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.

Please Leave a Comment 

Motivation

The online services and apps I mention are not endorsements.

I am only talking about them as they affect me.

Despite my grand declarations I still haven’t gotten the kinks out of the plan yet. So we are still on blocks.  This is one of the many problems of lifestyle change.   One problem is the scheduling.  When to do what and how? Another problem for me is the chronicling here on this blog.  I am attempting to write and post daily so when project 20 starts officially I will be in the habit. This is process is frustrating because I am also attempting to keep to a word count challenge.  I have been able to successfully post two entries, one that was timed.  I am especially happy about that one, because it give me time to work.  I always knew that a post could be scheduled but I just didn’t us the app.  I don’t have any excuse except I didn’t think I would ever need it.   There is a lesson in that, I haven’t found it yet but maybe I will later, stay tuned for that post.

I typed that I will be joining the daily challenge (DC) by MeYou health and the Gym Box.   In the daily challenge I am part of the balanced diet track; for the next month or 28 challenges will be about healthy food choices.   I just realized I typed the hated d-word. I don’t know any other word to explain what I will be doing with my food.  I not planning on only losing weight although that is a part of the lifestyle change.  I am thinking about my overall well-being.  That means my body, my mind, my spirit, my family, my environment; all these aspects that makes up my life.  All these aspects affect me for good and bad. I make decision good and bad because of these aspects.  So I need to approach each one at a given time. DC gives me fun, simple challenges and the sense of accomplishment once achieved.  A positive action to bolster the day.

I joined the Gym Box for convenience. I don’t have time or money for a gym and I know that I need to add exercise into my lifestyle change.  The Gym Box offers the exercise classes along with an exercise routine plan that is easy to follow.  All these actions are getting four week-trial.  I don’t know what will work and what won’t; putting out the effort is important.  I know I have the bad habit of being a quitter.  I am attempting to curb that.  I know it won’t be easy.   That leads up to my title, Motivation. 

The Bing dictionary defines motivation in these terms: 

•  The  act of giving somebody a reason or incentive to do something
•  ·         A feeling of enthusiasm, interest, or commitment that makes somebody want to do something, or something that causes such a feeling

I agree with both of them.  I struggle with motivation all the time and will be looking for ways to keep it up.  Anything to keep me from copying that top picture.  One of my favorites because it clearly describes me.  It is one of the many factors that has my life in the downward spiral.  Now  I think I am in what some people may call a holding pattern.  I believe that if I keep  talking and typing about these changes and mini epiphanies I will be able to achieve a positive lifestyle change.  

Please Leave a Comment

Daily Dose

This is the best head shot I have ever taken.  It was done with one of my cheapest phones.  I have been happy with it like forever.  The point of this post is to successfully type 300+ words every day for the next 100 days.  It has become a part of the yearly personal challenge started in November 2014 and the launch of the 100 days project XX(20);  Part of the plan is to chronicle the changes.  Not quite sure if this the correct number, but I like it.  It is even and pretty close since I came up with the idea of using the 100 days.  Everything takes a plan, so I will type what I will be doing.  I have mentioned them before, the daily challenge service by Me You Health.   The company is established in Boston MA.  They have been encouraging people to live, achieve and maintain heathier more fulfilled lives since 2009.  A relative got me hooked through Facebook and for about six months, I was really good at keeping up with the various healthy challenges.  But somewhere I fell off the bandwagon. 

I decided to get back on the wagon with Daily Challenge and Me You Health without Facebook.  I have three reasons, first the challenges are simple; second they have good information; third it is generally fun.  I will also be adding an exercise routine from The Gym Box with Roku.  I have super big TV; I use it mercilessly to watch a whole season of television via Netflix, Hulu and Crackle.   I have been threatening myself for months now about joining the Gym Box.  Instead of just doing the short half routines they have up to entice people into becoming a paying member.    It is ten dollars a month.  I could do worse.  I had an actual gym membership for 8 months and I paid every month and never attended the gym ever.  That was very stupid of me and a colossal waste of money.  With Gym Box I can practice an exercise routine from the convenience of my own home.  Tomorrow I will be typing about motivation.  I am sensing that motivation will be an issue for me.  So I need to face it head on. I know I have other issues I will have to confront.  I will type more about this later. 

Please Leave a Comment!

17

This just in.  I learned some other woman is using the  100 days model.  She is bolder than me.  She has a work out video and it has gone viral.  I have never seen them but that is what Yahoo said.  I don't know how I feel about it.  If she is successful in her efforts, I should be happy but I think I will be jealous.  She is achieving in something I am having trouble with for years.  How to maintain the 100 days.

Last month,  I decided to work on eating a 1600 calorie day meal plan.  I failed miserably when at 7:30am, January 9, 2014, 7 jelly-top, cream-filled cookies made their way to my stomach.  The British call them jammie dodgers.  Yes, I am blaming the food b/c they can't talk back.  2 of those bad boys are 140 calories.  So before I had my morning coffee, I  was down 490 calories.  This has been a dilemma for me.
 This week I was seduced by the Tex/Mex dish known as haystacks.  This dish can be made in a variety of ways. However, I went the non-healthy route, using ground turkey, regular tortilla chips and whole milk sour cream and store-bought guacamole.  I haven't counted the calories.  I know that they are horrendous.

1600 calories are hard for me.  I know I have to work to get the body  I want.  I am just reluctant about that work.  I am so frustrated about my lack of motivation.  This week coming is all about motivation.  I lack motivation and I don't think about the important tasks I have to do to achieve my overall goals.  In fact, this is Wednesday and the rest of this week will be about motivation as well.   I also owe this blog to another post.  I want to complain about my work or the lack of it. But won't do it today.  Distractions.