Perfect Timing

Miss Kate has perfect timing. I've been thinking seriously about how my body's doing, how I want it to be doing, and where my current habits will take me -- and I'm not liking the end of that path so much. I need a new one.

I also like the idea of small changes. Baby Steps. I realized just the other day that my littlest "little" one is now too big to be the culprit in my weight issues, and that this is on me. Pretty sure there's some underlying hormonal issues -- and I'm also pretty sure that I like to eat more than I should. And that's where I'm starting.

Several months back, I got the stomach bug, and I was sick. I got so incredibly thirsty, but if I drank more than the tiniest sip, my stomach rebelled and badness ensued. It took incredible self-control to limit myself to the little sips - teaspoons at first - that my body could tolerate, and I was soooo thirsty. Since then, I've been pondering that experience, and the phrase "bridle your passions." For several months I've been resisting the lesson, as it applies to my weight. I like to eat. Dessert is nice!

For me, part of my problem is a habit of indulgence. I know that I have a will strong enough to control my body - even strong urges, like to drink when I'm extremely thirsty. I have not been using much self-mastery in this area; indulging is pleasant. And the scale's slow ticking upward is the effect.

I really like the idea of small changes. So. Here's my plan:

1. No more than one piece of bread or one sandwich at a meal.
2. If I have dessert, it will be only one helping in a day.
3. Drink 2 quarts of water - every day.
4. Daily supplements. I've got a couple. I'm not being consistent -- and they help my overall health.
5. Weekly bike rides, at least for the summer.

So. I know that regular check-ins help me. Monday is going to be my check-in day. This week is the start of some new habits for me, too.

Ah, Yes. Checking In.

There's supposed to be a check in. I'm not real sure that I want to do that this week, as I'm feeling more than a little frustrated with the whole thing. But I suppose that I should to the weighing and measuring so that I can have yet another "starting point." I am resolved. Running. Yoga. Calorie counting for the next 2 weeks, faithfully, and intermittently after that.

So. After checking my numbers I find that I'm not as bad off on the weight as I thought I would be, but the measurements are definitely telling me that I need to sit up and pay attention. We'll see if I can't be doing better by next week. Though it's not as bad as I expected it would be. I don't think that I'll call it "starting over" after all.

New Years

Here we are, once again, in the beginning of a new month in a new year. Now is the time that people typically make their resolutions for the year. This year I have a couple, but I keep thinking (if i'm actually going to do this resolution thing) I should have more than just two. This has been cooking in the back of my brain for the last week. Hehe.. ok, I promise this post isn't a lobby effort to make everybody make resolutions, mostly it's just me posting my musings because writing them out often helps me clarify my jumbley thoughts. I promise to bring it back around to fitness :)

So, I was up in the gym today, walking along on the treadmill and I started thinking about this whole New Year's Resolution thing. I recognize that not everyone partakes of this yearly tradition. Throughout my life, my observance of it has been spotty at best. When I was growing up I would right them down in my journal on January 1st and, most years, they would be completely forgotten by January 2nd. Though, in recent years I've taken to a more active observance of New Year Resolutions. In recent conversations with my husband, I've found myself revisiting the reasons that I make these resolutions in January. He raises and interesting question though; why do we do this in January? He wonders why this doesn't happen in the spring when new life is springing up rather than the dead of winter...

Anyway, back a few years ago now (sometime when I was in college) I remember we had a fireside or a CES broadcast or something where someone talked about the benefits of resolutions. At the time I was actively not making resolutions; I'd become disenchanted with them when it seemed that each year I would break or forget them before February came; what's the point?? But at this fireside they pointed out that resolution=goal. And they suggested that goals are good to have in your life - They keep you moving in an fixed direction. In addition to making your goals attainable (but still challenging), they suggested that goals should be more specific than vauge and general. But then I would add that it doesn't have to be "all or nothing". Percentages are ok; try try try again.

In my (unfruitful) search today for this fireside or CES broadcast or whatever it was, I came across this quote by Elder Joseph B. Wirthlin: “You should look ahead now and decide what you want to do with your lives. … Write your goals and review them regularly. Keep them before you constantly, record your progress, and revise them as circumstances dictate. Your ultimate goal should be eternal life” (Ensign, Nov. 1989, 73).

So, while I was up there walking, I began to consider my goals for the year.. or my life.. or even just the next month. What do I want to accomplish? Often I think I fall into a sort of coasting mode. Not so much idle, I am productive and even creative, but I don't necessary have any specific direction overall. Lulls are nice, even good; frenzied feverish activity isn't a sustainable lifestyle (for me). However, I do think that I could use more direction sometimes.

Then my thoughts came around to my recent resolving to work out with more regularity. So then I thought that that's kind of vauge. What does "more regularity" mean? This lead me to decide what I wanted to add to my very short list of New Year's Resolutions.

3. Work out (at least) three times a week
4. Lose 7lbs by June and another 8 by December.

So these I will add to my little list, maybe even one or two others, and then I will write them down and put them on the inside of the cabinet in my bathroom because there I'll be sure to see them every day. That worked for those from 2008; I feel like those were actually acheived at ~87.92%. Not to shabby for 12 months!

More Regrouping

Well, I gained back at Christmas all the weight that I'd lost at Thanksgiving. So I'm also regrouping and trying again. I think the best definition of success was a Japanese(?) Proverb I read a little while ago:

"Fall down six times.
Get up seven."

So, here I am getting up another time.

I got back on the exercise this morning, and I'm working on the water. The water has been a huge struggle for me as Monkey's gotten more active. I've always been a sedentary water drinker, and my life is not very sedentary right now! So if anyone's got suggestions for how to remember to drag my water around with me so it gets in my body, I'm listening! It'd be great to hear how the rest of you girls are doing!

Well....... It's Not All Bad

Heh.. so, exercise once married is harder than I anticipated. I mean, I knew that it was more than likely that once my main motivation was gone (fitting into that pretty pretty dress), I'd struggle with continuing with my routine of regular exercise, but I had hoped that I might do better than I have. My routine even at work has been thrown off quite drastically in the last few weeks. I have been working through lunch more. And when I'm not working through lunch, I've been running around the city trying to update my forms of legal identification so that my name is my name all over. Yes.. excuses excuses excuses. Today I'm working through lunch yet again, however, TOMORROW I will go to the gym.

I hereby resolve that tomorrow, Tuesday December 2nd, is the day I will return to the treadmill.

It's not all bad though, now that I'm living closer to pretty much everything, I tend to use public transportation to get around. Public transit is good for a couple things: Saving me $$ on gas, and forcing me to walk more. So, I've been walking further to get to the train and up two flights of stairs to get to my platform. Plus, I live in 3rd floor walk up, so I'm taking stairs bunches more than I did before I moved. Bottom line is that I have gained a couple pounds (well, three in the last 5weeks) but really, that's all.

So, while it's not as good as it could be, it's not all bad.