I'm closing the store early (with the manager's blessings...or rather the advice to "play it by ear" this evening. And my ear predicts that we will close at 8pm, not 9pm tonight.) so that I can head back to the apartment I've now spent 2 nights in, moved and assembled an ungodly amount of furniture into, and in which I have no internet connection.
I'm so eager to get back there because this apartment comes with access to a gym, pool, spa and sauna, and I am yet to try out any of them, despite being super keen to get into the gym. I'm terribly terribly out of shape, unfit, blob like and generally have the physique of an old, fat woman. This is not ok. Consider today to be a turn around for me. Curbing my habits for fast food and snack food, and my lack of physical activity in the last year or so. It's time to claw my health back bit by bit, get some self confidence back, be able to buy clothes I love and feel great in them...and make those people who were awful to me this year green with envy at my awesomeness.
So my plan is as follows:
Set fitness goals for the next month, broken down into weeks, then sessions. Focusing on strenght, flexibility and endurance.
It takes 21 days to change a habit, so my habit for the next 21 days is to go to the gym every day. Even if it's just 20 minutes walking on the treadmill or on the bike, the point is not to push too hard, but to make going every day a habit, and prove to myself that its easy to find half an hour to squeeze in a quick visit, and knowing me, once I'm there, I'll probably stay for longer.
The eating side is going to be a problem, because I currently have no fridge (so frustrating), no kettle and no microwave, so I'm very limited in what I can keep and cook. It's like stuff that needs oven cooking is usually refridgerated or frozen, but stuff that lives in the cupboard needs a kettle or microwave to cook... So my only food goal is to not go to maccas. Which is hard, because Richard is away and its frustrating to cook for one. (if I even find anything to cook). But maccas is a habit right now that needs to go. So whatever other choices I make in the next three weeks, maccas wont be one of them. My logic is that i'm not overhauling all at once, but setting myself up to change habits for the better, and if I keep doing that, eventually all my less healthy habits will slowly change and I'll be on the right track.
As for weightloss, this week I'm solely focused on what I shall call 'base habits'. Which are changes that will not necessarily bring about an immediate positive result (for example, going to the gym every day does not necessarily mean I'll use my time effectively, and giving up maccas doesnt mean I wont eat some other fast food in its place) but sets up the basis to make continued changes that will reap rewards. For example, once I know I can get myself into the gym every day, rain hail or shine, it will be easier to fine tune my time there to get the best weightloss results, to push myself once I'm there to achieve fitness goals and therefore get the rewards. And giving up maccas sets me up to avoid that easy fix that I keep going to, which is the first step in eliminating more of those easy fixes, and also in replacing them with something more in line with my goals. In week one, I might not go to maccas, and most days I might replace that fix with chips or something like that, but one day I might cook instead. The next week, more cooking etc etc. In three months time, I might be firmly in the habit of cooking or odering 'healthy options' and fast food wont be on my radar regularly at all, and that sets up a foundation to then tweak my cooking to be more health concious.
By not forcing me to go from greasy, easy fast food to boiled greens, and sedentary on the couch to training for a marathon in one big leap, I think I'm more likely to stick to it. And by rewarding myself psychologically for making changes in the right direction, I'm going to get there eventually. Plus I wont beat myself up, because I'll make it easier to stick to my 21 day goals by making them stepping stones.
Sorry for a slightly boring health kick style post. I'll press publish and start writing something more interesting, promise.
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