No?
Allow me to list the things I like to do less than wake up early:
- Watch horror movies
- Run/jog
- Deprive myself of chocolate
- Clean up vomit
- Litter
- Pick the shredded cheese out of a salad when I clearly told the server, "No cheese, please."
Anyway, it is with that context that I confess: I did not get up this morning to get on the treadmill.
The kids were off from school for some reason, so we didn't have to get up to get them ready, and I decided to take advantage of the extra few minutes of quiet, warmth and comfy-ness. I can't even say I overslept. I was semi-awake but made a conscious decision to snooze. I made it exactly one day. I suck at follow-through, yo. Especially at 6 a.m..
But OK - I am determined to do something to make up for it.
I just finished my lunch (a salad with tuna, and a very small cup of tomato soup. Not a French fry or a brownie in sight) and now I am going to go for a little walk around our building. It's not the same as power-walking on the treadmill, with my heart rate pumping. But it's something.
(Hmmm. Maybe I'll stop at the gas station on the corner and buy a pack of peanut chews. No! NO! Nooooooo!)
2 comments:
Ha ha. :) actually I was going to mention in my comment in your last post that I exercise at night, after putting kids to bed and before dinner. It is a good time slot. I find that I need to decompress anyways (though I prefer mindless tv or Facebook). But after a month or so, I realize exercise csn be a decompressor for me. (Not relaxer or stress reliever...though it is for my husband...perhaps with time, it mat happen). Try that?
One other comment - According to research into habits, it takes 30 days to form if you do it every day. So instead of focusing on the rest of your life, a whole year, or even the rest of this year, make a goal thst you will do this for yourself for 1 month and like all marriages/relationships, take it one day at a time. Don't beat yourself up if you have a bad day (food or exercise wise). However try very very hard to maintain that upward trajectory towards your goal. Think of it as climbing a mountain. One day is like a pause. Two day rest is like going backwards a bit. But you can always look back to see how far you've come. Just don't let yourself slide back to the beginning. So after a bad day (or two), pick yourself up and get hoing again. Don't use it as an excuse to stop sll together and jndo all the work uou've done. Trust me, if you need cheat days, then take it. (However don't use your cheat day to go all out and self indulge.) What I find is that over time, the length of time between your cheat days get longer and longer, and the magnitude of the cheat event gets less and less. And gradually it becomes habit. Trust me, only a robot or a super inhuman being will be able to say, I give up sugar and junk food and go cold turkey. But over time, you can gradually wean yourself off a bad habit or wean yourself on to a good habit. It may take a lot of effort for you to establish a new habit like exercise, but once it's a habit, it's effortless. Just becomes a part of you. That's why breaking bad habits is hard. So go easy on yourself. Take the long term view. But for now, focus only on the next month, the next week, or just one day -- whatever it takes to get you through. Give yourself cheat days when you need them. But get back on track. Over time, it will get easier (just like with kids/twins ..over time, you develop strategies to get through the day and it gets easier each day, but you'll still have a bad day here and there).
Tam is my hero.
I don't have to get up too early, and I work from home most of the time within 15 feet of a fancy elliptical trainer, a treadmill, and free weights...and yet, do you ever hear me talk about my exercise habits? No. Because I have none. I am impressed that you made it up to exercise one day. I love Tam's idea to commit to 30 days. And if it makes any difference, I'm rooting you on. If you can do that, surely my butt can find my way over to the treadmill 2 seconds from my desk.
So really, what I'm saying is that my health depends on yours. (Do you find guilt trips inspirational?)
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