When you wake up and get up at oh-dammit-thirty enough days in a row, after a while, the time is just a number and not a real form of measurement. You just turn off the alarm, and get up. For that, though, it helps to stop looking at what time it is. It’s totally a mental thing.
Every day this past week, my alarm went off at 4:30. The goal was to be out in the (fucking cold) garage and kicking off my yoga routine by about 5:00. In that respect, week one was a success. And by Friday morning, I was actually feeling pretty damn happy and good, in spite of not getting quite as much sleep.
What I did discover, though, is that I’m not as good at tracking many of the other things I’ve been wanting to track. Here’s a quick breakdown:
Wins
- I worked out each day of the week. Mostly just yoga and walks, so I want to round it out a little more with some more high intensity cardio and strength training, but it’s a great start.
- I only had fast(ish) food once, and that was when I went out to lunch with a friend. I say “ish” because I got a burrito, not like a burger and fries. In spite of that, it’s still better than my track record.
- I lost weight. In fact, I went from 167 to just under 161. I’m still waiting to see how much of this rebounds, or if it was just a whole bunch of water weight. Still, it sure helped keep me motivated to stay on track today.
Oops
- I drank four out of the five days. So I definitely have more room for improvement here, but on the positive side, the number of drinks was vastly less than I known for, and I didn’t buy any alcohol to keep in my house. They were all social situations, and I’m not usually quite that social. (It was a rough week, guys.)
- I failed to track happiness levels. I want to keep track of this during the day, but it’s weird to just check in with myself and think, ‘How happy am I right now?’ I think the next step will be to set an alarm on my phone for three times a day so that I can be sure to check in with myself more regularly on this.
- Food tracking needs help. I’m doing OK on this, but not awesome. I get distracted or don’t measure things out so I don’t know how much to track. But every day is a little better than the day before.
So with all of that in mind, I know there are a lot of other general measurements I started out with, but I’m not worried about tracking those as regularly as once a week. Things like measurements and body fat will happen much more sporadically. They take time to do and changes are slow.
I’ve also decided to give up journaling. One of the things I noticed over the past couple of months is that it’s a very negative purge, which sounds good in theory, but by the end of writing or reading any prior entries, I just feel sad and depressed all over again. It’s just too much time to dwell on all of the things that are making me unhappy. If there was a better balance of good and bad in my life, maybe it wouldn’t be so bad, but there are some things I’m struggling with right now that impact each and every day. I think it’s to my benefit to not give myself a way to better remember those negative moments in my life.
Today being Saturday, I was worried about how things would progress. When I’m not in my normal routine, it’s much, much easier for me to slip up. But I made really good choices today – choices that will support my efforts rather than sabotage them. I’m proud of that.
So all things considered, week one was a success.
Badass Is the New Skinny 