Well, it's not much of a shrink. I lost .8 of a pound since last week at this time. The only positive thing I can say about that is that it's better than gaining.
The second Mini Challenge which started Sunday was in recognition of the Sisterhood's participation in the half marathon on Saturday. These girls ran 13.1 miles and I applaud them! Wow! What an amazing accomplishment. But I digress. The Mini Challenge this week was for each of us to walk, run, bike, skip, jump, or at least move 13.1 miles this week. And we didn't even have to do it all at once.
Since one of the habits I am trying to form is exercising at least one half hour a day and I was up to 3 1/2 miles a day, the challenge wasn't really challenging for me. So I decided to move up to 4 miles a day and I've done that for TWO days.
Walking 4 miles a day is hard. I used to walk about 9 miles a day before I retired and that was hard but now 4 miles seems just as exhausting. I'm okay doing it but when I get home, I'm drained. And hungry? Or bored? Or just feel like I've got to keep doing something so I eat? I don't know. I do know that I have two time periods a day when my compulsive eating kicks in big time and, although my mind knows what to eat and when to stop, my body doesn't listen.
The first time period is late afternoon. We don't eat dinner until at least 8:30 or 9:00 in the evening. (Could that be part of the problem right there? If so, better talk to Mr. Right. That's the way he likes it.) So once he gets home from work, there's a time period where I'm tired and he's usually napping and I'm eating. I tell myself it's not so bad though because I eat good stuff - just too much of it. I know I could solve this down time dilemma by keeping busy, but you see, I'm too tired.
Which takes me to the other habit that I'm struggling with. Not enough sleep. It's a vicious circle. I get too tired, take a nap, stay up too late, and I'm too tired the next day so it all starts over again. I just need to power through a couple of days, go to bed early (which seems almost impossible in this house), and get on a good schedule. Oh and one of the things that helps me stay up so late is eating. I've said it before and I'll say it again, as long as I'm eating, I can stay awake. Double whammy right there! No sleep no will power. And then I do something like eat so that I can continue my no sleep cycle. WHAT is wrong with me?!!!
I think I can do this. I just need to want to do it bad enough to make myself do it. I'll try today. I don't want to spend my whole life fat and tired.
I think I'll make that my mantra.
Keep up the good work! It's great you are challenging yourself and upping your goal to 4 miles! I know working out with someone always helps me...any buddies you can recruit? If not, maybe it's time to update your playlist on your ipod or ipod like device! Stay strong!
ReplyDeleteGood for you for taking care of YOU. A loss is a loss. I know it is hard to not eat at night. And get the required sleep we need. Keep up the good work!
ReplyDeleteYou are doing great. Keep up the good work. Like I said in my email, if we ever get to start walking together, you are going to leave me in the dust.
ReplyDeleteWell as we always say, a loss is a loss and at least you're moving in the right direction and you know what you need to do. I think it sounds like you are doing pretty darn good, I know first hand just how hard it is to go to bed early at your house!!
ReplyDeleteWhy are bad habits SO STINKIN' HARD TO BREAK??!! Looks like you and me both have our work cut out for us! But we're persevering ~ that's definitely a step in the right direction! Next I guess would be to determine which habits we'd like to break and what we want to replace them with. (seems like I've been stuck on this step for far too long!)
ReplyDeleteYou are doing well, maybe just keep fruits and veggies in the house so if you snack, no biggie.
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