<p>Great on the 5 lbs. If I see them I will try not to pick them up! I don’t want them.
I was thinking about making something a habit today when I was headed up the last major hill of my walk. I wondered to myself when is this going to become a habit and not seem like a chore. I have not made it out everyday but I am making it a point of doing some form of exercise and getting cardio at least every other day with the goal of everyday becoming the “habit”.
One thing that sometimes derails me besides the weather is I am dressed in street clothes and shoes and I am lazy to change into exercise wear. If I can wear yoga pants or capris and running shoes all day it seems easier to get myself out and moving.
Mousegray- that is wonderful your D is getting to see the world but sad for Mom. I had all my kids home this winterbreak and it was sad to see the two big one’s go back to their lives.</p>
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<p>I added some Christmas songs to my exercise playlist and find that I am still enjoying them even in January – I am not especially religious in a church-dogma believing way but I find that the Christmas songs make me feel hopeful.</p>
<p>Uh, Novelisto, I think I found the 5 lbs! I’m not sure how because I’ve exercised more regularly since Jan 1 than ever before. It’s OK with me because I didn’t do this to lose weight but to put my life back into order in a larger sense. Really. I can’t quite figure out what’s going on though but I suspect it is either because 1. I have been eating out more lately, 2. I seem to be finally entering menopause or something where I am having perpetual food cravings, 3. I am “rewarding” myself for being so good about my new habit. It all boils down to the sad fact that I seem to be eating more. </p>
<p>However, I’m not too upset because there are other good changes, mostly that I feel better both physically and mentally. Being able to follow this routine is such a big deal for me that right now that trumps anything else.</p>
<p>You’ll stop being extra hungry. </p>
<p>I’m so glad this is working for you Mousegray. It makes me very happy to see somebody start to get their energy back.</p>
<p>I remember how exhausted I was when a friend said, “Just try working out for 90 days. If it doesn’t make you feel more energetic, you can stop.”</p>
<p>I thought, well that sounds like as good an idea as any I’ve heard, and she was right. </p>
<p>Sounds like its working that way for you, as well.</p>
<p>Once you start eating at home those pounds might fall off. It could be from all the salt. I had gained some weight over the holidays. With the kids home we ate out more. I think the salt adds water weight. Since the kids went back to school and I have been eating at home I dropped 5 of those lbs in a week. I never lose that quick so I am sure it was water weight. Still about 4 lbs over what I was in early December.</p>
<p>Mousegray – My mother says that body weight is just like any other matter – it has to go somewhere in the Universe! </p>
<p>There is no doubt that once you start working out, you get hungrier. It makes sense. You are burning energy so your body (which is programmed to eat in times of plenty which in the US is pretty much always) is going to demand more intake. It’s not ‘rewarding’ yourself; it’s a response to your early Man shaking the bars! So throw him/her something recognizable – an apple, some nuts, a hunk of mammoth…okay, so mammoth is hard to come by, though I understand scientists are working on it. But something basic – your inner Cro Magnon doesn’t need or would recognize a cupcake. Something with fiber and flavor, however…ugh! Good! </p>
<p>Mom60 – The average meal out is about 1000 calories, even without dessert or ‘extras’. The average home-cooked meal is around 400 calories. So even without salt as an issue, you might have lost a couple of pounds. We are also trying to eat out less often as we get very lazy about cooking – and have the bills to prove it!</p>
<p>Congratulations mousegray on being 2/3 of the way through your 21 day commitment. I just found this thread today. I like that you didn’t set any goals about how long you would exercise or what type of exercise you would do, only that you would get out the door and to the gym every morning. I agree that creating the space in your day is the most important part of your new habit.</p>
<p>I would like to join you in establishing a new habit. I walked yesterday, and thought about how I would like to make that an everyday habit. So, I will count yesterday as day 1 and commit to walk every day for 21 days. I’m not going to worry about how many minutes I do and at what speed, because I do tend to walk quickly once I get out the door. For me, the issue is just getting that walk started.</p>
<p>PS My daughter also left yesterday for a study abroad trip. She will have far less access to internet than usual, so I’m trying to prepare myself for reduced communication.</p>
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<p>The only internet access my daughter had for her entire semester abroad was when she had a few minutes free every couple days to stop at an internet cafe and check her e-mail. Everyone survived! And it made for a lot fresh stories when she was showing us the photos from her trip after her return.</p>
<p>One thing you can do that is cool is find out the exact location where she is living and use Google street view and Bing to explore her neighborhood and see a bit of her world.</p>
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<p>Great, 50isthenew40! (btw, totally in agreement with your screenname.) Good for you!
It’s so true that it works best to start with baby steps and set small goals. I have found it a great comfort that I only promised myself that I would walk in the door of the gym every morning. Believe me there were mornings that I told myself that I would do just that, sit on a bench for a few minutes, and leave. I have always ended up doing something even though on one occasion, I did just 5 minutes of elliptical, but that was mostly a time issue. I also like the flexibility of allowing myself a gentler routine some mornings if that’s what I feel like.</p>
<p>So, I’m looking forward to hearing from you, and good luck with your walks!</p>
<p>Well, I was truly shocked to find out that I had gained 4 pounds. So, Novelisto, one of your pounds is still unaccounted for — everyone, watch out! I think you and mom60 are right, it’s all those meals in restaurants. Now that D is gone, I’ll be back to simpler meals at home, so that should help. Eating out is a favorite family pastime, actually the only one we do together as a family on a regular basis nowadays since kids are grown, so while she was home I took every opportunity to indulge. I sure do miss her!</p>
<p>mom60, You had asked when this started to feel automatic. I think it was around Day 11. There was a significant difference in my thought process – instead of playing little mindgames and running my rationalization tape in my brain, I just got out of bed and pulled on my workout pants. I am realizing that the most important thing for me at this point is to create a situation that is as free of obstacles and is as easy as possible because I am very lazy, and very good at rationalizing. For me, the most important motivator is to get enough sleep the night before so I feel energized when i wake up. The two things (regulating my bedtime and exercising every morning) go hand-in-hand and reinforce each other in a positive way. Or at least that’s the plan. </p>
<p>I’ve been reading Switch, which has been a very good resource for new habit creation. What has worked best for me is to focus on one very clear, simple thing: walk in that gym door every morning. I tend to overthink everything which can lead to all kinds of self defeating patterns (decision paralysis, for example). “Ambiguity is the enemy” (from Switch). Also, “clarity dissolves resistance”. There’s all kinds of other good ideas too but I found these to be the most helpful. Oh, and also, “shrink the change”, meaning focus on small goals in order to have small victories. I really like that.</p>
<p>Thanks for the recommendation of the book Switch. I requested it from my library and should have it in a couple days. I listened to the interview with the authors on Amazon, and found it fascinating.</p>
<p>I do walk very frequently, but every day I seem to put off going until late in the afternoon, and then if something unexpected happens, it’s dark and I haven’t gotten out. I can be finished with my work and walking at 3:30 or so. That’s what I’d like to make automatic.</p>
<p>Mousegray, I’m amused by the differences between what you quote from Switch and what I found in it… I was most affected by the analogy of the rider and the elephant. How does the rational sensible rider persuade the emotional elephant to go along with the new plan? When I’m struggling with the changes I want to make, I remember that I’m trying to persuade an elephant to change her path. It makes me more forgiving of a single bad day or two. That’s been important, long-term, in not giving up on the changes I want to make (eating more sensibly, losing weight, exercising more, spending less time at the computer).</p>
<p>50isthenew40: might I suggest that you go walking at 3:30 every day, whether you’ve finished your work or not? That’s a small, concrete goal.</p>
<p>dmd77, I know, I really like that analogy of the rider and the elephant too. It’s just that my elephant right now is so huge and ungainly that I’ve had to try focusing on the rider for now. The problem is that I’m having trouble finding the right kind of “feeling” motivation to get the elephant moving. My elephant is sitting in a mudhole, on its giant rear end, & absolutely refuses to budge. So, my rider has had to get off the elephant and just get on with it. I’ve started to notice, however, that the elephant is getting curious about where the rider has gone!</p>
<p>Day 18. Four more to go!</p>
<p>You’re so close-congratulations!</p>
<p>I have 4 down, 17 to go.</p>
<p>dmd: great suggestion! My attainable goal for now is to get out every day, no matter the time, but I definitely agree that actually scheduling the walk for a particular time makes it a lot easier.</p>
<p>Thanks, 50isthenew40! The time has gone quickly and I’ve learned some things along the way. The simpler you can make it for yourself, the easier it is to stick with it. Clarity is the key for me. So, as dmd suggested, it’s much easier to say that you’ll go for a week at 3:30 than that you’ll go “when you get your work done”, which, if you don’t punch a clock can be too flexible a goal. There is too much room for those internal negotiations!</p>
<p>Day 21. Done. I can’t believe I went through with this. I really had to crack the whip quite a few mornings. The sloth in me was very persistent. (The Switch book forgot about the sloth, I think.) Funnily enough, I kept thinking about that Chinese Tiger mother (mostly because I kept hearing mentions of it all over the place), that maybe what I need now is a Chinese mom. I’ve coddled myself too long, let myself off the hook, etc. I’m not sure I’ll keep to this schedule but I’ve found that I actually like the treadmill, so I’ll be doing that regularly. Hope others have found their paths rewarding…</p>
<p>I was thinking about this thread this morning. I decided I needed to add some upper-body strength work to my regular exercise. When I talked to my husband about it, he suggested “why don’t you just do some pushups every morning before you get in the shower?” I think this will work–because I always take a shower. So it’s tying one habit to another. We’ll see.</p>
<p>Pushups are the nearly perfect exercise. That will definitely build upper body strength fast. Even better if you can figure out a way to do a pulling exercise, too – pulling yourself up to a chip up bar or a bar supported by two tall barstools or even a railing somewhere.</p>