I have been gone for a minute. It's that time of year and the insanity is turned up 100%. I'm scrambling to finish work stuff so I can go on vacation, making things for holiday parties, and trying to see people before they head out of town for Christmas.
IT. IS. EXHAUSTING!!!!!!!!!!
Plus all the food. Extremely good food, especially things I don't make or eat on a regular basis. I will 100% admit that I have thrown everything out the window and indulged in whatever my little heart desired. I'm slowly starting to reign myself in, but I'm not officially being hardcore till Jan 1. The only thing I am trying to do this vacation is get in some type of exercise daily whether it's a workout or a long walk.
I can't say I know anyone who survives this time of year well. It seems like we all just take a break, try to at least exercise, accept the fact that we'll gain 5-10lbs from all the food, and be ready to start Jan 1. But when I think on it, if you're consistent the rest of the year, is a week or two going to kill you? That's a puzzle for another day.
I have been spending a lot of time in reflection. I started this blog in July and have been trying to summarize what I have learned over these 5 months. I have made some progress, I have learned a lot about nutrition and types of workouts to support my goals, but the biggest has been recognizing the mental limitations I put on myself.
I think about all the times I let setbacks frustrate me so much that one "bad" day turn into weeks, instead of just one bad day. I think about how the drive to be perfect caused me to beat myself up over a missed workout, a bad meal, or not hitting my macros when overall, it was a good day. And all this beating up of myself didn't allow me to appreciate how far I had come, when all I could see is how far I had to go. And all that negativity is depressing. You can't succeed when you're picking yourself apart instead of lifting yourself up. One of the things that has helped me is trying to be a better friend to myself. I think about how my friends are with me. They encourage me, cheer me on, celebrate my successes, and sometimes give me that tough love I need. But they are NEVER mean or degrading, so I won't do that to myself anymore!
This is what I have been working on over my vacation. Armed with all the knowledge I now have, how do I set myself up to succeed? This has been interesting because I want and feel like I need to do everything. I wanna run, lift, take bootcamp classes PLUS I need to stretch and do yoga. How the hell am I going to fit this all in?!?!! I'm working on it and I know I can't do everything. I realized I can stretch, foam roll, and do yoga while watching TV instead of being on facebook or pinterest. Running I can do with Molly. I did find a simple beginner lift program that is 4x a week; you hit upper and lower body twice a week.
I did upper body 1 plus abs on Sunday, which I finished in 45 mins and that's including all the playing around to find the right weight. So I think I can get that down to 30 mins flat. I'll do upper body 2 plus abs this week, but I figure it'll take the same amount of time. With all the bootcamp (lots of squats, lunges, plus kettlebell class!) and running I want to do, I'm going to start with one leg session, mixing moves of both into one. Depending on how one full week goes, I might have to drop a run or maybe bootcamp is enough leg strength exercises. This first month will be full of some tweaking.
Goals-wise, I am narrowing the focus to one month at a time and plan to celebrate each month. Those months add up! Still working on what these targets are, but we'll be back to weekly Friday weigh-ins.
So for Christmas, I did indeed treat myself! I got my hair DID (dyed and cut), bought an upgraded interval timer (great for interval runs and circuit workouts www.gymboss.com ), and putting together this plan for 2014.
Merry Christmas all, I plan to indulge and ENJOY my loved ones!
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