September has been transformed to Steptember for this little duck. What does Steptember mean? A step in the right direction, that's what it means. No grand plans. No grand promises. No restrictions. Just guidelines. Small steps every day in the right direction. For 30 days. Not too hard, right? Fuck that. It's gonna be bloody hard. What are my guidelines?
- Exercise. 10,000 steps a day. I don't care how, I don't care when, but by midnight each night, I will have 10,000 steps.
- Food. I'm not saying what I'm not going to eat, because my past has shown that when I restrict, I binge. So I'm making informed decisions this month - owning my choices and standing behind them.
- Mondays. Mondays are hard. I have 8 hours of work followed by an hour commute, followed by 6 hours of cali, then an hour's drive home. I don't have time for a proper dinner, and I ALWAYS make bad choices. I don't know what the solution is, but I need to work something out...
And that's it!
Saturday 31 August 2013
Saturday 24 August 2013
The last 10 days... It's been 10 days?
I can't believe it's been 10 days since I last posted. What's happened in the last 10 days? Not a lot, to be honest. I've been trying to get my 10,000 steps each day, and have been quite successful. On average, I'm over the 10,000 with a couple of 12-15,000 days thrown in to balance out the quiet days.
I'm back in my old job, which means less stress, and less commitment. It also means less work, which is very boring now that I'm back. I have dropped many a hint to my superiors about how much I loved the work I was doing, and how I am very willing to do whatever it takes to secure a position (or even casual tasks) that would involve me using my brain for more than 20 minutes each day. I may have even used those words, so less of a hint and more of a plea... but hopefully it'll resonate with someone, and they'll take pity on me and give me some cool shit to do.
Anyway, I've realised that I am kind of wasting my time there, but I feel like I can't resign due to the wedding/honeymoon extravaganza and the impending baby boom not being friendly to a prospective employer. I can stick it out for a year or so, if I know there is light at the end of the tunnel (babies!!) and the possibility of a few less mind-numbing tasks in the meantime.
Health-wise, I'm turning over a new page. We bought a new set of scales, I'm weighing in on Monday. I'm switching my weigh-in day from Wednesday to Monday (because I LOVE to use the weekend as an excuse that I have two days left before weigh-in and any damage caused can be undone or made up for in two days) and have made a rash commitment at work to not buy my lunch AT ALL during the months of September and October, beginning Monday. There's a bonus week of August thrown in there, but I couldn't let myself get away with lunch out every day next week. My weight has been slowly creeping up for the past month or so, only a few hundred grams at a time... but those few hundred grams add up to kilos in no time.
I've been loving my walks along the beachfront near work each morning, P!nk blaring in my ears, wind blowing in my face, smiling at all the fit people jogging along and trying not to look scared of the dogs that are being walked along the same path. The plan for the next few weeks is to continue walking along the beach (6.5kms, just over an hour) every morning, and then hit the gym in the evenings a couple of times a week. Coming into spring and summer the days will be longer, and I'll be able to walk around the streets here again at night which I'm looking forward to. It's very easy to press the stop button on the treadmill, but not so easy to stop walking on the street. I mean, I could stop, but I'd be no closer to home and I'd be sitting in the gutter...
... and we don't want to be sitting in the gutter now, do we?
I'm back in my old job, which means less stress, and less commitment. It also means less work, which is very boring now that I'm back. I have dropped many a hint to my superiors about how much I loved the work I was doing, and how I am very willing to do whatever it takes to secure a position (or even casual tasks) that would involve me using my brain for more than 20 minutes each day. I may have even used those words, so less of a hint and more of a plea... but hopefully it'll resonate with someone, and they'll take pity on me and give me some cool shit to do.
Anyway, I've realised that I am kind of wasting my time there, but I feel like I can't resign due to the wedding/honeymoon extravaganza and the impending baby boom not being friendly to a prospective employer. I can stick it out for a year or so, if I know there is light at the end of the tunnel (babies!!) and the possibility of a few less mind-numbing tasks in the meantime.
Health-wise, I'm turning over a new page. We bought a new set of scales, I'm weighing in on Monday. I'm switching my weigh-in day from Wednesday to Monday (because I LOVE to use the weekend as an excuse that I have two days left before weigh-in and any damage caused can be undone or made up for in two days) and have made a rash commitment at work to not buy my lunch AT ALL during the months of September and October, beginning Monday. There's a bonus week of August thrown in there, but I couldn't let myself get away with lunch out every day next week. My weight has been slowly creeping up for the past month or so, only a few hundred grams at a time... but those few hundred grams add up to kilos in no time.
I've been loving my walks along the beachfront near work each morning, P!nk blaring in my ears, wind blowing in my face, smiling at all the fit people jogging along and trying not to look scared of the dogs that are being walked along the same path. The plan for the next few weeks is to continue walking along the beach (6.5kms, just over an hour) every morning, and then hit the gym in the evenings a couple of times a week. Coming into spring and summer the days will be longer, and I'll be able to walk around the streets here again at night which I'm looking forward to. It's very easy to press the stop button on the treadmill, but not so easy to stop walking on the street. I mean, I could stop, but I'd be no closer to home and I'd be sitting in the gutter...
... and we don't want to be sitting in the gutter now, do we?
Thursday 15 August 2013
It's hard to be good...
... and I'm not doing it very well. I'm awesome at exercising. My average daily step count is on the rise, but my calorie count is too. Grr... I'm making terrible choices, and I can't explain why. I know exactly what I'm doing, and deep down I don't WANT to do it, but I just can't seem to break my bad habits. I don't want it badly enough to not do it.
I know I don't have many regular readers... but please... give me your top tip?
I know I don't have many regular readers... but please... give me your top tip?
Thursday 8 August 2013
So far so good. Maybe??
Every morning this week, I've got up early, put on my gym clothes, and headed for the treadmill. I've walked for an hour. Then I've headed home, showered, changed, and gone to work. 4 mornings in a row. That HAS to be a record.
Unfortunately, I've also eaten badly, and the walking hasn't cancelled it out. I HAVE, however, been having a visit from old Mrs Monthly - she's hanging around and pissing me off, cramping, making me feel gross and forcing me to eat crap. I hope she's gone soon. Really soon.
I want to not have this excuse. I'm really good at using it, for a quarter of the month. That's probably about 6 days too much...
Unfortunately, I've also eaten badly, and the walking hasn't cancelled it out. I HAVE, however, been having a visit from old Mrs Monthly - she's hanging around and pissing me off, cramping, making me feel gross and forcing me to eat crap. I hope she's gone soon. Really soon.
I want to not have this excuse. I'm really good at using it, for a quarter of the month. That's probably about 6 days too much...
Sunday 4 August 2013
The final day of Round 2 of the 12WBT 2013.
Ahh, a day to reflect.
Today is the last day I can access stuff on the 12WBT site, and I've decided not to sign up for the next round. I panicked this afternoon and almost signed up, but I couldn't justify it, either to myself, or to the voices in my head telling me to do it. I did, however, go through the PDFs I have saved on my laptop and add the recipes from this round that weren't yet saved. Hey, I paid good money for this program, and I'm going to get my money's worth!
What have I learned over the last 12 months with Michelle Bridges? Fuckloads. Excuse my language, but I have learned SO much. About nutrition, about exercise, about myself. Most importantly, I learned that I am enough. I can do this on my own. It's going to be hard, but I can do it. So, funnily enough, I returned to the 'Preseason Tasks' that Mish lays out for her followers before every Round. I thought about what I want to do, how I'm going to get there, and why I'm worth the work. It's important to set goals and have a plan to achieve them.
What are my goals? Well, I'm taking a reality check. Every round I've done of 12WBT, I've set realistic but slightly out of reach goals. And I'm yet to achieve 99% of them... so this time, I'm keeping it real. I've got my food and exercise data for the last 2 months, and I've set a fairly reachable target of slightly better than the average of the last 2 months. Haha. My daily calories after exercise are around 1650 (average for the last two months), and my daily step count average is around 6500. My goals for August:
Have a daily net calorie average of 1500
Have a daily average step count of 8000
These goals are measurable. They're specific. They're reachable. If the last 12 months have shown me anything, it's that I set goals, and I lose motivation to follow through. I make grand statements about what I'm going to do, and I genuinely have the intention to follow through at the time. But I can't sustain it. I can't LIVE like that for the rest of my life. I won't exercise and eat well EVERY SINGLE MINUTE for the rest of my life. But I can commit to doing it to the best of my ability MOST of the time.
Can do.
Today is the last day I can access stuff on the 12WBT site, and I've decided not to sign up for the next round. I panicked this afternoon and almost signed up, but I couldn't justify it, either to myself, or to the voices in my head telling me to do it. I did, however, go through the PDFs I have saved on my laptop and add the recipes from this round that weren't yet saved. Hey, I paid good money for this program, and I'm going to get my money's worth!
What have I learned over the last 12 months with Michelle Bridges? Fuckloads. Excuse my language, but I have learned SO much. About nutrition, about exercise, about myself. Most importantly, I learned that I am enough. I can do this on my own. It's going to be hard, but I can do it. So, funnily enough, I returned to the 'Preseason Tasks' that Mish lays out for her followers before every Round. I thought about what I want to do, how I'm going to get there, and why I'm worth the work. It's important to set goals and have a plan to achieve them.
What are my goals? Well, I'm taking a reality check. Every round I've done of 12WBT, I've set realistic but slightly out of reach goals. And I'm yet to achieve 99% of them... so this time, I'm keeping it real. I've got my food and exercise data for the last 2 months, and I've set a fairly reachable target of slightly better than the average of the last 2 months. Haha. My daily calories after exercise are around 1650 (average for the last two months), and my daily step count average is around 6500. My goals for August:
Have a daily net calorie average of 1500
Have a daily average step count of 8000
These goals are measurable. They're specific. They're reachable. If the last 12 months have shown me anything, it's that I set goals, and I lose motivation to follow through. I make grand statements about what I'm going to do, and I genuinely have the intention to follow through at the time. But I can't sustain it. I can't LIVE like that for the rest of my life. I won't exercise and eat well EVERY SINGLE MINUTE for the rest of my life. But I can commit to doing it to the best of my ability MOST of the time.
Can do.
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