Saturday, April 7, 2012
Friday, April 6, 2012
April 6th - Update on Week One
Today I am getting toward the end of the first week of my April challenge. Things have been going well so far. I have completed all of my tasks each day. Some days were more challenging than other days.
Resolution #1 - On Monday and Tuesday of this week I had a hard time getting when the alarm went off. It was an extremely close call on Tuesday but I managed to escape the clutches of my bed and that extra 30 minutes of sleep to get out for a morning bike ride. Thursday was challenging in a different way. About a mile in to my bike ride I got a flat. I still have not learned how to change my own flat tire on my road bike and I didn’t have a spare tube so as a result I had to walk my bike the mile back to the house. Not exactly what I had planned but I am still counting it as a success in the “Get up and exercise” column. I am going to need to learn to change my own tire sooner rather than later. So here is what I did:
Monday – 3 mile run in the AM and workout with my trainer in the PM
Tuesday – 30 minute bike ride (7.8 miles) in the AM and ab workout in the PM
Wednesday – 3 mile run in the AM and workout with my trainer in the PM
Thursday – Attempted a 30 min bike ride (sigh) in the AM and ab workout in the PM
Friday – 3 mile run in the AM
Tomorrow I plan to head out on a long bike ride of at least an hour. I am excited to get out on my bike.
Resolution #2 – I have been doing very good on drinking my 64oz of water each day. I have also really cut back on the amount of soda I have been drinking. I think the most I have had on one day is two cans which is pretty good for me. I would love to be able to cut it out completely but I haven’t fully dedicated myself to that idea yet.
Resolution #3&4 - Eating has been going well. I have been tracking my food every day. Today I got to go out for lunch as I had succeeded in bringing my lunch to work the other four days of this week. I chose to go to Jimmy Johns which is a much healthier choice than the normal In-N-Out Burger that I usually choose. I find that when I am exercising it is much more difficult for me to consume crappy food. This is obviously a good thing. I think it is that I know how hard I have to work to burn 400 calories and the thought that I could consume double that in one meal just isn’t appealing. I have stayed off the scale this week because I am afraid I won’t see much of a change and then I will be discouraged. My official weigh-in day is Monday so I will try to hold out until then.
Resolution #5 – I have been completing my morning and evening routines every day and I am actually really enjoying them. They have made my house seem so much less messy. I never used to make my bed but I can honestly say it is really nice to walk into my bedroom and have my bed nicely made. It makes me happy. I will detail out my morning and evening routines in a separate blog.
Resolution #6 – Done. :)
Resolution #7 - I did my additional ab exercises on Tuesday and Thursday and have scheduled myself to do them tomorrow after my bike ride. They hurt. That is all I have to say about that.
Resolution #1 - On Monday and Tuesday of this week I had a hard time getting when the alarm went off. It was an extremely close call on Tuesday but I managed to escape the clutches of my bed and that extra 30 minutes of sleep to get out for a morning bike ride. Thursday was challenging in a different way. About a mile in to my bike ride I got a flat. I still have not learned how to change my own flat tire on my road bike and I didn’t have a spare tube so as a result I had to walk my bike the mile back to the house. Not exactly what I had planned but I am still counting it as a success in the “Get up and exercise” column. I am going to need to learn to change my own tire sooner rather than later. So here is what I did:
Monday – 3 mile run in the AM and workout with my trainer in the PM
Tuesday – 30 minute bike ride (7.8 miles) in the AM and ab workout in the PM
Wednesday – 3 mile run in the AM and workout with my trainer in the PM
Thursday – Attempted a 30 min bike ride (sigh) in the AM and ab workout in the PM
Friday – 3 mile run in the AM
Tomorrow I plan to head out on a long bike ride of at least an hour. I am excited to get out on my bike.
Resolution #2 – I have been doing very good on drinking my 64oz of water each day. I have also really cut back on the amount of soda I have been drinking. I think the most I have had on one day is two cans which is pretty good for me. I would love to be able to cut it out completely but I haven’t fully dedicated myself to that idea yet.
Resolution #3&4 - Eating has been going well. I have been tracking my food every day. Today I got to go out for lunch as I had succeeded in bringing my lunch to work the other four days of this week. I chose to go to Jimmy Johns which is a much healthier choice than the normal In-N-Out Burger that I usually choose. I find that when I am exercising it is much more difficult for me to consume crappy food. This is obviously a good thing. I think it is that I know how hard I have to work to burn 400 calories and the thought that I could consume double that in one meal just isn’t appealing. I have stayed off the scale this week because I am afraid I won’t see much of a change and then I will be discouraged. My official weigh-in day is Monday so I will try to hold out until then.
Resolution #5 – I have been completing my morning and evening routines every day and I am actually really enjoying them. They have made my house seem so much less messy. I never used to make my bed but I can honestly say it is really nice to walk into my bedroom and have my bed nicely made. It makes me happy. I will detail out my morning and evening routines in a separate blog.
Resolution #6 – Done. :)
Resolution #7 - I did my additional ab exercises on Tuesday and Thursday and have scheduled myself to do them tomorrow after my bike ride. They hurt. That is all I have to say about that.
Monday, April 2, 2012
April 2 - Resolutions Modified and Finalized
April 2, 2012
Well today is the second day of my April experiment and things are off to a pretty good start. I did decide on a couple changes to the “resolutions.” I have decided to take out #3 only because it is not measurable. I like the idea behind it and will still strive to do it but the point of this experiment was to have achievable goals and there is no way to measure whether or not I have achieved this goal. I will replace it with a new goal focused on eating but one that I can measure. I have been half-heartedly doing Weight Watchers (WW) for several weeks now but for the month of April I will use WW to track absolutely everything I eat.
The second change I have decided to make is to add another goal focused on increasing my core strength. I absolutely hate core exercises. I mean I despise them. I would rather do almost anything else. For the month of April I am going to do three additional core workouts during the week. These are in addition to the exercises I do with my trainer. I have written down several core exercises and three times a week I will do three exercises off this list.
Let’s see how this first week goes with the finalized resolutions.
1. I will run, hike or bike six days of every week.
2. I will drink 64 oz of water every day.
3. I will track my food every day.
4. I will plan a weekly menu and take my lunch to week a minimum of 4 days of the work week.
5. I will blog at least once every week.
6. I will follow my morning and evening routines every day of the week.
7. I will do an ab workout three times a week.
Well today is the second day of my April experiment and things are off to a pretty good start. I did decide on a couple changes to the “resolutions.” I have decided to take out #3 only because it is not measurable. I like the idea behind it and will still strive to do it but the point of this experiment was to have achievable goals and there is no way to measure whether or not I have achieved this goal. I will replace it with a new goal focused on eating but one that I can measure. I have been half-heartedly doing Weight Watchers (WW) for several weeks now but for the month of April I will use WW to track absolutely everything I eat.
The second change I have decided to make is to add another goal focused on increasing my core strength. I absolutely hate core exercises. I mean I despise them. I would rather do almost anything else. For the month of April I am going to do three additional core workouts during the week. These are in addition to the exercises I do with my trainer. I have written down several core exercises and three times a week I will do three exercises off this list.
Let’s see how this first week goes with the finalized resolutions.
1. I will run, hike or bike six days of every week.
2. I will drink 64 oz of water every day.
3. I will track my food every day.
4. I will plan a weekly menu and take my lunch to week a minimum of 4 days of the work week.
5. I will blog at least once every week.
6. I will follow my morning and evening routines every day of the week.
7. I will do an ab workout three times a week.
Friday, March 30, 2012
April Resolutions!!
This time last year I had just finished my second half marathon. I was in great physical shape and was feeling good both physically and mentally. I was working out at least six times a week. Lots of things have changed in the course of the year. My running came to an abrupt halt when I was forced to have surgery on both my feet. As the healing time dragged on and a potential second surgery loomed on the horizon I seemed to lose all my motivation. Daily workouts dropped to every other day and now have hit the point where I am working out only twice a week. I am way more apt to feel the stress of work and life and I seem to be getting sicker more often than before. As a result of this gradual decline in my dedication to my physical fitness and my mental fitness I have become restless. I constantly think about where I was a year ago and wishing I was still in the shape I was then. I have struggled for months with myself. I know how to get where I want to go but why am I not going there? I tend to classify it as laziness. It is much easier to get a little extra sleep in morning then to wake up and exercise. It is much easier to eat fast food then to plan meals and cook them. I have decided that April is going to be my month of action. I have already gotten a head start on the cooking part and it seems to be going well. The working out part of it is still sorely lacking. So as a result I am setting some April “resolutions.” I have decided that I will be committed to doing the following things but only for the 30 days of April. At the end of the month I will reevaluate these “resolutions.”
My April Resolutions:
1. I will run, hike or bike six days of every week.
2. I will drink 64 oz of water every day.
3. I will consume food for fuel and not simply because it is there and I am bored.
4. I will plan a weekly menu and take my lunch to week a minimum of 4 days of the work week.
5. I will blog at least once every week.
6. I will follow my morning and evening routines every day of the week.
I will use this blog to record my progress on the resolutions. I hope that by the end of the month I will be back in my groove. I will write about what my morning and my evening routines are in another blog. I have a few more days to mentally prepare myself for my little (or big) experiment. I also plan to ponder these resolutions and make any tweaks to them before my launch day.
My April Resolutions:
1. I will run, hike or bike six days of every week.
2. I will drink 64 oz of water every day.
3. I will consume food for fuel and not simply because it is there and I am bored.
4. I will plan a weekly menu and take my lunch to week a minimum of 4 days of the work week.
5. I will blog at least once every week.
6. I will follow my morning and evening routines every day of the week.
I will use this blog to record my progress on the resolutions. I hope that by the end of the month I will be back in my groove. I will write about what my morning and my evening routines are in another blog. I have a few more days to mentally prepare myself for my little (or big) experiment. I also plan to ponder these resolutions and make any tweaks to them before my launch day.
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