Motivation, Music and.... Zumba?

As you know, I posted a week or so ago about eating healthy and exercising.  Well, that for me lasted about 1 day. You see, I love food!!!!!!!!!!! Especially stuff like nachos, french fries, cheeseburgers, and all that other extremely unhealthy stuff!  Greg and I don't really call what we do "dieting", it is called a "lifestyle".  We say this because this should be a change in your lifestyle, not just dieting to lose weight, and then gain it all back when you go back to eating the way you ate before.  We eat mostly ''whole foods".  What I mean by that is, we eat stuff the way God created it.   Fruits, vegetables, non-processed meat, beans, nuts.  We cut down our intake of bread and changed to eating 100% Whole Wheat bread (we try not to eat anything 'white', like white bread, white rice) I know that this sounds tough, but we didn't go hungry.  We would eat a huge plate of salad before our meals and it really helps to fill you up.  We avoid anything with high fructose corn syrup, partially hydrogenated oils, preservatives,   There are a few things that we allow for that we call "healthier" snacks, such as goldfish crackers, teddy graham cookies, and occasionally a 'healthier' pizza - crust made of wheat flour -unbleached- and topped with Newman's Own Alfredo Sauce (all natural ingredients) baby spinach, asparagus, onion, chicken breast strips chopped up, and mozzarella cheese (2%)... it is really very good!  Anyway, we do still eat like this, alot... we just kinda got into the habit of eating out more (nachos, french fries, cheeseburgers!)  and eating alot more and snacking alot more than when we were losing weight! It seems like I go through this cycle starting around bed time every night. I say to myself each night, "tomorrow I'm going to eat healthy, exercise, and take better care of myself."  Then the next morning when I get up I ignore what I told myself the night before and the vicious cycle starts all over again.  I eat too much, don't exercise, and go to bed thinking, "tomorrow....... "  Well, today, my tomorrow has come!  I got up too late to eat breakfast (I know, I shouldn't do that!), so I fixed us salads for lunch with fish tacos.  I know some of you are saying "ewww" but they really are good.  I use talapia and season it with cumin and garlic, put it in a skillet sprayed with olive oil spray ( from my "Misto" sprayer that I LOVE) and saute it with some chopped onion.  We eat it on corn tortillas, I add jalapenos to mine.  Very, Very good!  Then, after lunch, I decided I would go walk.  I found this cool website a few months ago called  http://www.coolrunning.com/ where you can look up city streets and plot a course, giving you the distance you will travel.  So I looked at one of my earlier plotted routes and decided to walk from my house, down 11th street, to Ave S. to 84 and back.  It was 2.6 miles roundtrip.  I got home and started blogging and Greg came in from work and said he would go with me.  So we rested a few minutes and then walked that route again!!!  So today, I have logged 5.2 miles!!!  My pedometer officially says over 11,000 steps!!!!!! 

Here is a thought on motivation.  I have been sitting here for days (weeks - months) saying "i need to get some motivation"... But I realize more and more you have to make your own motivation!  I was still completely unmotivated as I was getting ready to go walking, but as soon as I started, I felt really good.  It felt great to be out walking!  So I have decided if motivation won't come to me, I will go out and make my own! 

I do find that music helps to keep me going when exercising.  I have  a "workout" list of songs on my ipod.  This is the list of songs that help push me along:  Another Brick in the Wall - Korn;  Bring Me to Life - Evanescence;  I Will Not Bow - Breaking Benjamin;  Numb - Linkin Park;  It's Not Over - Daughtry;  Headstrong  - Trapt;  In The End - Linkin Park; Our Truth - Lacuna Coil;  Whispers In the Dark - Skillet;  Stand Up - Trapt;  Comfortable Liar - Chevelle; and Diamond Eyes - Shinedown.  This is actually my "rock workout" list.  I am always looking for songs and making playlists to keep me going!

So, this brings me to Zumba.  Music and exercises combined!  I haven't tried it yet... I am trying to decide if I would stick with it or not.  The people that I have talked to that have done it, LOVE it.  So, if you have any ideas on the subject, let me know!  I would love to hear other opinions!

Parting lyrics for the day ------->  Take the money and run!!!!!!!!!!!!!!