I have a confession to make. A shameful, horrible, confession. My diet and exercise goals started slowly slipping away from me last week. You see, to keep me motivated I need a date. I need a benchmark. I need to be able to say, “Yes, I completed my goal on time!” Most recently that goal was Memorial Day Weekend, where I knew I was going to see all of my friends and would be bikini-clad for the entire weekend. Before that it was a trip to Jamaica with my family. Before that, it was other trips or events or parties. But now? There is nothing in my future.

No parties. No trips. Nothing to motivate me and keep me going. I mentioned this last week and said I was trying to keep my motivation up by planning a trip somewhere, but no one wants to actually commit to a vacation so it’s still up in the air. I needed some help. Like serious, inspiring, motivational help.

I tried looking at Pinterest. I browsed through tons of motivational quotes and pictures, but nothing was picking me up.

Don’t get me wrong, I was doing just fine. I wasn’t putting on weight, I wasn’t eating junk, and I didn’t skip all my workouts; I just wasn’t doing as well as I could have been.

I went from doing five Insanity workouts in a week to doing maybe two. I still ran every morning with Jack, but sometimes I would take a shortcut through my neighborhood so it was only a 3/4 mile run instead of the full mile. My typically small dessert portions were growing bigger and bigger, and I didn’t even care.

I think that’s the hardest part; that I would see myself doing these things and I knew I was going down a slippery slope, but since I had no deadline and no quantifiable goals, I didn’t do anything about it.

Until yesterday. Yesterday I talked with my friend Catrina (who I’ve mentioned in my weight loss story) about this issue. She admitted that she, too, was having similar issues with her diet. She admitted to me that she had somewhat fallen off the wagon since Memorial Day. It amazes me how we are so similar even when we are hundred of miles away from each other and only catch up a few times a week.

We made a pact, right then and there, to hold each other accountable for our actions. No big trip coming up? It doesn’t matter. No event where I will see everyone I know? Not a problem. Catrina is there, in New York, and if she’s going to work hard for me then I’m going to work hard for her too. If I don’t feel like exercising all I have to do is think of her, working her tushie off for me, and I will be motivated to do the same. Sometimes all we need is someone there to support us, and that’s definitely what Catrina is for me.

Workout

Inspired by this new motivation, yesterday evening when I got home from work I busted out an Insanity DVD and did the whole thing from start to finish and you know what? It felt excellent. I loved it. I felt strong, I felt my muscles burning, and I felt proud! Proud that I got out of this slump and stopped it before it became a real problem. Sometimes, taking the first step can be the hardest.

Recipe

So while I’m getting started with this revitalized healthy lifestyle, I have to post this last bad-for-me recipe. While it’s not exactly horrible for you, it’s not the best either. I’m talking like zero nutritional value. But, sometimes you gotta indulge yourself and eat a sweet treat, especially one that is chocolatey, gooey, and low in calories. But be careful of this recipe, it can be dangerous because it is so good, and it’s lightened up so you think, ok, what’s one little bite going to do to me? Well if you keep taking little bites, before you know it the whole thing will be gone and you’ll be on a slippery slope like I was. In fact, I wound up throwing the rest of these away last night because I decided I no longer need tempting desserts sitting around. So for now, I will file this recipe away for a future day when I’ve been working really hard and deserve a little reward. But not before sharing it with you fine people

Ok so, this recipe is really, really easy. And delicious. In fact, it only involves these two ingredients:

Diet coke and brownie mix. Yes, if you browse Pinterest at all I’m sure you’ve seen this a thousand times, but last week when I was in my lazy funk I decided to try it out and let me tell you, it was great! I was skeptical at first because it sounded so weird but after reading posts from a bunch of people who had tried it, I gave it a shot. Wow! You won’t be disappointed. While they don’t taste exactly like regular brownies, they do taste great. They are very moist and just taste more like a fat-free brownie. Which is still a-okay in my book

Anyway, you can use whatever kind of brownie mix you like (I bought this one at CVS so they had a limited selection but Low Fat would have been great!) and you can either use a bottle or a can of any diet soda you want. I chose Diet Coke but Diet Cherry Vanilla Coke or Diet Root Beer would have been interesting!

First I preheated the oven to 350 degrees, which was the temperature recommended on my box. Then I dumped the brownie mix into a large bowl. Next I poured 1 cup of diet soda into the bowl. I read a bunch of different reviews online which recommended various amounts of soda (such as 12 oz. or 6 oz.) so I decided to go with 8 oz. (1 cup) just to play it safe.

Then, I used a whisk to mix everything together until there were no bubbles and everything was well incorporated. Then I poured the mixture into a greased brownie pan.

 

Next I baked the brownies in the oven for the recommended time (25 minutes) plus an additional 5 minutes, until a toothpick came out clean. I let the brownies cool before cutting them up and serving them with a nice cool glass of skim milk.

Yumm. They were soo good! Plus since the Diet Coke was zero calories, the brownies came out to 118 calories each.

So, now that that recipe is posted and out of my mind (and kitchen) I feel ready to tackle all my fitness goals again. No more snacking on dessert treats (unless I work hard for them and feel I can eat them without feeling guilty) and no more slacking. It’s time to buckle down.

How do you guys spark your motivation? Do you rely on a friend? The Internet? Yourself? I’d love to hear your tips!