Get Real

It's important to have realistic expectations.

I don't.

When I stop to listen to myself as I complain to my husband, I realize I'm being ridiculous. But in my head, it makes perfect sense to be disappointed that I might not have improved my 1 rep max clean (how you get the bar off the ground and to your shoulders) in just 10 days.

See, I thought I had only tied my personal record. And when I left the gym, I was sad. Never mind, that it'd only been 10 days. There was a good chance I was going to be pouty at least the rest of the night, if not all the next day as well.

So I started talking out the weight I had on the bar. And come to find out, I had set a PR by 10 lbs. WOO! I perked right up. Best day ever!

And then my husband saw fit to remind me that I needed to have realistic expectations. I mean, only 10 days had gone by. So what if I only tied my personal record. It's 10 lbs. And I still set a personal record doing a jerk (a particular way to lift the bar above your head). But I wasn't even focused on that. I was too busy being pouty.

It's one of those things that happens when people are trying to get fit or lose weight. I know I've been on a weight loss journey all my life, it seems. It doesn't matter that it took me over 9 months to put on all the pregnancy weight. As soon as that baby is out, every mom is wishing they didn't eat all those saltine crackers and gallons of ice cream.

Why can't we just go to sleep one night and wake up in our pre-pregnancy bodies?

No? It doesn't work that way?

I hate having to have realistic expectations.

When a week goes by and I haven't lost any weight, that pizza sure is a lot harder to turn down. After all, I'm not making any progress. Why not? Right?

Oh, because the next week, if I say no and stay strong I might lose 2 lbs? Yeah, it happens. Of course, I've had the week were I thought I did great and gained a pound. Isn't that a kick in the pants when you worked so hard to turn down crap food? Sounds like a box of donuts kind of day.

Not any more.

I'm working on my realistic expectations.

Some days are up and some whole weeks are down. It's not an excuse to blow it anymore.

I'm going to miss that excuse. But I wont miss the yo-yoing or the disappointment in myself.

My goal: To Get Real.