Hello out there people. Welcome to Carol's Corner on this Monday evening edition. Kind of late getting started tonight. I had only slept 2 hrs in the prior 48, so I had to sleep all day; I went to bed around 9 and slept till about twenty to 7. Then I did 6 workout miles before getting washed and dressed for the rest of my day. Didn't get to Denny's, where I usually come to write my blog, till almost 11. Then it's catch up on all the groups posts before getting my blog started. And now it's 1:02 AM. Still not sure what direction I am going in, but we shall see as I think on it a bit.

Really liking my ensemble today. I just love this blouse, everything about it: the style, the color, the material, and the beautiful floral design. It looks really nice with these skinny jeans and my royal blue flats. Funny thing about my shoes. I bought them to go with one particular outfit, not even realizing how many things I could wear them with. They are one of my favorite pair of shoes. I wear them whenever I can. They really jazz up any outfit.

Had another perfect set of jewelry to go with this outfit. A funny story about my hand pictures today. I have a gel crystal glaze surface over the top of my real nails. A piece of the top of of my thumbnail cracked off tonight, something that happens not very often, but every once in awhile. Hoping to get it fixed tomorrow, but when we were doing the pictures I tried to do them so it didn't show. Vanity right? LOL!!!

As you can see, it's not visible in either picture. Mission accomplished. My FitBit combo picks up two of the color tones in the blouse quite nicely.

So now we come to where I have to decide what we will talk about tonight. Still thinking! Well we're just maybe gonna touch on a little of this and a little of that. I am doing quite well gathering my thoughts using the pictures I've been finding to use every day. I'd like to start off with something that shows why I do what I do and why it has become so important to me. We'll start with the graphic and then I will expound on it.

This totally describes the way I feel since I started this phase of my journey. I discovered while on my own weight loss journey, that God gave me the gift of being able to communicate via both the spoken and especially the written word. Through that I found I was able to inspire, motivate, educate and help other people navigate their own way through their journey toward a healthy weight and a healthy and fit body. It has been the single most rewarding experience in my life, besides having my children of course. I so know what Zig meant by TRUE JOY. Every time someone lets me know that I am their inspiration or thanks me for the things I impart to them through a post or my blog, my heart is filled overflowing with a feeling that is almost indescribable. Many times I cry; what I call my “Happy Tears”. I am overjoyed that I have found my true calling, albeit during my “golden years.” I will continue to do my best at all of the above for the rest of the time that I am blessed to live.

So let's get into some things to help you on your journey. Are you reticent it or ambivalent to set goals for yourself when it comes to your weight loss or fitness journey? If you are, you need to rectify that in short order. Without defined goals you don't have anything tangible to work towards. Without goals and the reasons for them you are just like a fish out of water, floundering around trying to find your way back home; lost and without direction. Without goals you really have no accountability to anything or anyone, least of all yourself. When you set a goal and then start to reach that goal, you will see the visible effects of the work you've done to reach it and that will in turn inspire you to work harder to achieve the next one you have set for yourself. Make your goals known to others and that will be another layer of accountability. You will want to work harder to reach them when you know you have voiced them to someone besides yourself.

The graphic shown above are the building blocks or steps to sucess in your weight loss journey. We'll list them here.

1 Set Goal

2 Make Plan

3 Get to work

4 Stick to it

5 Reach Goal

So we just talked about setting goals. But to reach a goal you have to have a plan to get there. You have to decide what is going to work best for you. What is workable for one person might not be for another. Whatever plan you decide to follow you still have to create a calorie deficit, that is take in less calories than you burn. A rule of thumb is that you need to take in 3,500 less calories a week to lose one pound of fat. Any plan should also include an exercise component. Diet and exercise work together for the best possible result. And regular exercise has numerous health benefits.

Now that you've come up with a plan it's time to get to work. This might involve such things as menu planning, shopping for the right foods and ingredients, prepping or preparing foods ahead of time to use the next day or freezing some for later use, and setting aside time for regular exercise. Once you've done all these necessary things, just work it, work it, work it.

To be successful in your journey you need to stick to it. That doesn't mean you'll be perfect every day. You'll probably slip up or have some set backs, but when you do you learn from them, dust yourself off and keep on going.

This pretty much hits the nail on the head. You don't have to be perfect 100% of the time, but you do need to put in the effort every single day. Because when you put in that effort daily, things start to change and results happen; results both visible and invisible. Some things you see. Other things you feel; like more energy, more stamina, better overall health and more confidence in yourself to name just a few. Do you have what it takes to reach your goal? Study the graphic below and see if these things describe you. If they don't set about changing what you need to change, to be in line with the 5 signs described below.

Every day strive to embody all the signs shown above.

I'd like to end with this tonight. Ponder it for a bit, and then set about finding your light at the end of the tunnel. Till next time, God Bless.