weigh loss | It's Time To Lose Weight

There must be something to this mind-body connection. After doing my “meditation” (it’s an art I have to practice), I was able to fall asleep rather quickly. When I finally awoke, I had slept nearly nine hours! And I didn’t wake up once. That’s quite an accomplishment for me. Usually there’s a three o’clock awakening, for no reason at all, and then I have trouble falling asleep again. Not last night. There’s no magic formula here. I’m just letting my body do what it needs to do – and my mind didn’t getting in the way.

When I got up, I stuck to the promise I made to myself that I would get on that treadmill first thing – before I had a chance to talk myself out of it. Before going to bed, I had downloaded an iFit program to use for my morning workout. Jillian Michaels has a whole set of iFit workouts that I can program on this treadmill. I started with the beginner workout.

I was glad she took it easy on me. Exercising first thing in the morning is not my thing. Actually, any exercise is pretty new to me. I have spent the last 15 years trying to avoid it at all costs. My husband enjoys working out. To me, it just feels like work. Anytime in the past when he would coax me into going to the gym, I always felt like I was going to die before we had even gone through a whole workout routine. At least this way, no one else is watching and I can look awful and not compare myself to anyone else.

I have two more days until my next weigh in. I don’t want to anticipate anything. If I don’t lose any weight, I can handle it as long as I haven’t gained any. That’s my biggest pitfall – relying on the scale to dictate whether or not something good is happening. I have to keep focused on the other things too. When I start to feel that clothes are fitting better, looser, and not cutting me in half at the waist line, I will feel successful. I just need to keep reminding myself, the numbers don’t tell the whole story.

Time to start relaxing before bedtime. Not everything has to be done every day. Tomorrow is another day and I can start all over again and do the things that need to be done and let the little stuff go so I can find time to relax and enjoy my life.

Tomorrow – A day of rest.

Although I don’t feel too sore after that first workout, I am going to take a day in-between the next one. But I sure can feel where my legs meet my backside. Apparently, sitting all day doesn’t really exercise these muscles. They will get their workout again tomorrow.

I find that working at a desk job Monday through Friday makes me feel sluggish by the end of the day. I think I need to add something else during the day that gets my blood moving. That way, I’m hoping that by the time I get home, I don’t feel totally exhausted and not want to exercise. The last thing I need is to sit the rest of my day away!

It’s too easy for me to get involved in whatever project I am working on and forget to get up. I have forgotten to use the restroom until the last minute because I was so focused. That’s not good. I’m going to put a reminder in my calendar to pop up and nag me to get moving. At least four times a day I want to do something that moves me away from my desk. If I move regularly I hope to make it a habit.

My best days are when I interact with people. I’m going to find a walking buddy at work and try to walk a half hour during lunch time. If I walk on one day, I will treat myself the next day to a lunch offsite. If I have something to look forward to then I’m more likely to keep to my goal.

On my day of “rest” I plan to use other strategies to keep my focus. I’ve downloaded some relaxation music and techniques to mediate. The mind-body connection is the way for me to go. If I don’t have the right frame of mind I won’t succeed. All the exercise in the world will not make me healthy if I continue to allow stress to take over my life.

After the calming effect of the meditation, I hope to have a good night’s sleep. Tomorrow, I will start the day with a workout on the treadmill. There are tons of programs that I can customize to help me vary my workout routine. I will capture some more screenshots on the treadmill. As I said, it has all the bells and whistles so I might as well figure out how to use them.

Off to deep breathing…