Juggling

Some days I feel like a juggler.  I watch babies, pay bills, do dishes, plan meals, do grocery shopping, try to always have regular nap times for the children,  do my Bible study lessons, visit my Dad, take care of all his financial things, write blog posts, do gardening chores, pick up a lot of toys, make beds, make breakfast, lunch and/or dinner for up to 6 people on a regular basis, and laundry (yes, there's always laundry). Oh, and church and choir practice and my WW meeting and getting my hair done and . . .  well, you get the picture. On top of that I'm trying very hard to exercise for at least an hour every day and to eat in accordance with my weight loss plan.

The last time I interviewed for a job, one of the questions was whether I was good at multi-tasking.   And how.  Uninterrupted time to just focus on one thing just doesn't happen very often.  (I must have had a convincing answer because I got the job.)

I once went to a conference where a professional juggler attempted to teach all of us how to juggle at least 3 things.  It's harder than it looks.  We started with small chiffon scarves which were pretty forgiving because they floated slowly enough so that we novice jugglers could snatch them out of the air.  I graduated to 4 scarves and was able to keep the pattern going for a couple minutes.  I've forgotten how, but I remember that I really had to concentrate to keep all four scarves in the air.

The point of all this is that it's hard work learning how to juggle or multi-task to do everything we have to do AND to exercise and eat and learn to exercise and eat the way we need to for good.  And I think we deserve KUDOS, all of us, for doing it.  Look over my blog roll--almost all these bloggers are doing it--learning and practicing how to eat and exercise for a healthy life.

And here's a diagram so you can learn to juggle three things--easy, no??

Hugs and Congratulations to ALL of us.

Do It Anyway!

It's Saturday afternoon and I need to run today.  I should have gone out this morning.  It's one of the goals I set in the Hot 100 Challenge. I've planned it, there's nothing else I have to do instead, I'm already dressed and my ipod is fully charged.  The thing is, I don't wanna go run right now.  It's hot today, tomorrow's supposed to be lots cooler. Stanford is playing Notre Dame in football starting in 10 minutes. (GO Cardinal!) Maybe later? Maybe tomorrow?  Maybe after I spend a couple of hours in blog land?

Ironically, my motivational reading for today (from 100 Days of Weight Loss) was titled:  Do it Anyway.  There are all kinds of things in life that we don't want to or like to do.  Changing a dirty diaper.  Running to the bathroom in the middle of a movie.  Doing the laundry.  We might procrastinate a little, but, in the end, you have to do it anyway.  

Running today is something that I have to do.  Even though I don't want to, I'm going to do it anyway. I can cheer on Stanford after I get back.  

See you later--I'm heading out for a run.

UPDATE
I did it anyway.  I just got back from a 4+ mile run.  It wasn't the best run ever; it was hot and I walked more than I'd have liked to.  All that is true.  But, I DID it.  And that feels great.  And Stanford is ahead at half time.  :D


How am I doing on my goals for the Hot 100?

• 60 minutes of exercise--CHECK
• No chocolate--CHECK
• Eating on my WW plan--CHECK  to lose 17 pounds by Jan 1st--We'll See!

Oh, you might have noticed another challenge in my sidebar--the Fall Focus Challenge with the orange & black with a Jack-o-Lantern logo.  Because I have a strong sense of loyalty and the Spring and Summer Focus Challenges really got me going I've joined yet another challenge.  This one starts on Monday September 27th and goes until December 6th.  For this challenge I have kept the same goals as the goals I set for the Hot 100 (above), only adjusting the weight loss goal to 13 pounds because this is a shorter time.  I figure it can't hurt to reinforce those goals.  If you'd like to join, just click on the Jack-o-Lantern in the right sidebar to link to the site.

I'm feeling very confident about riding out the rest of the day following my goals, herewith my chart:

Off and Running!

Today is the first day of the Hot 100 challenge.  I'm calling it Day 100 and crossing it off on my chart because I survived it in fine fashion.  I met all my goals easily in the first flush of challenge enthusiasm.  I have a book that I've decided to use during this challenge.  It's  Linda Spangle's A Daily Motivator  100 Days of Weight Loss:  The Secret to Being Successful on Any Diet Plan.  She doesn't even talk about what foods to eat, but instead has 100 days worth of short  (two page) topical essays. She addresses motivational issues like food triggers, getting support from family & friends, slowing down your eating, and emotional eating.  For today, for instance, she challenged the reader to think about something s/he may be afraid of concerning these next 100 days.  I admit I'm a little scared of failure because I've NEVER reached my WW goal in several past serious efforts.  She asks the reader to make a new ending to that fear and write it down.  Mine was "I've tried many times to reach my WW goal, but always before, I've failed, BUT this time I'm a lot more knowledgeable about the right things to eat, I have embraced regular exercise, and I have a great support network at home and on my blog so I CAN and I WILL succeed."

I've noticed over the past few days that my rate of eating is starting to creep back up to "rather speedy" in relation to Jay, my really slow eater, and to DH.  I'm going to have to do a little clock watching and slow things down a bit again.  Eating slowly really does help me enjoy my food more and also give me time to hear my "I'm Full" signal before I eat more than I need.

What I Saw, WI, Don't Let this Happen to YOU

Wednesday morning are uber busy for me, with an early alarm, breakfast, a last-chance run,  a quick visit to my Dad, my Bible Study (BSF), and then my WI at noon.  It did not go by so fast, though, that I neglected to notice a new decade on the scale when I got back from my run! 179.6  HELLO 170s!  I haven't seen a 7 as the middle number for fourteen months!  This is only the first peek at the 170s, and the just out of the shower, unclothed weight, so my WI (fully clothed, at noon)  still has an 8 as the middle number, but I sure do love the trend!  :D

I did have a planned encounter with some yummy Thai food on Friday night and it took some intensive water drinking and a couple of days to reverse the upswing in my morning weights.  The Thai food was great and I limited the damage by hopping right back on the wagon after our dinner out.  Here's the physics diet graph.  The first red bumps are from my bike holiday, the second from the Thai food. Remember, green is good.  Oh, also, note that these weights are my first thing morning weights on my own scale and not my WI weights. My own scale usually weighs me a bit more unclothed than the WW scale clothed.  It doesn't bother me because each seems consistent to itself.

My WI today was also a happy time as I dropped two pounds, or 8 Sticks o' Butter in Paula Deen speak.

This all means that my goals for the Hot 100 Challenge, include a weight loss goal of 17 pounds (my WW goal) between now (tomorrow) and January 1st. I think I can do it. I think I CAN do it. I WILL do it.

The other thing I saw today?  I was very thirsty and stopped by the grocery on my way home from WW.  I searched in the coolers near the checkout until I found a diet Pepsi.  I don't often drink sodas these days, but, somehow that's what I wanted. I felt pretty virtuous standing there with just one bottle of diet soda in the checkout line and I studiously ignored the piteous cries from the chocolates in the candy  bar display begging for one last date with me before my no-chocolate ban is official at midnight tonight.  I got into my hot car and enjoyed the icy cold Pepsi during the half hour ride home. It was only when I pulled into my garage and picked up the bottle to toss it in the recycle bin that I noticed it was not a diet Pepsi.  It was a Throwback Pepsi. "Throwback, made with Real Sugar." Aaaugh!  Don't Let This Happen to YOU!

180.0

Regular Pepsi--Notice the bright BLUE label??

Diet Pepsi--the Label is Light Silver

Throwback--full sugar--  NO FAIR!!

Hot 100 Goals

One hundred days seems like a long time, but I know from experience that without mindful attention those days will fly by.  I don't intend to let that happen.  I am going to use those days, all one hundred of them to further my progress towards my goals.  The Hot 100 count down starts day after tomorrow,  and I have been thinking about my goals.  Here they are:

1.  I will reach my official WW goal by Jan 1st.  My WI is tomorrow and I'll post again to give you the exact pound total I am going to lose.  [Right now it's 19, but I'm expecting that number to go down tomorrow.]  I will weigh myself and record my weight each morning.  I will follow the CORE (Simply Filling) WW plan.  I will go to my WW meetings, weigh in and stay for the lecture every week.

2.  I will continue exercise for at least 6 out of 7 days every week.  I will vary the exercise to include running, biking, strength workouts, Praise Moves (yoga), and Kettle Bells.  I will have at least 2 strength workouts and 3 cardio workouts each week. My workouts will average 60 minutes per session.

3.  I will keep my house and my body chocolate free.  I will not buy, eat, or bring into my house ANY chocolate.  This includes my beloved dark chocolate with orange, chocolate chips, chocolate candy bars (Almond Joy--are you listening?), or any baked goods that have chocolate in them.

It's not too late to join this challenge.  What are you going to do with those last 100 days of this year?

A Picture is Worth a THOUSAND

I have run  and recorded (a smidge over) 1000 miles since I got my Nike+ on October 10, 2008.   I'm very proud of myself.   I've run winter and summer, through rain and snow, in bright sunshine and in pre-dawn darkness, through thick and thin(ner), when I felt like it and when I didn't. I've run with friends and by myself, on a treadmill (for <10 of those miles) and outside. I've had lots of walking time on my runs and a few 5K races.  I've run in jeans (once) and in my comfy running capris.  I've run to books on tape and to my favorite 60s rock. I've tripped, fallen, and scraped my knees. I've seen bald eagles, prothonatory warblers,  snakes, red winged blackbirds, frogs, wooly caterpillars, squirrels, chipmunks, a fox and a snapping turtle.  I've watched the sun rise, watched it set, been the first to make footprints in new fallen snow, and watched  great Vs of Canada Geese majestically moving through the sky over the broad Potomac.   I'm really a runner!

Thinking Ahead

You might have noticed the colorful new link on my sidebar.  I've joined South Beach Steve in his 100 day challenge.  It's still incredible to me that we're in the new millennium, much less that there are only 100 days left in 2010 (as of next Friday).  I am so close to reaching my WW goal, but it seems to me that I've started treading water in the pool for a while now and that I haven't been making much progress.  I know I CAN do it, but now is the time to declare I WILL do it.  And I'll reach my WW goal before January 1st 2011.  So there.  Click on the sidebar picture to link to the details of the challenge, I'd love some company.

Thank you for your encouraging words to my post last Wednesday.  I admit I was discouraged, but reading your comments and your posts has helped me regain my drive.  I've had a bit of a problem with Mr. Munch over the past couple days, but I've kept up with my exercise and the fridge is stocked with good healthy food for the coming days.  And yes, I drowned the offending contraband in the sink and then consigned it to the trash can in the garage.

This morning was beautiful (again!) and I ran over 5 miles.  Some time this week my Nike+ gal in the right sidebar will shout that I've run 1000 miles (that's since mid Oct 2008).  I'll be sure to mention it that day.  Stay tuned.  I went to Praise Moves again on Friday.  I was able to stay for the entire 75 minute class and it really felt really good.  The stretching is great for my body and it makes me more mindful of my posture.  In addition I like the company.  Tomorrow I think DH and I will try to get in a long bike ride (unless he has another soccer game to referee in which case I'll go alone).  I want to ride over to DC to the beginning of the C&O canal trail.  I really want to bike the C&O from Harper's Ferry to DC this fall.

One of the beautiful lilies from my garden

So far I'm doing pretty well in fitting in all the things I need and want to do in my days.  I think that, like so many of you, I might cut down on my time spent blogging (writing and reading) if I find my days getting too short.  I'd hate to do that, so I'm going to see if I can be a bit more disciplined in how I spend my time.   We'll see.

Happy Week End.