I’m half-way to my weight loss goal and I’m feeling pretty great.  There are times though, when trying to live healthier is not so easy.

It’s not easy…

Saying no to chocolate. I LOVE chocolate. Milk chocolate is my favorite. Add a little caramel and it’s perfection. Eating chocolate will not help me reach my goals, and sometimes saying no is hard.

Saying no to ice cream. The summer months are approaching and I’m anticipating a hot one. Hot temps mean only one thing- ice cream. (Maybe that’s just me.) We buy some amazing vanilla ice cream from Costco. It’s creamy and oh so good, but I just can’t have it every night like I used to.

Saying no to dessert in a cup. Salted Caramel Mocha is one of the best coffee drinks ever made. I would regularly get these when we went out for coffee. That was until I saw how many calories they had! That’s a lot of calories to burn. Luckily they don’t make them anymore, so the decision just got easier.

Getting up early to exercise. I LOVE to sleep. I used to sleep in until 10 on a Saturdays, before we had kids. I am not a morning person, in fact I enjoy staying up late. That fact makes it even more difficult to get up in the morning. If I want to get out and exercise it works best if I do it before everyone wakes.

Eating my fruits and vegetables. I’ve never been much of a healthy eater, as you might see from above. Chocolate, ice cream, chips and queso, pizza – these have been staples. It’s not easy for me to enjoy the more natural foods that are better for me.  So, every day I have to be intentional about adding these to my meals.

Finishing my workout. It’s not only hard to get up early to exercise, sometimes it’s hard to keep going through the whole workout. Yes, even during Jillian’s short 20 minute shred I get tempted to quit.

Taking smaller portions. Chicken Pot Pie is one of my favorite meals. After starting to eat healthier, I realized that I was usually eating more than one serving and it’s not necessarily a low-calorie meal.

Drinking more water. I am always struggling with keeping up with my water intake. I am drinking more than I used to, but it seems that sometimes that’s just not enough. I have to continually be filling my water bottle.

I do allow myself leeway on these things. The easy way out is to be lazy and do whatever I want, but what I want is changing. I like having more energy. I like that my clothes are fitting differently. I like that I am setting a healthy example for my children. These benefits make it worth all the hard work.

Weight last week: 163 pounds

Weight this week: 163 pounds

Total weight loss this year: 21 pounds

No gain and no loss. My plan is to get back to exercising more, which I haven’t been doing as much since we moved.

What obstacles get in your way of living healthier?