Sunday Motivation
Sunday Motivation
Sunday Motivation
Sunday Motivation
To the Fullest
You know? Some of us are just a little different from the norm – half a bubble off plumb, you might say. But whatever we are, I really believe we should strive to be the best version of that. Take this kid for instance – he plays the accordion. The accordion. Oom pah pah and all that. Can you imagine the jokes and teasing this young man has had to put up with?! And yet, he’s taken his half bubble off plumb and done this with it. So should we all!
Making a New Habit
How long does it really take to develop a new habit? How long will it take me to stop automatically reaching for chips and reach for carrot sticks instead? I’ve seen numbers ranging from as few as 21 days to as many as 66. What that indicates to me is that it really depends on the individual involved, their motivation and how entrenched the bad habit is.
Great.
For this particular individual, it clearly takes longer than two weeks, which is how long I really lasted in Project 40. I really wish I could just download a new habit straight into my brain à la The Matrix.(Although maybe without all the cord into the base of the skull thing. Yikes!) It seems that my wishes are ahead of technology; so, I will have to do this the old-fashioned way – I’m going to have to destroy the old habit by building a new one.
Yesterday was the start and while I didn’t win every battle, I won more than I lost. I ate the cup of chocolate pudding, but I didn’t eat the pizza. I didn’t stop at a convenience store or take money for the vending machines at work – although I could still hear the Zapp’s Voodoo chips mocking me. I made better choices with my salads and roasted vegetables. Was it fun?
Um, no.
But, like our parents told us when we were growing up: not everything is fun. Sometimes, you just have to put on your big girl panties and get the job done. Other times, you have to get the job done so that you can fit back into your big girl panties!
Overall, I’ll put yesterday in the Win column since I stayed away from candy bars, chips and white bread. I ate some corn bread that I made, but I limited how much I ate.
Day One is in the books for establishing a new habit …. now, on to Day Two!
Just Call Me Duncan
I don’t mean this fictional Scottish stud … 
… or this very real hockey stud.
I mean this complete anti-stud … 
Yep. I’m a yo-yo.
I’ve allowed life circumstances – houseguests, finances, family, pet health, job stresses and relationship issues – to knock me off my game. As a result, Project 40 has become Project 45. Sigh.
You’ve been there with me, though, right? We lose 10, we gain 15. We beat ourselves up about it and gain two more. A couple of weeks ago, my sister told me that my niece could use a little pep talk. She was down on herself about having regained seven of the pounds that she’d lost. I had to confess to my sister that I wasn’t the one to give a pep talk since I’d had small bag of Chips Ahoy and four Butterfinger cups for breakfast. (I truly wish that were an exaggeration. It’s not.) I have eaten anything and everything in sight for the past few weeks.
As I’ve told you before, I’m emotional, binge eater. I’m also a compulsive eater. I can’t stand for there to be a half-finished bag or carton of something. I feel genuinely compelled to finish it…and I have the waist to prove it. I’ve had a temporary roommate who is thin and can eat anything he likes. He also can eat just a few of something and stop. I can do neither as is evidenced by the empty chocolate Donnette bag (okay, bags) in my trash can.
LoseIt! (the tracking program I use) measures a week from Monday to Sunday. I’m not waiting until Monday to get back on track – I started this morning. Yesterday, I prepared my veggies for the week and threw out all of the Frankenfoods that my roomie has enjoyed. (Sorry, Kent! You’re going to have to keep that stuff in your car or something.)
A woman, I will never be Duncan MacLeod or Duncan Keith; however, I’m taking control again so that someday soon, I will be this Duncan…
A Bump in the Road
Well, hmmmm. Last week didn’t go as smoothly as the first one. In fact, when I weighed yesterday morning, the scales showed a six pound gain. As they say in Britain, “I say!” As we say in the Doty house, “Yikes!” However, I don’t believe that was six pounds of fat gained any more than I believe it was ten pounds of fat lost that first week.
Last week was an odd one with my dad’s surgery on Thursday and my emotional and exhaustion fueled eating the rest of the week. If you look at my Project 40 worksheets for last week, you’ll notice some days when I did fine, but more days when I blew my calorie budget with all the subtlety of a Howitzer.
The original plan was to modify food in Week One. Done. Then, I was to add cardio in Week Two and strength training in Week Three. Weeeeeelllllllll……………….
Rather than push ahead and add a third modification when I didn’t get the second one down, I’m going to stick with getting that second one in place this week. Yesterday, I weeded flower beds for four hours (and it was serious weeding, not messing around). The program said that I burned 1100 or so calories. I don’t know about that, but I know that I was hot and exhausted when I finished. I did not do any structured cardio in addition to the weeding. Today, I will be heading to the gym for either the recumbent bike or the elliptical. I’ll see when I get there.
And, I’ll see you tomorrow. On a new day, with a renewed start.
Observations From the Waiting Room
I did no cardio yesterday. Yesterday was just an endurance test in existing.
I left work at midnight Thursday morning and left town at 0200 to drive to Memphis to meet my father and sister at the hospital where my father was to undergo excision of a malignant melanoma. We did the day surgery admissions song and dance from about 0715 to around 1000 when they finally took him back to surgery. My sister Chele and I were both starving so we hit the cafeteria before moving to the waiting room where a caught a few Zzzzzs. The surgery went fine and he was sprung at around 1730. Stopping for dinner and gasoline put me home at somewhere around 2240 – one tired human. Sleep, however, eluded me until after 0100. I was awake again at 0330. Oh, for pity’s sake!
Fit cardio in there? HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!
Didn’t happen and, frankly, it’s probably not going to happen today, either.
I tell you all of that to set the stage for these observations:
- (This one might tick some of you off) Obese doctors and nurses carry about the same amount of authority with me as a nun does as a sex education teacher.
- Hospital vending machines should offer healthier choices.
- Hospital CAFETERIAS should offer healthier choices!
- Waiting room chairs are not designed to sleep in.
- As a society we need to regain respect for each other in shared areas, i.e. no loud conversations (either in person or on phones), nail clipping or, um, organ adjustments in public spaces.
- For the little amount of quality content available, we have too many ways to see it with televisions every. where.
- It’s okay to not have background music or television noise all the time.
- Fatigue makes you REALLY hungry for any calorie dense thing in the world.
- Apples do really perk you up when you’re tired.
- If you drink a cup of caffeinated coffee after 11 months of abstinence from caffeinated beverages, it will keep you awake to finish your drive home. And then some.
- And, finally, this math equation:
(1)sister + (1)live trap + (1)feral kitty colony = (1)adorable kitten for me to socialize, foster and rehome.
Dad’s surgery went well. We’ll get the node biopsies back in about 10 days. Positive thoughts and prayers on his behalf are appreciated. As I’ve told you many times, I adore that man. We all do.
And, hey! Anybody want a kitten?
The Daily Doty 