Nearly a year later, and now at last really so very nearly complete with my dissertation. That project has sucked up so much of my energy and resources. I never knew going in. But I'm almost there and it will be a huge relief to be finished.
I'm also almost at my 40th birthday. I had once wished to be at or close to my weight goal by now. But I'm not. I am however, motivated and doing well on eating and exercise.
So on to the future...
My current goals are
Track what I eat. I'm using this food and exercise log book called, Flogg (ha ha); http://floggdaily.com/black-book.html.Before I bought it, I was thinking "Well that's silly why buy a book, you can just use a notebook" etc etc. Turns out the book is very helpful in keeping me aware of and consistent with logging my food.
One pilates class a week. I've been doing this for about a year and love it. We do some mat work and reformer work. Three cardio sessions a week. Bike, jump rope, elliptical, jog/walk.
Three core workouts a week. In addition to pilates class.
Three stretch/yoga routines a week
I've been reasonably successful with these goals, and am focusing on building habits rather than concern with results (just yet). Once the habits feel strong, I'll re-evaluate my goals.
So I didn't "earn" 40 before my actual birthday in the way that I had hoped, but I'll be 40 for a whole year, so let's see what I can do with that!
The last few days I've been doing yoga each day and my aching back and hip are much better. I feel very relieved. Yoga is amazing. Several times I've had small 'injuries' that I've worried about and after just a few days of a little yoga, my body feels better.
I plan to continue my bit of daily yoga. I'm just doing modified sun salutations, a few shoulder releases, and some hip/leg releases. Takes less than 15 minutes but makes all the difference.
I'm ignoring something that is affecting my ability to exercise and feel motivated. My back and hip hurt and I've had several instances of sciatica pain. It is low grade pain but more often than I've had before. Basically I'm afraid that my strength training routine is causing it but I'm not following thru to get it taken care of. Now I'm afraid of the gym.
This is not good.
I am already starting to feel bad physically and mentally for not going and it will only get worse. I need to face this fear and get myself to the gym. Maybe that means a Dr. appt or carefully tracking my symptoms, stretching more regularly....something. But I have to do something. Posting here helps shake off the denial and get into action. So that's what I'm gonna do.
And tomorrow it is yoga/cardio followed by strength/core on Friday before we scoot away for a birthday weekend away.
I love how part of my motiviation is knowing how good I'll feel when I leave the gym. It is strong enough that when I drive up to the gym I already anticipate the good, strong feeling I'll have when I leave. Lovin' that!
Workouts are on-track! I'm still not counting calories or writing down my food regularly. I can feel inside me that I will get that going again very soon. I haven't been eating badly but not limiting much either. This week I am doing a writing retreat on an important chapter in my
dissertation (still writing it but on the home stretch) but that ends
on Sunday.
This coming Monday is my 39th birthday and my huntch is that will take me to the next level of motivation. Still 12 months left. I feel a difference in my body shape, not a big difference but a difference. I've been keeping my workout schedule, other than just 2 misses, since the last week in Dec!
I need to post here at least once a week -- maybe I'll post after each workout just to keep me in the game. I'll let you know how I tackle the food thing.
I have my heart rate monitor back (the sensor wore out and I had to send it in for repairs) and I'm in love all over again! It is amazing how much it helps with motivation during a workout.
Met all of my exercize goals this week! The only tweak I want to make is that I get 2 workouts in from Tue-Thu and 2 in from Fri-Sun (rather than craming them into the end of the week like I have recently).
Calorie counting is still bumpy and so I'm continuing to pay attention to that. I'll need to smooth out those bumps in order to loose the weight. But I still have 13 months to my target date so that is a nice long time. Not long enough to sit on my duff but long enought not to get discouraged by a bumpy road.
Particularly when somebody brings mini-donuts and chips. Ugh!
I was away with friends this weekend and those continue to be times where I have yet to consistently be aware and able to make diet-conscious choices. It wasn't tragically bad though, and I did do a cardio workout on Saturday morning.
So moving on to this week and continuing where I left off...
This week has been 4 days of good eatin' and, once I got to the gym shortly, good exercise so far. I'm settling into the long haul. Not worrying about really low calories, just doing under 1800 most days and making sure exercise stays stable with 2 strength training, 2 core workouts, at least 2 cardio, and some dog walks thrown in there as well.
I can feel the difference already! It is just a little but it has only been a few weeks. That little difference multiplied x a year will equal a big difference!
Pretty good with food and pretty good with exercise. I wasn't diet Super Woman but I did good.
Fiber intake is going really well and I keep finding it to be a great focus point. In order to get 30g fiber in less than 1800 calories, you just can't each that much junk. I see this making a bigger impact on my long term eating habits than counting calories. And guess what?!?! When you eat more fiber, you feel less hungry! Who would have thought....
At the top of my weekly food diary, I have a spot to write my motivation for the week. This week, I wrote "because I can" as in because I am able to do this, because my life is relatively stress free and plentiful, because I have options. I'm doing this because I can make choices that will help me be more healthy, fit, energetic, and embodied.
