Skip to main content

If only I had stuck with it

While we were in Los Angeles this last weekend we went to visit Paul's cousin Emily (Hi Emily!), her husband Nick, and their daughter Kate. She had asked me how the exercise was going and I told her that it was hard but I needed to stick it out. We ended up talking about all of the things we've started but quit somewhere along the way. And I started thinking about what it would be like if I'd just stuck to weight watchers or an exercise routine or any of the things I've started that would have had me looking and feeling better by now.
There's a book by Malcolm Gladwell called "Outliers". Gladwell talks about a study by Anders Ericsson that shows most people that have mastered a skill have had to spend 10,000 in their life up to that point practicing and working on that skill. I've always considered this relevant to my career but I've never really related it to my weight loss goals.

But now I am. If I want to not only improve and succeed at taking care of myself not only for now but for the rest of my life, I have to commit to the time. This has always been a point of contention for me. I hate tracking what I eat and I hate having to write anything down. Obviously I prefer just omitting food groups and having pretty basic limitations. But I don't think that's going to work. Obviously.

After a four day calorie fest in California it's time to throw in the towel and start counting calories. I'm not going to weight watch anymore, but I will be tracking what I eat and trying to stay within a calorie range. More on this to come.

In other news, I'm doing well on the challenge so far. I didn't set aside time for actual exercise while on vacation but I'm sure I've walked more in the last four days than I do in a whole month. So I think it counts. Today I went to Bikram yoga and it was rather challenging. I'm not flexible. I think this is something I need to accept before I'm going to enjoy these classes more.

How are you all doing on the challenge?

Comments

  1. So, are you still doing WW? How has that beein working for you? I'm thinking of finding the point book and using it, but I can't get to the meetings.

    Do you have a source?

    ReplyDelete
  2. So, are you still doing WW? How has that beein working for you? I'm thinking of finding the point book and using it, but I can't get to the meetings.

    Do you have a source?

    ReplyDelete
  3. I am not still doing it, but I know you can buy journals that you can track for 3 months at a time in. I don't think you have to go to the meetings to buy one. The nearest center I know of is Cedar Hills. You'd have to look up the meeting times on their website to find out when it's open.

    ReplyDelete
  4. Hey Bethany - what "diet" or routine that you've done has made you the happiest? Weight Watchers? Exercising? Yoga? Vegetarian? Etc. Then that's the one you should do again :)

    ReplyDelete
  5. the easiest has been the vegetarian. the best one with the healthiest results has been weight watchers, but it's difficult to keep up on it because it costs so much for one and because you have to write down absolutely everything you eat and I hate having to spend the time obsessing over my food. I think the exercising is probably the best thing I could do for myself regardless of whether it gets me the results I want.

    ReplyDelete

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Wha?! Where do I find this?

I'm watching Kirstie Alley's Big Life which is actually more interesting than I had anticipated. Right now she and a couple of people are riding exercise bikes in a pool! Where do I find this? I want to ride an exercise bike in a pool! Has anyone else done this before? I would also like a swimming buddy to go to water aerobics or to go aqua jogging with me. If I can find a Tuesday evening class to go to with someone I would seriously be excited. Who's in? I NEED a workout partner. I'm tired of trying to do everything alone. I came to the realization this weekend as I read my copy of Shape magazine that I have started to really slip with my exercise routine. Actually, it probably wasn't much of a realization, I pretty much know I'm being a slacker. But I think having a monthly reminder of what I could be doing for myself, like a magazine subscription, would not be a bad thing for relatively little money. There's a great pilates workout in here that I think ...

Stairmaster - Posh I Say!

I think I climbed up and down the steps to my apartment no less than 50 times today. Given that there's about 20 steps, that's about 1000 steps I did. Not to mention the carrying things each way and the unloading them into the new place. Even though my low-cost trial at the yoga college will be over soon, I don't feel guilty about missing today. I'm so tired! Moving is a freaking huge amount of exercise! The downside is that I consumed so many calories (chili-cheese fries at Carl's Junior anyone?) to probably blow an entire day of exercise out of counting. Tomorrow is a new day.

Because I like to Share

Okay, so I made this tonight and it was so incredibly delicious that I felt the need to share. I knew Paul would want hamburgers for dinner because that's what he likes and I decided that I didn't really feel like having a burger or a gardenburger. I had some portobellos in my fridge that I had forgotten that I bought. So I cleaned them, popped out the stem and stabbed them all over with a fork. Then I doused them with yoshida's teriyaki sauce and let them sit about an hour. I grilled them on the barbeque. Then I put them on a Dave's Killer bread bun (toasted on the barbeque) and topped it with a bit of goat cheese, avocado, tomato and some mixed greens. No mayo, no mustard, no fat, no meat. It was SO GOOD!!! Seriously try this! As a side I chopped brussels sprouts into quarters, drizzled them with olive oil, salt and pepper, and then put them in a disposable baking pan and threw that on the barbeque with the mushrooms. They came out crunchy with a bit of the fire ro...