Day 104- Motivation.

  Growing up I was a very athletic kid.  From the ages of 6-16 I swam competitively year round and manged to  play lacrosse and field hockey in the spring and fall.  Coming from a family of professional athletes, playing sports was the main focus in our house.  This being said we were not a healthy family.  After I stepped out of the pool or off a field I was gorging myself with massive amounts of carbohydrates, very little protein and whatever sweets I could get my hands on.  Needless to say when playing sports changed, my eating habits didn't.  

  Now as I have said before, I was never a "fat" kid but as Eric reminds me I was a bit chubby.  I just could never find the motivation to get myself back in shape.  The idea of giving up everything I loved eating and rearranging my schedule to accommodate an visit to the gym just seemed overwhelming and lets face it,  at 21 years old, I could find an excuse to get out of anything.  I justified having a body I hated in anyway I could think of, I blamed it on genes, ethnic background and my fathers "build like a brick shit house" analogy.  

  I guess it takes a certain amount of maturity and the right environment to change ones way of thinking.  I probably say this a lot but Eric is a great source of inspiration.  He made a healthy lifestyle look easy and obtainable.  I'm not giving up everything I loved to eat, I'm not dieting and I'm not stressing about it either.  If i have a poor workout (like I did this morning), it doesn't matter I still did it.  I cook delicious healthy meals focused on low carb and I'm satisfied 100% of the time.  The things I can't give up, like my unbelievably unhealthy cup of coffee in the morning, I'm okay with.  I love it, I  look forward to it and I don't get worked up about the extra sugar and cream because throughout the day I'm making good choices about what I eat. I'm not making myself feel guilty because I don't have to. I'm living a healthy, active and productive lifestyle that keeps me in shape and keeps me happy.  

  My motivation is the way I feel about myself right now and knowing that with the tools and knowledge I have developed over the past year and a half I will keep things this way!