Week Five: Day 31

Week In Review 

A Year from Now, you may wish

You started Today.

-Karen Lamb

This week had started at a disadvantage.  First there was no week in review for week four, no beginning essay for week five.  There is no excuse for the delinquency, this writer just had so much to do and only accomplished half of what was planned.   There is no remorse on the missed deadlines.  This is a process this writer is trying to get through and nothing planned goes the way it is supposed to 100% of the time.  There must always be room for flexibility and missed deadlines.   There is also no exercise routine research that aspect of lifestyle change had paused for the time being.   In attempts to find other important factors to a successful lifestyle change. It is scheduled to be picked back up in week seven. 

On a positive note, eating habits are improving. We have been able to successfully include more fruits and veggies in diet, thank you food journal.  I was a little reluctant to keep it at the beginning because I know I can be inconsistent.  I put that fear aside to move forward and the results are better food choices.  The next step is to consciously drink enough water.  For week six, the goal is to look up natural cleansing techniques and measuring water intake.  I read on slenderkitchen.com that to calculate how much water to drink daily according to your weight; you multiply your weight by 2/3.  The result will be in ounces. 

Slender Kitchen was nice enough to put up a chart and according to them I need to drink 154 ounces which equals to 19.25 cups a day.  That is an impossible and daunting amount, so I am starting with the basic 8 cups for now which is 64 ounces.   It will be added in the food journal for accountability.    The benefits of water are numerous but these three I like the most are: 1) water helps hydrate skin, the largest organ of the body.   2) Water helps with kidney functions and maintains other bodily fluids.  3) Water energizes muscles.  These facts can be verified at WebMD and other health sites.  

So the path is made clear.  I don’t think there will be a Monday essay.  I am aiming for Wednesday and Friday.  

Week Four: Day 20

What happened to Week three? 

A year from Now you may wish

You had started Today

-Karen Lamb

It happened faster than the Flash.  Despite all my plans, week 3 came and went

without entries on anything.  The pro was I kept to the food journal to the best of my ability. Sunday is a great day to continue with lifestyle change.  Since starting my food journal I realized I haven’t eaten enough fruits and veggies.  I have the starch and proteins only but no growing edibles.  Sunday I added fruit to my meals and snack. There will be no con counter points on this essay.  This week’s plan is to try to change my relationship with food.  It takes up so much time in my life.

First consider the cooking process. Against all known nutrition experts, dinner is the most important meal of my day.   I spend so much time thinking and preparing the meat or the rice.   Vegetables are an afterthought or not cooked at all. This horrible habit is bringing all kinds problems into our lives.  I went plural because I am not just cooking for me, there is a family to include in all my meal plans.  In previous projects, I only thought about what I was eating and changing my lifestyle.  This project I am incorporating as many changes as the fam can take without revolt, trickery and sleight of hand method will be used as much as possible.  This is the new plan, instead of making the meat the main dish, I am thinking the vegetables should be the focus.  It is a method to trick myself to eat more green and growing things.    Another method is to plan breakfast as much as I plan dinner.   I didn’t realize how much time is being spent with food, it is the side effect of being a caregiver.  These are the things to tackle for this week.

The search for wellness and an exercise routine will continue.  One of the many goals of lifestyle change is to become a balanced triangle.  According to someone in the business of lifestyle change, exercise should be an enjoyed activity.  Full disclosure, have not been looking hard enough for a routine.  Since admitted here this too will be analyzed and changed so that the personal life can be improved.  The benefits of exercise are numerous.  There should be essay dedicated to exercise or at least how it should be included into the lifestyle. 

So what will be done in the fourth week? Changing our meals to more prep for veggies and fruits instead of meat and rice and continuing with the food journal work on the health triangle.  Research an exercise routine that will help with the physical triangle.  Find some articles for the mental triangle.   The triangle is part of the wellness/well-being philosophy.  There are all kinds, but for this week I am partial to this one.  See you on Friday.  

Week Two: day 10

Week in Review 

A year from Now, 

You may wish you started Today.

-Karen Lamb

Attempting to write an essay with a 300+ word count about health, wellness, lifestyle change and the project to carry them out 3x a week is actually too much for me right now.  Instead of working on me and my environment, I agonized over what I am not writing.  Overwhelming myself with information and methods for a better life.  So many people are doing it and so many have their reasons.  They are also successful which might annoy me a little bit.  Even when it had been a struggle for them, they have achieved their goals.  I am stuck in the process or sometimes stuck in the pre-process.  It kills the motivations.  So the plan for the weekend is to keep the enthusiasm and regulate.  What does that mean?  An unhealthy habit that is deeply embedded is lack of sleep.  Part of the change in lifestyle is to maintain the healthier sleep routine.  I may have mentioned it in an earlier post.  Decent hours of sleep continue to elude me.  Experts say 6 0r 8 hours are good for most adults.  However factors like obesity, work schedule and poor choices in general are causing people to lose sleep hours more and more each year.   I get thrown off my sleep schedule on the weekends, once it is ruined, I am messed up for the rest of week.  It takes days to get back to some semblance of normal.  This writer lives on three to four hours of sleep and constant fatigue.  There are poor food choices and lethargy. If analyze correctly one can see how they feed off each other like the cute-eats-cute logo.  Disturbing but still pleasant to look at.

The Week in review, so far it has been meh, slow and uneventful. There was no setbacks but there was also no progress either.  There is a food journal in the works, which will be extended to 3 weeks instead of two weeks recommended.  The idea of food journal has been introduced to me before.   Reasons include just becoming aware of what an individual puts into their mouths.  Another reason is the calorie counter, although we are not using that aspect of the food journal at this time.  The food journal is just a way to see how we handle food in general.  Awareness is part of the battle. Consistency is another part.  Sometime next week I would explain all that is included in the food journal, an honest analysis of what kind of foods I am taking into my body.

The search for a satisfying exercise routine will continue. A suggestion was made that whatever routine chosen it should be something the person likes to do, i.e. if you don’t like to run, don’t put it in your plan.  Having an exercise plan that doesn’t fit the person, is a road for ruin.  It becomes an obstacle, that later kills motivation.  Dancing is very helpful.  However we also have to consider target areas.  Personal obstacle is there is no desire to exercise at all.  This writer is an inside person, last year I tricked myself into walking for a cup of coffee and writing time.  It was the perfect scheme.  Daily exercise with writing time and coffee.  I liked that trick.  I want to continue easing into a positive lifestyle change.  This will also mean that I have to limit my time on certain activities.  This week is not looking forward to the weekend, this is probably due to the fatigue.  Time is precious and efficiency is so important. These are the goals for the next week and weekend.

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Week Two: day 8

A year from Now you may wish

You had started Today

-Karen Lamb

Not sure yet how to make this work.  The original topic of this post was something about the mind, I think. It was also supposed to be out on Monday. I didn’t get lost.  I just don’t have an angle.  I don’t feel I have the information that I would like to impart, didn’t have the time to research, understand and write about in an inspiring and entertaining fashion.   So this essay is late and random, very very random.   I call these post free write essays in reminiscence of my elementary school days.  The teacher would write a topic on the board and we, the students, will have 10-20 minutes in the period to write about it any way we wanted to.   Those last two sentences might seem a little off, but the teacher would also give a general idea.   The general idea for this essay is what I am doing to acquire lifestyle change.  What does this mean for you the reader?  You will be entertained and mildly inspired by a body of work with no plan.   The main idea will always be wellness, health and lifestyle change.

Usually I have a paragraph or two jotted down in composition book dedicated to the project.  The definition of wellness mini-project is still in the mixed up stages, still gathering information. Considering looking for a book on the subject.   Nothing has been decided yet. I scratched the first three paragraphs on Monday.  So is this still a free write essay?  That is something else to think about.

The 100 days project is well on its way and although most of what I am doing now should have been done on hiatus.  Research on the various subjects of each essay, so that I can write a better body of work.  Here is an example of what was done over the weekend.  I have written about establishing an exercise plan or routine over and over again, if not here on this blog then on another.  With the exception of walking 15 city blocks, last year for 3 months, I have not tried since.  Starting an exercise plan and routine was something that is very important to me.  It is a part of implementing a healthy lifestyle change.  I never actively looked into exercise plan the way I should have in the last two project that focused weight loss and lifestyle change.   I thought about doing the Insanity or Zuma programs but I can’t sit down and watch any of the routines to the end.  I get bored.

For a brief time I joined the online gym called Gym Box.  The most exercise I did on the gym box was a stretch class, before the 15 block walk, it was very beneficial. However I didn’t know where to start at the gym box, which class minus the stretch will be useful for me.  Many of the classes, I found had an equipment requirement needed to participate in the class, things I didn’t have money or time to buy.  Was that self-sabotage?   Should I have looked harder to no equipment classes, not sure?   I wonder if the Daily Burn is the same way, something else to research.  

Anyway to continue with this story.  I have recently become a fan of Youtube for various reason entertain, education and encouragement.   I did a search and came up with over several videos on how to start an exercise plan.  Of course these were targeted for weight loss instead of just being healthy.   I decided to continue with them anyway, because even though my main goal is life style change weight loss is the valuable side effect for me.

I watched the short videos by two women, not using their names now because I am attempting to see how effective their programs will be with me.  Do they clash or can I utilize parts of their programs to improve?

These are the wayward things going through my head right now.  Attempting to write it out in comprehensive story took more out of me than I would like.  I am still glad I made myself adhere to the 300+ word count rule.  Otherwise, my essay would be twenty useless words and most likely an apology. Instead of posting an essay 3x a week, it may have to be 2x a week, for my sanity.  I may increase the posting as I develop this skill.  

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Day one

A year from Now you may wish

You had started Today

-Karen Lamb

The Hundred Days Project Infinity

This picture has nothing to do with the fourth of July.  Independence Day is an important holiday for the nation but this is about my project launch.  Starting today July 01, 2015 and ending October 19^th, 2015, I will conscientiously choosing better lifestyle choices, in food, environment and other things. This is the next 100 days project.   A benefit to this lifestyle make-over is a more productive life, I want to spend my time efficiently.  I have other plans for the website blogs and my writing and my personal life.  Family is very important to me.  I wouldn’t have survived ‘til now without family.  To do right for me I have to do right by them. 

My household needs a lifestyle change and we need it like 2 years ago. I can’t change myself and expect others to follow.  We have to be an example to the young.  Studies show that when a family takes up the task of changing lifestyle through eating habits and etc.  It is better for the children overall.   Obesity is a major problem for people in “first world” nations.  It has hampered my family for generations, but it runs deeper than that.  Because even the supposed “skinny” relatives have effed-up lifestyle habits.  I want to be healthy.  I also need to be healthy.  Many of my post might sound like this in the next 100 days.  The method is repetitive.  If I keep typing and reminding myself of the purpose I should be able to reach a goal.  Plan to be reach your goals not the other way around. It worked with twitter and it worked as a writing exercise I gave myself last year.   On Twitter, I began requesting followers and giving reasons why.  I wanted to see how many I can get simply by asking for a whole year.  I mentioned my reasons and the campaign every time I asked for followers.  In a month I have over 200, many of them writers like myself.  Others were artist of a different medium.  I was impressed.  Of course I am not famous enough yet so that my following out numbers those I follow.  But that is okay.  I expect better when I begin publishing, my stories and the Red Mushroom. 

Last year I realized my word count was sickeningly low.  I had lost my creative will to write.  I partly blame listening to audiobooks but they were only 1 part of the problem; the other problem was that I just didn’t have anything to say or I thought there was nothing to say.   My solution was to force myself to write 300 words or more on each entry.  I stated my cause and reasons until it no longer became necessary.   I will be stating my desire to change the bad habits in my lifestyle until I see and report positive sustainable change and benefits.

Specifics

In the next three months and a half, I will be writing about lifestyle change.  The pros the cons.  I will be writing about changing eating habits, healthy choices, and exercise routines and where to find them.  I will do my utter best to trick myself into a better healthier lifestyle.  I will write about the mental, emotional and spiritual sides of these things.  How lifestyle, wellness, health and well-being go together to be an overall better human being.  I will do my best to be entertaining, informative and inspiring. 

Geronimo!