Consistent efforts pay off

Week 3, and today was weigh in day. I jumped off the scales this morning with a smile on my face as I have lost another 2kg!  That's a total of 8.9kg including the pre-season of 12WBT.  I'm heading for the 10kg mark...and super motivated to keep getting results like these. But motivation is not the key, in fact motivation is not necessary at all - it's all about the consistency.  Consistent efforts - just doing the thing, is what get's the results.  This seems to be a theme for me this week - it came in the form of a motivational video from Michelle Bridges, it is basically the theme of the book I'm currently reading - The Slight Edge by Jeff Olsen, and it's also what I wrote about in my latest business blog post - "Shhh it's a Secret" (click here to read).
As the late Jim Rohn said:

"failure is nothing more than a few errors in judgment repeated every day", and
"the formula for success is a few simple disciplines practiced every day".

So, if it's that simple, why don't we all have the success in health, fitness, business, weight loss...whatever?  Because if we view the few simple disciplines individually, they don't seem to matter.  Nothing is going to happen overnight if we do or we don't do them.  It's the compound effect of doing them consistently over time that shows up in results - good or bad.

This has been a good lesson for me to learn, as working out has been rather challenging for me this week - making the time around caring for hubby, the house, working part-time and running my business part-time.  And this week I had a super great workout with a friend at Boot Camp at our local gym on Saturday, but then on Monday I was in agony with sciatic pain in my right leg and hip, so did not work out then.  I am still limping a little bit today two days later.  I don't know what caused it, but I do know I could barely walk, let alone work out.   I don't want to use this as excuse for not working out, but I am only human, and sometimes I just have to say it ain't gonna happen, move on, and get on with it as soon as possible. I wonder how I would have gone had I attempted to do a work-out anyway?  Maybe it would have loosened up the muscles causing the pain, and it may have helped.  Or, I may have been in more pain!  lol  Who knows?  I'll have to try it out next time.  What I do know is that being consistent with my food choices is definitely paying off.  I put on a pair of jeans and a nice top tonight to go out to meet up with some friends, and the jeans were feeling a little bit loose where they had been tight, and the top came down further on me, instead of riding up.  It was an amazing feeling to feel good in my clothes!  It's those feelings even more so than seeing a number on the scale that keeps me wanting to continue with this journey. It's knowing that I can change my body...and my life that makes it all worthwhile.

This week's food highlight for me has been the Kangaroo mince pie with mushy peas.  Yummo!  It was so nice.  I have had kangaroo sausages before, but never used the mince.  It is something like 97% fat free, and a lot better for you than regular mince.  The pie was something you would have seen at a gourmet restaurant served with baby spinach leaves with a balsamic glaze.

I have my first eating out challenge coming up on Friday with a work lunch.  It will be interesting to see how I go. We are pre-ordering, so I get to see the menu first, which will be handy.  I will have to report back here and tell you how I went! 

Here's to another week of consistent effort and great results!

Susan Dorrington

www.susandorrington.com