Tuesday, July 23, 2013

The Queen of Starting Over

I started this blog three years ago with vague notions of regular entries, a large audience I would regale with my humorous attempts at getting off of my couch and into better shape, and down the line, a book deal like that 'sh*t my dad says' guy. I'm a writer, so at the very least I thought I could purge some demons, pass along useful information about food and exercise, and motivate myself to follow through with this adventure/project/bloody crazy idea.

Turns out keeping up with a blog is easier to think about than it is to do. I've logged thirteen entries in three years. I love each of my twelve followers, but yeah...twelve. The good news is that I weigh 12 lbs. less than I did in May 2010. The less than good news is I'm still sadly, woefully out of shape. Turns out a lot of things are easier to think about than do. So what's a princess to do?

For starters, I don't have a couch anymore. It was kind of a happy accident involving some cats and a dog and well, there are some stains you can't come back from. Then, like always, I started with a decision: my health is important to me and I am going make it a priority. I want energy to keep up with my life. I want to be around for as many years as I can, and more than just be around, I want to enjoy those years. I want my daughter to have a woman in her life she can emulate and be proud of.

So, three frogs are sitting on a log and 1 decides to jump off...how many are left on the log? The answer's three. Decisions don't go far without action. So here's my decision in action:

1. I bought kale, blueberries, almonds, avocados, coconut oil, bananas, and quinoa because good-for-you can too be yummy.
2. I learned how to make homemade guacamole with Greek yogurt and hummus with cumin.
3. I upped my water intake and started adding fresh lemon slices to my water when I'm home.
4. I dusted off the scale and put it in my bathroom. All I know now is the poundage: 142. Not obese, but my baseline hovers around 125 when I'm exercising regularly and not eating Marie Callendar's dutch apple pie every night. I'll be adding the rest of my measurements in the next post, so I'll know where I'm at with those too.
5. I  pre-registered for a local 5k (yay Bad Prom Run!) in November. I found a workout buddy and we start training together next month when she gets back from New York. We want to run the whole thing, averaging ten minutes per mile. I started training solo with a little coaching from the hubster in the meantime. I found a handy 'running for beginners' chart. It's week one. I'm walking fast for 4 mins, followed by 1 min. of slow walking, repeating that 4 times, for a total of 20 minutes. Even a couch potato can walk for 20 minutes. It's day three and I'm sore all over. Like, can barely move, bend, sit, or stand sore. But being sore is okay--I have a GOAL to work toward. It's worth all of the pain.
6. I put myself on a strict sleep schedule--at least 7 hours of sleep every 24 hours. I have insomnia so if I can't sleep at night, then I get all my next-day stuff done and sleep when the sun comes up. Gotta work with what ya' got.
7. I'm keeping a success journal, and my health figures prominently in my goals, instead of hovering in the 'yeah, maybe someday' category.

So I failed in 2010. And in 2011. 2012 wasn't much better and 2013 is more than halfway over. I've decided I don't care how many times I've failed, I will not give up on myself. Fall seven times, stand up eight. I heard a motivational speaker mention that the greatest baseball players in the world fail at hitting 70% of the time. They have a 30% success rate and that gets them to the Hall of Fame! I can rise to those odds. I am the Queen of Starting Over, after all.

2 comments:

  1. "fall seven, stand up eight" Yes! I'm gonna hold onto that one!

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