Sunday, July 1, 2012

June: Twenty Three and a Half Hours

I’ve read that it takes 28 days to form a habit.  If you do something for four weeks, it will become routine for you.  Maybe not effortless, but it will feel weirder if you don’t do it than if you do. 

It was this line of thinking that led me to my newest plan.  Each month, I will tackle just one of my unhealthy habits.  Because clearly, it did not work for me to tackle all of my bad habits at once.  Baby steps, people.  Baby steps.

As inspiration for what bad habits to tackle first, I’ve looked to two health videos that have recently been brought to my attention.  The first is called, “Twenty-three and a Half Hours.”  It’s worth watching, but basically, the gist is that the best possible thing you can do for your health is simply to spend 30 minutes everyday exercising.

That became my goal for the month of June:  exercise for 30 minutes, five days a week.  The other twenty three and a half hours of each day could be spent drinking coke, loafing on the sofa watching Big Bang Reruns, and sneaking cookies when the girls were otherwise distracted.

And so, Monday thru Friday, I spent thirty minutes on the treadmill.  My goal is to eventually jog two miles for my weekday workout.  Which is a kind of torture for me, because I hate to run.  I abhor it.  Absolutely loathe it.  And when I’m done loathing it, I hate it some more.
Only the top picture is what I WISH I feel like when I run.
This is how I actually feel.

But despite my less than euphoric attitude toward running, I also feel that it is somehow the most accurate mark of fitness.  If I could run 2 miles every morning, and it eventually became ‘easy’ for me, I would feel fantastically fit.  In shape.  Able to catch Nicole when she decides to run off.  In my defense, she is very fast for a kid who is not even two yet.

I started out running just one quarter of a mile, and I’ve been adding another quarter of a mile each week (I always walk the remainder of my 30 minutes).  Last week was my 4th week, so I am up to running one mile at a time.  Many of my friends have started running, and they have begun to love it and crave it.  They start with 5ks and then suddenly are signing up for half marathons, whole marathons, or triathlons.  This has not happened to me yet.  I do not feel empowered when I run.  I do not feel a rush of endorphins.  Mostly, I feel like I am going to die.  Until I stop running; then I feel fabulous.  But I think it’s more the kind of fabulous you feel when somebody has been kicking you and then they stop.  Maybe it takes more than one month to fall in love with running.

I may not be in love with running, but I do love working out again.  I love it even though I haven’t lost a single ounce since I’ve started.  (To be honest, I think I gained six single ounces.)  Alas, you can’t exercise away a bad diet.  Which brings me to the second inspirational video and my goal for July:

The video is called, “The Bitter Truth,” and it is supposed to scare you away from eating sugar.  Ever.  Again.  It makes some very logical points, most of which you will already know on an intuitive level, but it’s nice to hear the scientific reasons behind them.

Soda is bad for you.  In every possible way.  Shocker, right?  It’s also delicious and refreshing, which is why I’ve had such a hard time kicking the habit in the past.  But, I’ll give it one more go.  My goal for July:  no more soda.  I can guarantee I will not be a fun person to be around in the next month.  My apologies to anyone I must come in contact with, especially during the next three weeks (which is apparently how long to expect the symptoms of sugar-withdrawal to linger).
How I feel when I think about not drinking anymore coke.


If I survive, I will let you all know how it went at the end of July.  :)

7 comments:

  1. AWESOME!!! I'm so joining you. I can do this. Since I don't really drink soda- although I enjoy it immensely- I'll start tomorrow with the treadmill every morning. I used to love running...and then I learned to love sitting:) Maybe it will come back.

    You are an incredibly inspiring writer:)

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  2. Rebecca, I love you! I was just telling Jenni how I wish I had two littlier girls (is littlier even a word??) so that we could hang out and do nothing together while the kids played. You can do it!! Renee

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  3. awesome! i'm with you :) 23.5 hours. i can do this. i'm gonna start on level 1 with the exercising though. we'll see how it goes :)

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  4. Thanks, all! S and D, glad to have you aboard. :) Renee--I wish you had littler girlies too, so we could hang out and do nothing! I love doing nothing. ;)

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  5. http://peasandthankyou.com/2012/03/31/my-running-story-why-i-refuse-to-do-it-and-you-cant-make-me/

    Reminded me of this blog post.

    Good luck with the monthly life style changes! You can do it!

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    1. Yes! Good article and a good reminder. Thanks, Jennifer!

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