mostly about exercise but kind of about a kick in the pants.

About a month ago, I had a serious conversation/whining session with Tim telling him I didn't know why I wasn't consistently losing weight anymore. I think I literally said, "I eat healthy most of the time and I exercise when I can." Well, that's not good enough. The main thing I was missing was intentionally eating healthy and making time for exercise. Healthy eating doesn't just happen, and I'm still at a place where I have to consciously choose a healthy option over an unhealthy one. So eating healthy most of the time isn't good enough for me to keep losing weight. It might be possible to maintain my weight by doing that, but I can't expect to keep losing. 

I also had a problem with exercise. Once I got this job, I basically stopped going to the gym. In Long Beach, the closest gym that I can go to is about 7 miles away. In Orange, my gym was less than 2. Plus, it's not even conveniently on the way to work, it is in the opposite direction. So, because it wasn't easy, I stopped going. Tim and I would take walks when we could and we have started this great habit of walking to Ralph's when we need food, which is maybe a mile round trip. However, I wasn't setting aside time to exercise and I was getting really lazy at it. After this heart to heart with Tim and whining about my weight loss, I realized that it's important to work exercise into my schedule. 

I also needed a good kick in the pants, which Tim is good at providing. He challenged me to stay focused on my eating and work exercise into my schedule, then see if I saw results. Sometimes I whine about my weight loss even though I know I am not doing it right and Tim is good about not letting me get away with that. I decided that I could wake up early on Sundays and go to the gym before church. I could also go to the gym after work on Thursdays and Fridays when I have no other commitments. This was three more times I could go to the gym than I was going before. It would mean I could only sleep in one day a week and I would have less time for knitting after work, but I knew it was worth it. 

I've been doing this routine for about three weeks now and it has been great! It was really hard for me at first. Getting up at 6 AM on a Sunday feels wrong, especially when my husband is still sleeping in our warm bed. However, I felt like I had more energy throughout the day and it made me less likely to blow my eating, knowing that I had already started the day on a positive note. It's also hard coming home from an 8 hour workday on Thursdays/Fridays and heading to the gym. There were a few days where I couldn't find my ipod and I wanted to just quit. Now I have gotten to a place where I just do it, even if I don't want to. There are the occasional weeks where I look forward to Thursday so I can hop on the elliptical and have time to myself to think. But most weeks I don't genuinely WANT to exercise. But I just tell myself that I am committed to this journey and I am going to the gym whether I like it or not. I can tell you honestly even when my heart is completely not in it, I have never gotten off that elliptical early. I always commit to 45 minutes and so far I have done it every time.

This last Sunday I even started doing some weights and my arms are sore today, so something is going right! So anyways, this is kind of a thank you to Tim for motivating me to keep trying. He is always willing to start dinner or go grocery shopping when I have gym time and he encourages me to try my hardest. 

At my last weigh in I lost .6 of a pound. This brings my current weight loss this year to 5.2. I'm happy with it because I have learned a lot this year. My goal is to lose 10 more pounds before New Zealand, which I know I can do if I stay focused.