Will work for stickers!

I'm posting a picture to share my motivation system with you all. Guess what- kids aren't the only ones that respond to incentives like stickers or working towards a goal! Something a simple as a sticker has the power to keep me going.

Each day I go in to the gym, I get to put a sticker on the calendar for that day. If I go at 2 different times (morning and evening), then I get 2. Then, on top of that, I divided a heart (for February- I know, how creative!!) into parts. Each time I go exercise, I color in one part. (On Monday I walked a 5k on the treadmill, so I let myself color two parts.) Once I fill up the heart I'm allowing myself $50 guilt free to shop for clothes.

It's funny how something as silly as stickers and coloring can be so motivating. I can't wait until I get home after working out to put my sticker on and grab a crayon!

Re-motivated

OK... now it's time for a sensitive subject- WEIGHT. I have always struggled with being the chubby girl. I was always bigger than my friends, but not in a terribly obese way. Just rounder. I can remember being hurt by my weight several times. I will never forget when I was young (couldn't have been more than 6 or 7), and my old lady neighbor called me over to talk to her. I helped her with something and she was about to give me the sucker she always gave us when we helped her. She looked down at me and said, "You know Jodi, you'd be cuter if you weren't so fat. You better lose that weight before you get too old." I remember going home, crying, and telling my grandma the mean lady called me fat. I have a feeling Grandma must've talked to her because she never commented again.

I'm sure any psychologist could blame my weight issues on any number of things. Being a child of divorce, father abandonment, poor self esteem, negative comments about weight to me as a child... any of these could be considered the root of my struggles. But, I don't buy it. Those memories never once have "made" me eat a whole pizza or shove chocolate in my face. I did that, all by myself.

OK, so I have a long drawn-out battle with weight. Sometimes I feel it's turning into the Hundred Years War! But, the tides of the battle are shifting... Recently, I looked at some pictures of myself from my heaviest. I hadn't noticed how my hard work IS noticeable! I can actually see my progress, and THIS has given me the fuel I needed to light the fire under my ass.  Have I lost a Biggest Loser amount of weight? Nope, but I'm working on it.

Thanks always for listening to my rants. I'm hoping that maybe someone out there can relate. If you feel yourself struggling, I encourage you to make some side-by side pics and see if there are any differences.