This week’s mantra: 4 pounds down!

As I mentioned yesterday, I’m more than a little overwhelmed at the prospect of losing 7.5 pounds in the next 2 weeks.  People at the gym and on Facebook are talking about the final week’s “special diet” and “special instructions” we’ll receive, but I don’t think I can leave it all until next week.  If I only lose another 2/2.5 lbs this week, that will leave me with 5/5.5 lbs to lose the final week.  So, my mantra for this week is: 4 pounds down!  As I pushed myself during this morning’s workout, that’s what I kept repeating to myself to make me work harder. 

While I was working hard, I kept thinking about the following inspiration: “What the mind can visualize, the body can achieve.”  I wasn’t sure where this “quote” came from, so what did I do, I “googled” it.  Turns out, the original quote is from the author of a book called Think and Grow Rich by Napoleon Hill, and the actual quote is: “Whatever the mind can conceive and believe, the mind can achieve no matter how many times you have failed in the past.”  Hill’s book was written in 1937 near the end of the Great Depression and was a financial self-help book that has sold over 20 million copies. When I found that quote, it rang true with me, but I knew there had to be a fitness angle to it.  With some further internet sleuthing, it turns out that there is a fitness related version of Hill’s inspirational quote, and it is attributed to none other than Arnold Schwarzenegger. Apparently, Arnold is a huge proponent of visualizing fitness goals to coax your mind into believing that it’s possible to achieve what you’re working toward.  He believes that “your body can achieve what your mind can conceive.” 

So, that’s my mantra for this week.  With hard work and determination, I believe I can achieve a 4 pound loss this week.