Damn you Monday!!!!

Ok, so I succumbed to the Mondayitis...somewhere between work and the gym (about 0.7 miles away) I found some BS excuse not to go.....later that evening, wracked with guilt, I ended up taking my teeny-tiny little dog on a 2 mile walk in the cold....which was fun for him for maybe the first mile. I didn't enjoy it much more than he did but it eased my conscience. It also got my steps up to a respectable level, though not my goal. My office is having a "Walk-Fit" competition where we all wear pedometers ("mini-peds" or "peds" if you will) that upload our steps for the day to the computer. So far I've actually been doing well.....when I go to the gym I usually manage 2nd or 3rd place....right behind (no surprise) the skinny guy who runs marathons and is training for a race and (very surprisingly) the older gentleman with the cane in the tax department who apparently wakes up at 3am everyday and covers a shocking amount of ground before sunrise.

I would say I would make up for my Monday fail by staying extra long at the gym tongiht but that's not going to happen........I have a date :)  

So.....basically Wednesday is going to be my gym-atonement day....Hazzah!!!

Gym Days.....

I refuse to believe I am losing steam already...it's just Monday and the two days I spent away from the gym this weekend already have me doubting that I will feel better if I go today.....I must resist.

But it is Monday and Mondays are icky and I don't feel like blogging much more than my promised sentence or two. But to keep a little momentum I will re-post the one and only entry from a former attempt to start blogging which was (big coincidence) also from a time I was trying to jump-start the exercise habit.

5/9/11 - Gym Days

by Christina Weber on Monday, May 9, 2011 at 2:19pm

The joys of beginning a new health regiment are indescribable aren't they? There's so much energy and sense of purpose. The humble pair of sneakers now hold a place of honor in your mind and are laced up with pride as you head out the door. They no longer carry you on mere errands or late night 711 runs. Now they carry you forward to the new you.  The running shoes shall see their purpose fulfilled, the sweatpants shall now be sweated upon, your gym bag will finally see it's homeland. It is the dawning of your new life.

With your trusty headphones at your side, you enter the lair of the machines. The inevitable twinges of apprehension rise within you as you look out on row after row of finely tuned machines and the finely tuned people on them. But this is no time for timidness, you will soon be one of them, and you will appreciate the fruits of your success far more than they appreciate their own.From across the room you eye a cardio machine, knowing that it shall be yours...knowing it shall bear you to victory.

Memories of sitting on the couch are of a distant past. How silly that you ever hesitated to do this, how absurd the thought that you might ever quit. Even as your heart begins to pound and your breath quickens, defeat is impossible. In your mind's eye, visions of your future flash before you. Great races are won against impossible odds, competitions finished and medals obtained in spite of gruesome injuries. So difficult to watch... but so inspiring. Foes are defeated, criminals caught, women and children rescued from the clutches of disaster using implausibly gym-related skills. You know how silly it all is as you suppress the smirk on your face. You know these things will never happen. But if they did.....

And now onwards to feats of strength. For yes, it's true you have finished your cardio red in the face and panting as others around you continue with what appears to be their warmup. However, while not as sleek and graceful as some others, you are sturdy and strong. You are the (future) winner of races and defeater of foes and your flabby body is but a temporary encumbrance, a shell containing a new self, the likes of which those joggers have never imagined.

And so you approach your next conquest, prepared for the struggle and for the sweet taste of victory. But today is a special day. This is the day you will come to truly understand that there is a time and a place for everything. There is a time and a place for competitiveness and enthusiasm...but that time and place is not when you're on the inner-thigh machine. For, as it turns out, pride go-eth before a broken crotch....and the new you walks like you're recovering from giving birth to a porcupine.

Sundays

What is it about Sundays that makes you want to lay in bed and pretend that the outside world doesn't exist? What is it about Sundays that makes putting on your pants (let alone your shoes) such a grueling and abhorrent possibility? What is it about Sundays that makes ordering pizza seem like such a good idea?

Frikin Sundays....

Oh well, it wasn't too bad I suppose....I got a decent amount done around the house and managed to force myself out the door to the grocery store. There were some other stores and activities that were supposed to get my attention but I can always just do those after a long day at work (and a trip to the gym) on a weekday....that's not going to suck right?

I highly anticipate posts this week having a "planning and time management are the keys to success" theme.

>:-(

Ok, so my strategy for this week has been to establish the workout habit and not worry too much about the food for now. This strategy was probably not best for the week we were having catered meetings everyday at work.


Bad strategy! Bad! No! Don't do that again!

I know in the long run it's not a big thing and the exercise and endorphins are their own reward.... but it's never a good thing to have that out of body experience where you watch yourself insist that the little tiny lady behind the counter at Weight Watchers check the scale again....just to be absolutely sure.

I'm fine. This week was worth it. I'm still feeling good.....

Seriously.....I'm.....fine.......this....is .....goo-
SHIT SHIT SHIT SHIT SHIT

Ok now....I'm ok. It's all good.......feeling good....in control....feeling....
SERIOUSLY?????? SHIT!!!!!

It's going to be good....it will be much better next week. It's cool.

It's all good.........

Day 2, hurray!!!!

Wow, a second post! We're already further along than I often get when I decide to do these things. I think I need to commit to posting at least one sentence a day just to form the habit. Seriously, how can I justify not doing that.......stay tuned, you're likely to find out.

Anyhoo.....One of the things I've mustered up some enthusiasm about recently is exercising. I started a couple weeks ago and I am snuggled securely in the warm embrace of the honeymoon period of that commitment. It's awesome....exercise endorphins without the feeling of walking to the gallows every time I make that left turn into the gym parking lot. It's beautiful....that brief period of blissful ignorance where you can't imagine quitting and wonder why you ever thought it was hard before......if only you'd known it was this easy you'd already be a size 6. It's so adorable what idiots we can be in this stage isn't it?

I just have to keep reminding myself not to confuse the ease of walking into the gym I have right now with the good feelings I have walking out - the two will soon separate and I will begin to tell myself it will just make me more tired and cranky if I go. I will say I don't have the energy to deal with it after a long day.....I have a big day tomorrow and I can't be tired, and since I feel so exhausted just thinking about going to the gym, surely actually working out would make me catatonic. I just have to keep remembering that's not true. I need to remember that the feeling you have walking out is utterly separate and vastly different than that sinking feeling you often have walking in.....I must remember.....I need that little voice in my head to stay.......actually I need a great big voice with some lightning and thunder telling me that, a lion-king-esque dealy with a big James Earl Jones voice chanting 'REMEMBER...Remember....remember............."

Well, that's unlikely to happen....I'll just need to keep reminding myself not get too high off the honeymoon stage so I don't crash as hard.

Wish me luck.

FIRST!!!!

So here we go.....first post of a new blog. It should be interesting, witty, and inspiring.... but I'm actually a bit loathed to talk about all the things I'm starting and getting excited about. It's completely counter-intuitive given the nature of blogs or diaries I know, but frankly, I've been excited before and decided to record the moment for posterity only to immediately lose steam and leave the remnants of my great ambitions floating around in the cyber abyss.

The fact is I am excited right now. I am determined to do a great many things and change my life in a great many ways. I feel optimistic for the first time in a long time and want to share that - but it's also a state of being that I'm feeling strangely protective of right now. Enthusiasm is a rare companion for me recently (well...typically, if I'm being honest) and I don't want to leave it orphaned out in the internet if my will to blog begins to wain.

But, as a rational human, being I know it doesn't work like that....feelings and ideas grow when shared and even if the internet doesn't prove to be the place where that sticks, I should try to share it whenever I can. 

 However, I also know that a key to successfully keeping up a new regimen is to not overdo it in the beginning....this post is long enough for a first entry so I guess I'll just have to make sure I come back and start talking about the real stuff later.