Today, I took my measurements. Granted, I did jog this morning, which may have caused my muscles to be a little swollen. This would make my measurements a little off (which had happened in the past). I'm not terribly pleased with what I had gained back in inches, but it's not as bad as it could have been. It's hard... But as the image to the left says, I will try not to focus on losing weight or losing inches as much as what I'm gaining through exercising and gently changing my eating habits. This also gives me the chance to have a very specific goal, which ironically does focus on losing. My goal for July is to get back to the the lower measurements I had at the beginning of May or to be even lower. Really, this is just to give me a very clear destination, something to drive me to build the necessary habits to achieve those numbers.
So far, I've done my morning jog three days this week. I plan to jog both Saturday and Sunday as well. My break days might be on Wednesdays. I may also do some of my interval training videos which would add strength training or I'll use some of the beginner weight lifting routines I've found online. Jogging was my priority because it is something I had to make time for... and once time was made for it, how hard can it be to simply tack on 20 or so more minutes in order to do weights?
For these jogs, I follow some of the tips I've read online; they seem to help. The main thing I'm doing is being as firm with myself as I would be with my kids. I have to use my 'mommy voice' on myself when my alarm goes off. Since I have already semi-established the habit of getting up before my husband or children, usually by a half hour to an hour, it hasn't been hard to get into my new morning pattern. Now my alarm is set a little earlier (around 5:40am) and I don't reset my alarm (which I'm prone to do) or hit snooze (which I did not do). When my alarm goes off, I get the heck out of bed and I don't give myself the chance to make excuses. I simply get up, relieve myself, grab a piece of fruit and water, get into my workout clothes and walk out the door. When my jog is done, I usually have a decent amount of time before everyone else wakes up. I use that time to let my body cool down while I brew coffee, make my breakfast while a show is playing on my laptop, and maybe take a moment to look around online. Then I take a quick (or long) shower, maybe start putting on some of my work clothes, wake up my husband and continue with my morning-work-prep while helping out with the kids when necessary.
What I've noticed thus far...I don't have an obvious exercise 'high' during or after the jog; it can take at least a week, possibly two, before that kicks in. I yawn during my jogs, but the amount of times are steadily decreasing. I am starting to look forward to the early morning exercise, which may be the slight start of my body getting the endorphin 'high'. I'm also noticing that I'm getting better with each set, but I'm forcing myself to be patient. I don't want to hurt my ankles by pushing myself like I did in the past.
But what I really like is that my morning jogs give me just a little bit more "me time" before the demands of work and family kick in. I'm doing this for me. The only person making this demand of me is ME. My mornings are a little more structured in some ways and a little more relaxed in others, especially after the run. And I feel a bit better about myself; I'm getting some exercise in so early (before life and/or excuses get in the way) that I don't beat myself up for not following through.
To me, this isn't so much about commitment or willpower. It's about me making the process too difficult to simply shirk. So far, it's working.
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