Last week seemed to be rather difficult. I struggled with my motivation for most everything. I wasn’t awesome at making the healthier choices when it came to what or how much I ate. I wasn’t awful either, but there were more of the not great days than there were good days. It didn’t help that we had another birthday in the family and I took Hubby out to celebrate his new job. I spent a lot of time wondering if my best option for getting through this period of time where I seem to be struggling for whatever reason was to just do my best to maintain and not try and push any farther. My choices for getting up and moving haven’t been all that great either. I can’t even begin to tell you the last time I did any kind of real exercise besides my nightly stretching before bed that I do to meet my commitment to moving daily. By the end of the week, I was feeling rather lackluster for trying to accomplish much of anything and was quite frustrated with myself. I had really expected to see another gain on the scale come Monday, but was absolutely stunned to see that I’d not only lost, but I’d lost 3 pounds. That weigh in put me at a total of 39 pounds that I’ve lost and down to a weight I haven’t seen since 2001. I still don’t really know how I managed to make that happen.
Weight loss or no, I’m having to really spend some time thinking about why I have chosen to make these commitments to myself. The better choices commitment is obvious. It is about becoming a healthier person and to feel better overall. The movement commitment of my daily challenge is supposed to help me with that, though this one seems to be my hardest one to consistently meet more than my minimum goal every day. The outdoor commitment falls into an entirely different area. It is supposed to be more of a spiritual goal, something to help me to reconnect and to appreciate all of the beauty and magic of the world around me. I am also struggling with this one. I’m not having too much of a problem of getting more than my minimum goal of 5 minutes a day, but I rarely get all 30 of my ideal goal. It also feels more like I’m just doing what I need to do to endure that time rather than finding something in it to enjoy and appreciate.
I knew it wouldn’t all be easy. If it were, I’d already be doing it all and wouldn’t need this challenge and commitment to myself. I am beginning to see what of all of this is really important to me when there are certain aspects that I become more frustrated with myself over for not accomplishing or feel really good about when I do meet those goals. I have a feeling it is going to be a very interesting year if I’m having all of this going on this early in the challenge.
Habits, good AND bad, take time to form. You’re working through the development of several habits, which will take time and effort. You might want to ease off on one of your choices – maybe reduce your outside time goals. Work on the physical health choices, then shift over to the less physical, more spiritual changes.
Thought I still think you’re doing a heck of a good job!
Posted by John Erickson | December 6, 2011, 6:15 pmI’m pretty determined to keep up all my commitments for now. Sometimes I just have to keep convincing myself that it really is worth it before I see the proof that it is. Kind of like the getting healthier and the better choices have been. You are ever the the cheerleader! Do you have an outfit to go with that?
Posted by tjfox | December 7, 2011, 6:55 pmWell, I suppose I could rent one for ya, but I’m not sure that weight loss due to repetitive barfing is really that good of an idea!
Though I have been told I have a well-above average keister.
Posted by John Erickson | December 7, 2011, 8:37 pmLol! I’m sure there are at least a few around the net that would pay good money to see that!
Posted by tjfox | December 7, 2011, 9:48 pm*hugs* You know, I almost said something about you being overly ambitious when you started all this. It’s hard enough to get into (or out of) one habit, let alone three!
Regardless, you are doing great sis! I’d guess that your metabolism has changed enough, and that you are making enough healthy eating choices, that unless you’re over-eating you will continue to lose weight without a ton of effort.
Posted by dragonfae | December 9, 2011, 11:27 pm