop for a program to help me change my soda-drinking, junk food eating ways. (I say I window-shop because I wasn’t fully committed and casually acknowledged various options.) But I hadn’t decided on a plan because I wanted to make the change permanent. No yo-yoing back to my original size/weight afterward.

I WANT permanent changes, not just a quick fix where I would balloon up again after falling off the proverbial wagon. Years ago, I tried The South Beach Diet, and that had the most profound effect on my body than anything else I’ve tried.

But it didn’t last. Boredom set in with the food. Sweet treats constantly bombarded my thoughts. I never reached Phase 3. Invariably, I started eating the sweets and treats before I was entirely over the cravings and fell back into the sweet-eating consistent consuming pattern.

What Makes this Time Different?

The desire was always there. But not the will to change it forever. Other than that, nothing is different, other than I have studied habits and understand my habits better. In addition to making a drastic change, I work on changing the triggers and patterns behind the behaviors I want to modify. See the list below for books I’ve read this year on habits.

But is the Time Right?

What in the world was I thinking to start a program heading into the holiday season? I was tired of looking/feeling the way I felt. Waiting for the end of the holidays and the start of a new year made me feel sad. I didn’t want to wait. I wanted to have control over the holidays and not be controlled by them.

My friend, Elizabeth, told me about Whole30 and what a difference it made in her mood, her ability to think clearly, and her body. I know it’s not a new program, but I got the book from the library and read it. It made sense to me. And I love that there is a way to reintroduce foods once you’ve broken the cycle after 30 days.

(To read about Whole30 visit their website: whole30.com). This post is not sponsored in any way, but it is simply my journey to a healthier, happier me. My hopes are that you will research and acknowledge your own habit cycle and make a change according to what you want and feel. If change is what you’re seeking.

Elizabeth was itching for an excuse to jump on the wagon again, so we jumped feet first, together. So with the support of my best friend since junior high (yep, I can say we’ve been friends for most of our lives). I started what I fully intend to be a life-changing endeavor.

A Phrase in the Whole30 Book Impressed Me

While reading the Whole30 book, I came across this paragraph. These words are how I knew it was time for me to make a significant change in my life. It was time to get healthy, make changes, and modify long-standing habits.

“Don’t even consider the possibility of a ‘slip’. Unless you physically trip and your face lands in a box of donuts, there is no ‘slip’. You make a choice to eat something unhealthy. It’s always a choice, so do not phrase it as if you had an accident… Don’t give yourself an excuse to fail before you’ve even started.”

Its always a choice quote | ChocolateMusings.com #quote #weightloss #bulletjournal #handwriting

That paragraph empowered me. I have a choice. After reading Gretchen Rubin’s Better Than Before and discovering that I am a Questioner tendency, the need for having choices and making choices is a very clear need for me.

For the longest time, I was afraid of losing the markers (again – see original story of why my husband is an evil genius) and worried I would revert to old ways and lose those coveted beauties. (If you’ve ever used the markers, you’ll understand.)

The package is 96 markers plus the desk-stand. Can you imagine earning those lovely markers in 96 shades and then having to give them back because of a poor choice? The thought terrified me. That’s not 50 shades of gray, that’s 96 shades of sad.

Bullet Journal Tracker

I made a tracker in my Bullet Journal to help me visually track my progress. 110 squares for success! I’d figure out what to do with the extra squares later. Maybe a check in every 10 days? It’s kind of like a candy-land game. I sent one to my sister, and she used it in her elementary classroom at school as a reading tracker. I’m very excited to select some shades and fill it in. Find it in my shop!

Gameboard Tracker for Bullet Journals, Planners, & Teachers | ChocolateMusings.com #printable #tracker #game #candyland

Printable Tracker Game Board – Turn anything into a game!

$6.00

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It’s a Choice – My Choice

Preparing for dinner today for the kiddos, I licked my finger, and it had something on the ‘no-no’ list. I actually spit it out in the sink and not letting it go any further. Here’s a secret: I’m proud of myself. I took the advice seriously that it was a choice. I told my husband that hypothetically I’d just fallen face-first into a box of donuts and didn’t lick my face.

Do you know what else? Since I’ve taken it to heart that I have a choice, the Halloween candy hasn’t really tempted me. It has a little, but not much. I hope this is life changing for me, just like the woman in the introduction from The Power of Habit (see below) who completely changed every aspect of her life because she modified her habits and rewired her brain.

The biggest thing is, after a week, I haven’t opened the box of markers and picked out the first colors as rewards. Oh, I will…don’t you worry. But the prize has now changed to the accomplishment of setting a goal and altering a habit for the better. The markers are now just a bonus. Fingers crossed I feel like this next week, and the cravings continue to subside.

My Advice?

My recommendation for anyone wanting to make a huge change in their lives? Figure out what your habits are, then study ways to change them. That’s how I did it. It may not work for you, but it’s made all the difference in the world to me. For those of you wondering: I still do the dishes every day.

Here are some books I’ve read on organizing, decluttering, and habits. I’d love a recommendation and add it to my list. Let me know if you have more to add in the comments below.

Whole30 Books

It Starts with Food

Whole30

Whole30 Slow Cooker Recipes

Whole30 Fast & Easy

Turn anything into a game! Tracker Game Board | ChocolateMusings.com #bulletjournal #weightloss #readingchart #chorechart #selfcare

Why Use a Future Log – Even If It’s Late.

January 2, 2018 3 Comments

Happy New Year! Why Use a Future Log – even if you’re late starting

I recorded many videos the middle of December – and didn’t have them all ready to go – some until this morning. I wanted to do it, but there was just something keeping me from completing it. Not sure if it was that little voice of doubt in the back of my head, if I didn’t have the right kind of music playing in the background, or if I simply wanted to watch some more of those good ‘ole classic Christmas movies. I want to represent to you that planning can take place anytime, even if you miss a big date like January 1.

Do you ever feel that way? I have seen so many people say the same thing for planning. Here’s your question – why use a future log if it’s starting later than the ideal date?

Want to see an overview for my month? Read the post here & watch the pre-planning video.

Future Planning Can Take Place at Any Time – Even if You Missed A Big Date

Planning can take place at any time. Even if you missed January 1 or the start of a month. I want you to rest assured that just because you missed the first day to ‘go live’ with your plans, it doesn’t mean that you have to scrap the idea. Pick up where you are and move forward. I am here to tell you that it is perfectly ok. Our lives are not perfect nor are our plans. Real life gets in the way of a perfectly planned one. But don’t let that stand in your way, make plans anyway, no matter when you start.

Bullet Journaling Taught me it was Okay to Move Forward

Believe it or not, And what’s more, taught me to accept it. I used to worry about making a mistake and wanting to rip out pages from the bound book. (Though I never would rip out a page because it would compromise the integrity of the stitching in the book and further ruin it.) Planning petrified me because I wanted the start date to be perfect, my writing to be immaculate, and everything laid out ‘just so’. On my first bullet journal, I messed up on the first line of text. I learned to accept whiteout and move on.

I’ve been really mulling that concept over – and even more so when a perfect stranger reached out to me for advice on how to start. I gave my advice and then I started thinking about the advice I would give myself. I think I will be developing a series dedicated to such thinking. You’ll notice in my video below that I mess up on the lines starting with October.

Bullet Journal Future Log - Why use a log if you are late starting

Here’s My Advice for Starting:

When starting a journal, don’t worry about all the things. 1) Start with A future log, 2) a monthly calendar and try out a 3) weekly log to start. I don’t plan enough to do a daily log, so I don’t. That’s it. Start with just those three. Then you’ll find that you want to include other ideas in your journal. Those become collections.

Here’s my advice when you start late on planning:

Plan anyway. It will be ok. If it makes you feel better, do a future log starting from January (no matter where you are in the year) and work forward. That’s what I did in my first bullet journal. I started in April and it felt weird to start my future log in April, so I included January-March for good measure and wrote down big events that happened in those months as a review then I started my first monthly with April.

Once you turn the page, it’s not going to matter. And the last piece of advice: it will be an evolution. Your style will evolve. You will become more comfortable with what you like and don’t like, so I would say skip the frills for the first bit and just focus on including the things you want to include on your spreads (trackers, all the days on one page, a place for meal planning, etc.)

Why Use a Future Log – Even If You Are Moving to a New Journal Soon

I’d like to present my Future Log – I decided to include a future log in this planner even though I would be in this book for just a couple more months. For one thing, I reaaaaally wanted to include a bullet train in my bullet journal since my monthly theme was transportation based. For another thing, I thought I might be more free-minded with my future planning if I knew I would move to a new journal. I would write things I actually wanted to do instead of just the things that I had to do. In this case, I will appoint wishes versus musts.

So here are some reasons why you should use a Future Log even if it’s in the middle of a journal or in the middle of the year:

Plan the future – yes, please! Plan the future in front of you and not the past behind. You want to start something because you want to just do it already, but you are letting your past hold you back. So what if you didn’t start on an ideal day? Make today be that ideal day.
Don’t miss big dates – who wants that?
Dream Big – writing something down makes it more real in your mind, chances are if it is on the calendar, you might work a little harder to achieve it. Even if you migrate it, that dream just became a goal.
Add your goals so you are working on an actual timeline instead of a mystical date in your head.

4 Reasons to Future Log even if you start planning late in your Bullet Journal

For the Set-Up: Watercolor – with Markers?

Trying out some new techniques for watercoloring this month – with Crayola Super Tip Markers. It’s a really fun technique and I think this would work for most other markers too – like the Tombow dual brush tip markers.The super tips are really inexpensive and now are more versatile in my life. There are specific marker palettes that you can use, but a simple dinner plate works well for me. I’ve also thought that a piece of transparency film would work well too if you didn’t have a smooth finish plate you could claim from your kitchen.

Watch the video below for how I set up my future log. I’d love to know what your future planner looks like. I’m going to brainstorm some ideas and showcase a few of my favorites in a post to come.