Motivation:
"Believe in yourself! Have faith in your abilities!
Without a humble but reasonable confidence in your own powers
you cannot be successful or happy."
~Norman Vincent Peale
Without a humble but reasonable confidence in your own powers
you cannot be successful or happy."
~Norman Vincent Peale
Diary:
The zoo trip to Omaha Doorly Zoo was a blast. We walked and walked and walked and walked - I looked on gmaps pedometer site, and ok, it was only 2 miles, but it seemed like more than that.
We saw many different animals. I think this was my favorite zoo so far, and would recommend it to anyone. I liked the penguin and the gorillas. They have a great shark exhibit, and we were there during feeding time. The kids liked the polar bears, and why not! They were great.
Family reunions can be a stressful event, and I am really not sure why. I can say personally that I go into reunions realizing that I am (still) the biggest (fattest) person in the group, and since there are a lot of group pictures and snapshots involved with family gatherings, this size factor becomes more evident. Also, for some reason, food events are a historic family reunion activity, which is fine unless you are actively pursuing weight loss. It is hard to bow out of the event, because you appear either an outcast or anti-social to the family. In any other group, I could just say, "well, I am on a diet, so I am going to go over here for a while", and am left alone. This somehow doesn't work with people you love and love you. "What is that?", "Why are you eating xxx?" and other questions are common with people who want to be a part of your life and care. Sometimes this can result in a clash of some people trying to be helpful while others feeling like someone is getting too close for too long. "Group" is the word of the day, so personal desires need to be flexible. I realize this now, but also realize that I am better as a lone ranger and appreciate my time to think and room to breathe.
I went in to the gathering thinking "I should be honored and respected for the progress I have made in my personal and professional goals." I left realizing that all my goals are really small compared to the things that my other family members are doing to raise children, preparing for first days at school, building businesses, toiling the land, and are active in community relationships, and are losing weight and staying healthy on top of it. After my summer zoo trip with a family of achievers, I drove home content with the knowledge that I come from "hearty stock" and am not alone in having lots of projects to work on and goals to achieve.
5K Training for Week 5 out of 9
This week do the following.
For those planning on running the 5K:
- Sunday = Rest
- Monday = Brisk five-minute warmup walk
• Jog 1/2 mile (or 5 minutes)
• Walk 1/4 mile (or 3 minutes)
• Jog 1/2 mile (or 5 minutes)
• Walk 1/4 mile (or 3 minutes)
• Jog 1/2 mile (or 5 minutes)
Five-minute walking cooldown - Tuesday = Five-minute walking warmup
Elliptical workout - 25 min
Five-minute walking cooldown - Wednesday = Brisk five-minute warmup walk
• Jog 3/4 mile (or 8 minutes)
• Walk 1/2 mile (or 5 minutes)
• Jog 3/4 mile (or 8 minutes)
Five-minute walking cooldown - Thursday = Five-minute walking warmup
Elliptical workout - 25 min
Five-minute walking cooldown - Friday = Five-minute walking warmup
Elliptical workout - 25 min
Five-minute walking cooldown - Saturday = Brisk five-minute warmup walk
Jog 2 miles (or 20 minutes) without walking
Five-minute walking cooldown - Sunday = Rest - go to church or spend time with your family and friends. Have fun.
For those planning on walking the 5K:
- Monday = Rest or walk easy
- Tuesday = 20 minute brisk walk
- Wednesday = Rest or walk easy
- Thursday = 20 minute brisk walk
- Friday = Rest or walk easy
- Saturday = Easy walk for 2.25 miles
- Sunday = Alternate 5 minutes of brisk walk & 5 minutes of easy walk for a total of 60 minutes.
Notes:
#Diet#
It has been about 3 weeks since I did a measurement update, so here it is. See the sidebar for updated information.
I am sort of upset about the lack of weight loss this month, but it has been stressful month. The following has probably been affecting my journey:
- Started aggressive 5K training, running/walking over 2 miles a day - my body may be storing extra for energy on these runs. This may change once my body catches up with the fact that this is a planned, healthy event.
- Stress at work and at home. I haven't been getting things done as easily as I have in other months, and the projects at both work and home are somewhat boring, mundane, and repetitive.. I need some creative output. I need to paint a room, or finish a podcast interview or have some hot affair with a goddess, something, anything that will be a distraction from the normal.
- Trips and outside events. Summer baseball trips, family reunions, evenings at bars and restaurants, etc, have been part of summer. I haven't been off my plan during these events, but on this zoo trip we did eat at Famous Dave's BBQ, and I broke down and ate 1/3 rack of naked Pork Ribs! They were delicious, and I am glad I ate them, fully realizing that this would affect my weight loss schedule. If I would have thought about it further, I would have just got the salad and a grilled salmon, but, alas, what can you do? Oh well...
#Exercise#
So, for exercise I have been following the 5K training program. I can walk (with some intermittent jogging) a full 3 miles at this point in time, so I am good to go. Next weekend (labor day weekend), I am going to participate in a 5K event in Nebraska. It is the first, and technically I am planning on doing the training workout for the event: (Refer to the Saturday workout above: Brisk five-minute warmup walk, Jog 2 miles without walking, Five-minute walking cooldown) If I haven't gone 3 miles, which I don't expect, then I will walk the last mile at an easy pace.
I don't feel like it is time to overdo it, and I don't want to get off the already planned schedule. Running 2 miles straight without walking is going to be a task in itself, and I will be pretty proud if I can make this milestone. I won't win the 5K race, but that really isn't the point.
#Fine Art#
As I mentioned, there is not much creativity going on this month. Everything has been about productivity and progress, which is ok, but I will soon start to decline if I don't get any creative output.
#Geek#
Well, I am rebuilding a laptop for a friend of mine. I am going to replace the hd and restore the OS. I have been playing with social networking tools online and that is pretty cool. I don't know what the future is for these, but it is good for me to research and be on top of them.
#Money#
With a lot of travel, my savings plans have sort of been in a waiting pattern. I spent some money on brakes for my car, and need new tires for the car, so have to plan for this expense. I would like new glasses, but will wait on this as well. I have a list of gadgets and fun things I would like, but also, I will wait until financially ready. I am still putting money into savings, but with the summer events and bills, this savings account has been in flux.
However, I realize now the importance of this regular savings account. By having this supply of ready funds, I am not making progress on the debt payments, but I also am not stressing out and pulling my hair when an emergency comes up (like the brakes on my car). Instead of having a fiduciary panic attach, I adjust my savings plan momentarily, then go back to the regular schedule. (Why didn't I do this years ago? This would have been a life-saver for me...) So, while I am not making progress, I am not moving backwards either. (I had a huge moment of mature clarity there.)
#Personal#
I have been S L O W L Y decluttering my home to get rid of the "fat clothes" that I wore for the last 10+ years. It has been an interesting process, as I have a lot of big clothes that weigh a lot in total. I have been bagging and tagging them getting them ready to move a) downstairs, then b) to the garage, going to c) the car, and eventually d) donate to goodwill or throw out.
I am finding that this process is bringing up lots of memories, is a good way for me to stay motivated that I am getting these clothes out of my life so I cannot go back, and it is a stress-relieving process. I find that when I wake up to a room that has been decluttered, there is something peaceful that is associated with this. It is nice to drive home and put my car in a clean, organized garage. This is true with other spaces. At work, I feel more creative and open to thought if my desk and area is organized and the current tasks/projects are the only thing on my desk. This keeps focus and attention to help get other things done.
Don't take my word for it. I regularly read a blog all about De-cluttering tips and hints. Today's blog is about organizing clothes, so I will reread this to help me with my current home project.
This week, I have had now many conversations about decluttering. One of my friends told me that Sunday's St. Paul paper had an article about this subject.
I had a couple of conversations about the story in last weeks post, and another example of paying attention to labels. One person I spoke with warned about the amount of calories and fat in a salad dressing packet at McDonalds. The comment was that the same salad dressing (some actor's name??) can be bought in the store, and the calories and fat are much less, but in the fancy packages at McD's, the calories and fat is cranked up.
I don't know, can't confirm this fact, because I haven't stepped foot in a McDonalds all year. I wouldn't have a clue what McDonalds does or is planning on doing. I find them to be irrelevant - when I think of a good place to eat, that restaurant, and it's ilk don't even come up in my mind. I just recommend staying away from fast food shops altogether.
more later,
Chazz
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