After last week’s poor eating, my mind was only filled with negative thoughts. And all I could do was compare myself to my previous self. Sounds weird, right?

You know how other people compare themselves with others? Well, I guess I do that too, but I just couldn’t stop thinking of where I am now compared with where I was January of 2011. I was at the lowest weight I’ve ever been. Training hard, lifting heavy, being bad ass.

And now? Man. I can’t even run a 12-minute mile.

It’s hard to think of the “what was” and move on because in my head, I just think of how big of a failure I am.

Why did I ever let myself go? How did I get here?

And then it dawned on me that my mind just wasn’t in the right place. I had a lot of issues going on, a lot of unexpected disasters, and yes, a shit ton of excuses.

The worst thing I can do is look at the past and focus on the “what could have been” because you can never change the past. I can only take control of the present.

So the one thing I keep telling myself is to take everything one day at a time.

Instead of beating myself up each time I “fail,” I give myself a mental pat on the back for each victory I accomplish. Ok, so my accomplishment is nothing compared to where I was a year ago, but hey, compared to where I was a week ago, it’s a huge step!

I think it’s important to focus on weight loss, marathon training, healthy eating, healthy body image one day at a time because every day IS a battle. If we focus on the war, we just get overwhelmed which makes it easier to just call it quits.

My mantra for the rest of the month: One day at a time, one step at a time.

And my little win for the day? I ran, without walking, a full 5K distance. Took me 42 minutes at a pace of 13:35 a mile, but the important thing is that I did it.

I have to remember that I have to train myself to get better, which will take time, but that’s ok.

I can do this.

What’s your win for the day/week/month?