Monday Motivation: What's Next?

It is never too late to be 

who you might have been.  

~George Eliot

Recap: 
I starting eating better back in February and my energy levels and mood have steadily improved. No weight loss though. I started a weights routine early May and hot damn do my arms and legs feel sexy. They may not look it quite yet, but the fact that I feel it has done wonders for my self esteem. I've lost 1.5 inches from the smallest part of my waist in the last month. I am only 2 inches away from where I was once very happy with my waist.

My belly is a whole other story. I am 2 inches bigger than where I am comfortable and more like 4 inches from my goal. The belly is always the last to cooperate for me. Eating as a focus is a challenge, especially with so many festivities planned these last few months and going throughout the summer. The day to day I am good with. I have been packing my meals for the day and eating healthily for dinner when I am home. Out...another story.

I found my water, fiber and protein balance. Goodness gracious, it took me months, but I am there. I have found the balance. I have found my weight lifting zone, I am sure I'll need to mix it up, but wow, the results with such a manageable effort (3-5x per week about 20 minutes a night). So the last thing...cardio. Dang it, my last 2 weeks have been weak, I have an easy plan, but more excuses than I know what to do with.

Fitness In My Face:
A girl friend just finished her first full. My old trainer just won an award at a fitness model competition. A guy I just met at work this past week has been so committed to Cross fit, he packed an ice chest to our meeting so he could stay on point with his diet. My BFF has shaved inches off her body and has been building muscle successfully for the last 5 weeks. My other friend texted me Friday, she lost 6 lbs in her first week of weight loss efforts. I have run into several work people who are boasting about their latest half marathons or marathon plans. One was even going to one of my dream vacation places, Bend, OR to run and drink beer. How dreamy is that. So what do I think about all this? I think, H-E-double hockey sticks, yeah! I needed some motivation and now I have a laundry list of people who are holding themselves accountable and to look to when I need motivation.

So what is next?
I have got to get better at "the plan." Sure I have a general work out plan. Run Tuesday, Thursday, Saturday and Sunday. What I don't have is a drilled down version that reads what time of day I plan to do any of my work outs. Even my weights routine, I just do it at night without any plan. So I think I should have more structure. The reason my eating during the day is so controlled is because I pretty much plan the night before what I am going to eat and when and plug it into my handy dandy myfitnesspal app. I just have such a lackadaisical approach some times... fear of commitment LOL

Events: 
I am still trying to decide among an 8K, 10K, 12K and half marathon. August is a 10K for sure, September might be a mud run and October is the big one, Nike Women's half marathon in SF. I am fighting the urge to do a full in December. Some friends are doing their first full and it's fairly local....I need to keep reminding myself that I have no real desire to go that distance. 

Why I Kick A$$: I am overwhelmed by happiness tonight. I love when I get that feeling, like nothing in the world matters. I wish my only job was to be home with my family, hanging out and loving life.

The Big Picture: My life is pretty great, because I have a pretty great job that enables us to have as much family time as we do have and wonderful weekends like this past one.

Thankful Three:

1. For the ice cream, dipped in chocolate and nuts at Costco (shared)
2. For dinner with my in laws
3. So many people doing so well with fitness, so motivational