Thursday, March 25, 2010

Why does everything worth-while always end up being SO inconvenient?

...the first few things that come to my mind are exercise, eating more veggies & far less sugar, and a good, thorough scripture study.

I think I have finally found a way to make these activities a mandatory part of my life. No matter what, I must make time/ find the gumption to do all of them. And so far it has worked very well, it has meant scheduling my days better, getting into good habits, and ridding my apartment of all sweets (or at least making Richard hide them in obscure places). For the past few weeks I have felt so much more productive. My past attempts at this for the past 2 years have never become this successful or flawlessly uninterupted, and so I think I can trust myself at this point that I will keep these habits reasonably intact until I at least reach my goals. My hope is to keep them indefinitely, but goals are still nice so I can reward myself and not get frustrated!

It all started when I had to watch videos of me teaching my 276R class. Sometimes when we look in the mirror it's easy to be in denial that we are unhealthily over-weight, but when I'm watching a video of me moving around, talking, and wearing a horribly unflattering sweater, I can't help but cringe. In the end, it was a very good wake-up call. According to the BMI I am over-weight for my height. And so, it's time for me to take responsibility of this before I let myself get even worse. I think having more control now of my diet than when we were at the beehive home definitely helps, because I am able to plan/ have time to make good meals. I also have found ways to not get bored working out at the gym 1--1.5 hours a day. As a result, I have lost 4 pounds in a few weeks, and am hoping to lose at least 20 overall. When I have more time, I want to list a few things I have learned that have really helped me to understand weight-loss and some surprising dietary facts that Richard has taught me from his sports nutrition class. Basically, my focus is lifting weights and cardio for 1-1.5 hours every day, while eating 1900 calories. (A person who exercises at my height and weight needs 2400 cal a day, and if you want to lose a pound a week, you need to take off 500 cal.) Sounds simple, but I think the hardest part is finding the time to do everything else in my schedule lately.

...more to come