Category: Motivation Monday

NY Times and USA Today bestselling author Caridad Pineiro shares articles and tips to motivate you.

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#MotivationMonday – Forgiving Yourself

My wonderful friend Jayne came over this week to help me assemble some wedding favors and while we worked we talked about our respective struggles to lose weight. Jayne was an inspiration to me with all the weight she lost and when I mentioned a setback this week in my weight loss goals, she offered this pearl of wisdom she had learned from her weight loss group: You have to learn to forgive yourself when you suffer a setback like that.

Think about it. If someone does something you don’t like and you call them on it, but they apologize, you forgive them, right? You don’t beat them over the head over and over again about it (we hope).

So why do we do that to ourselves and not just about weight loss? We do it over our jobs, friendships, husbands, children, etc. We sometimes hold ourselves up to standards that are unreasonable and which may lead us to self-doubt or worse, self-loathing.

So today’s Motivation Monday is about being able to forgive yourself. If you’ve fallen down, dust yourself off, get up, and try again with a fresh slate thanks to forgiveness. I did and was able to get back on track!

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#MotivationMonday – Inspiration and Perspiration

Wow, what a busy two weeks! I’ve been off to two different writing conferences and have come back charged up and inspired to get so many things done for the end of this year and next. Very exciting for me and hopefully for you as that will mean more stories, giveaways, and more.

The best part of both conferences was getting to meet new people and chatting with them about their writing and their lives. Such interesting people with such diverse backgrounds must add so much to the stories they tell. It was also great to get together with old friends and get to spend time with them since some of them are long-distance friends.

In addition to inspiration, there was also perspiration involved since I taught at the first conference and then had a number of meetings and signings at the second. All in all, however, I had a great time!

motivation monday writing inspiration and perspiration
Original Image by engin akyurt from Pixabay

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#MotivationMonday – The “I Can Do This Now” Excitement

It’s been nearly two months since I started my lifestyle change. Better eating. Continuing to challenge myself with my workouts. The end result is 15.8 pounds down, more energy, and the ability to do something like this past Friday’s outing: A climb to the top of the Vessel in Hudson Yards and a walk along the High Line. It came out to a total of 4.25 miles for those two adventures. So exciting on so many levels. Although my fear of heights kicked in the step training I’ve been doing kept me moving up and down the maze that is the Vessel without noticing a thing. Not out-of-breath for the wrong reasons. Maybe breathless because of the views and the height. A wonderful night with my best bud and I am so grateful for the positive changes happening with my body. Today I’m sharing some photos from that adventure.

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#MotivationMonday – Keeping to Old Goals and Setting New Ones

Another tough week with holiday meals and celebrations, but despite that I’ve lost another two pounds! Yeah. So the total weight loss so far is six pounds. Very pleased with that since the goal was 5 for the month and we still have another week to go give or take. I’ve met my step count goals for every day, did another personal best on the assisted pull-up, and snuck in some chores, like building our new BBQ grill. Easter chocolate is tempting, but I’ve been good about limiting that and also, keeping to less soda and carbs. All in all I’m pleased with what’s happening and adding a new goal: to do more stairs. I’m not a fan for a variety and reasons and both my husband and I find that even though we do cardio and handle pushing our heart rates to healthy levels, stairs always leave us a little winded. So the goal is to improve on that by taking more stairs on a daily basis. I have at least two sets that I can tackle at Penn Station and then at Grand Central. Will let you know how that goes next week!
Setting Goals
Original Goal Image by Tumisu from Pixabay

Original Stairs Image by Free-Photos from Pixabay

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#MotivationMonday – Inches Lost and Personal Bests

I wish I could post that I lost more pounds, but sadly I didn’t. Still at the same weight thanks to having to eat out three times last week. Tough to watch salt and calories, but I have to do better next time. Despite that, I can tell from clothes that are no longer tight that I’ve lost some inches. Plus, I did personal bests at the gym on the assisted pull-ups and my dead lifts (110 pounds!). Yeah. Also hit my daily step counts and then some, so all is good this week. Working on being better for next week. How about you? How did you all do last week?

Original dumbbell Image by Roy Buri from Pixabay

Original tape measure Image by annca from Pixabay

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#MotivationMonday – A Great Start!

Happy to say that I’ve watched the scale go down every day since last Monday. In total I’ve lost 4.4 since I first posted last week and that’s awesome considering I was hoping to have lost 5 pounds by the end of April. That puts me ahead a little, but as those of us who have struggled know, there will come a time when you reach a plateau. That’s when you’ll need the most willpower to not give up.

For now, here are some of the things I’ve done that may inspire you to make some changes for a healthier you!

    1. I really cut back on carbs. I love bread and rice and this is a tough one for me, but I know that carbs just set me off and I need to keep them to a minimum.

    2. I’m drinking more water and less diet soda. I’d cut back anyway before, but now I’m cutting back even more by making seltzer with my awesome Sodastream and drinking that instead. A few fresh fruit slices, like lemon, orange, or strawberry and it’s even better.

    3. I’ve up the intensity on my morning walk by adding music to get me moving faster. I’ve also upped it with my elliptical workout by increasing the speed for a minute at five minute intervals. I’ve reached 80% of my max heart rate at those levels (128). Don’t know how to figure out your max? Subtract your age from 220. That’s generally your max heart rate. Safe limit is 60-90% of that max rate. Of course, always check with your doctor first before any kind of exercise.

    4. I’m eating more fruits and vegetables.

    5. I’ve started journaling what I eat again. It’s not all that hard with the Fitbit app on my phone. FYI – I love my Fitbit and the community. We always challenge each other to meet our step counts. You can find me at https://www.fitbit.com/user/3GZT48. Caveat – I own Fitbit stock just to keep it all on the up and up.

That’s about all! Will keep you post on further progress next week.

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#MotivationMonday – Time to Get Healthier

For those of you who have been visiting over the many years, you know I’ve had an up and down battle with my weight. Sigh. It’s disheartening at times, but with my daughter’s wedding in a few months and a desire to get healthier in order to stay healthier, I am once again committing to changing my lifestyle. I hope you’ll help me out by sharing your stories and by following as each Monday I share my success and/or my troubles with that week’s goal. My overall goal is to lose 35 pounds by November 1, the big day when my baby gets married. My weekly goal is to lose one pound by eating healthier and being active. Here is a picture of me today as well as a photo of some cute workout clothes my sister got me for my birthday! Can’t wait to exercise in them! Thanks, sis!

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