Don't Think, Just Do.

The blog title is apparently a quote attributed to Horace, a Roman poet. I often say this to myself and dish it out to others. It's perfect. This week has been a tough week for me, and my thoughts have turned again and again to being tired, worn out, feeling beaten up, wanting to just be done. Whenever I have a week like this I immediately return to my mental checklist:

1. sleep-- am I getting 8 hours every night? (a new study shows that a lack of sleep is related to an increase in appetite and portion size eaten)
2. diet-- cheating? I easily fall into the "one little ____ (insert favorite cheat food here), won't hurt" mentality that WILL snowball me into a full blown reversion back to the old lifestyle.
3. rest day-- as in, how long has it been since my last rest day?
4. time of the month-- sorry, men, but hormones make a difference; ladies, notice where time of the month falls on this checklist-- it's NOT an excuse to be a slacker

So, no words of encouragement in this post, no inspirational how to's. No, this time I'm just going to say it:  

There are so many days when I don't feel like getting up early to workout. Some mornings I don't feel like running. Many times after work I just feel like going home instead of the gym. And I often feel like eating whatever the heck I want to. I don't always feel like eating healthy, smaller portions. And there are times when I feel as if I want to just quit. 

Well, guess what. Feelings are not reality. We can feel a lot of things that aren't true. That's when it's time to stop thinking about how you feel and just do what needs to be done. 

"No excuses. Just do the work."

-Shalane Flanagan