Week 1 Down!

It's always tough to jump back on the wagon, which is why the first ten days of any new diet or exercise commitment are so important.  Those first few days are painful.  My body might not be used to the strains of the new exercises.  My mind will need time to adjust its habits to fit my new diet and schedule.  But once I've cleared those early hurdles, momentum builds.  Pretty soon, I'm in full swing and the new regimen starts to feel natural.  Then I start to feel my strength come back and my clothes start to fit a little better.  After a month, I'm hooked and I can see the next several months stretching out in front of me like an open field with only a few, minor and unexpected obstacles.  By that point, though, these obstacle will be easily overcome and they can't stop me from roaring on towards my goals.

It might seem funny to start thinking about sunny summer days on the beach now in drizzly November. But I've learned over the years that I respond best to a long-term goal with a clearly defined plan.  Once I have that in place, I just follow the plan.  When I feel low motivation, I turn off my mind and just follow the plan.  When I'm too busy or stressed to think about my health, I get creative and figure out a way to simply follow the plan each and every day.

My first week is complete.  I made it to the gym on Monday, Tuesday, Thursday and Friday.  I rested on Wednesday, played soccer on Thursday night for a healthy dose of fun, and spent quality time with friends on Saturday and Sunday.  I focused on eating more whole foods and keeping a solid balance to my meals.  I replaced most of my coffee with water and tried to reduce my snacking between meals.  These changes weren't drastic, just gently steering myself toward a healthier course.  The next few weeks I'll tighten the reigns a little more in an effort to prevent any major holiday binging.  By the new year, I'll already be well on my way to my goals!  Week 2, here I come.

One Key to Success: Adaptation

"Adapt or perish, now as ever, is nature's inexorable imperative." - H.G. Wells

I'm learning that staying fit with a new born in the house is all about flexibility and adaptation.  When I started this program I was going to the gym regularly in the early morning hours before my household was awake.  I was able to tightly control my meals -- both in what I ate and when I ate it.  I had set times for bedtime, waking and naps.

Now,  that's ALL out the window!  My household is a 24-hour operation.  Feedings and diaper changes happen around the clock.  My older daughter wakes up a random nighttime intervals to complain about growing pains in her legs.  Most of my meals are eaten standing up -- often while holding the baby or hassling our older daughter to please, please, please just eat one spear of asparagus in order to earn the reward of dessert.

Phase 3: Just 1.5 Months Left!

In the last few weeks, my topsy-turvy schedule has taught me some important lessons about flexibility when it comes to diet and exercise.  I thought I might share a few here:

1. Try a weekly view
Many diets or exercise programs work on a daily schedule.  While there is some logic to taking things one day at a time, I'm finding that when your life feels like a colossal blur it can be hard to maintain daily consistency.  Rather than put myself under the stress of trying to complete "X" workout on "X" day and plan out my breakfast, lunch and dinner, I have taken a step back to gain some perspective.  I try to think of my nutrition as a weekly endeavor and I try to make it to the gym a few times each week.  The benefit is that I never feel like I "missed" a workout...I just moved it to another day of the week.  And if I have a day where I indulge more than normal at my meals, I simply try to be more careful on the two following days.  The result is that I have some leeway to absorb life's ups and downs without feeling overwhelmed or completely losing sight of my goals.  (Plus, it makes these crazy goals much more acceptable to my family because I'm never going nuts saying that I absolutely HAVE TO make it to the gym today or I cannot POSSIBLY enjoy cake and ice cream at a social gathering.)

Hiatus is Over

April and May have been pretty crazy around my house!  Throughout April we were busy trying to get ourselves organized for our new baby's arrival.  Then, on May 9th, we welcomed Baby Maya into our lives.  Since then, my enjoyment of our newborn has only been interrupted by a recent change in my work schedule that has me flying back and forth across the country on back-to-back red eyes, working 12 and 18-hour days, and losing sleep while I toss and turn thinking about my exploding "to do" list.

Throughout ALL of this, I am hanging on to my fitness goals by the skin of my teeth!  I'm making it to the gym only 2 to 3 days a week, so I make sure to give 110% when I'm there.  I haven't had a lot of control over what or when I get to eat, so I've incorporated a lot of intermittent fasting to try to span the gap between healthy meal options.  Overall, I'm still on track!  I'm still getting leaner week by week and definitely getting stronger.  I'm still motivated and I'm finding that I value my workout time more than ever as a chance to turn off my mind and experience the flow of movement and music that happens when I turn on my iPod and get to work.

I've really missed writing for you folks...really missed it!  But I'm happy to say, "I'm back!"  Please keep an eye out in the next few weeks for some great posts.  More workout ideas, more reflections, more photos and progress reports.  I'm sorry for the "radio silence" over the last few weeks and I hope we can pick up where we left off.

Fitness is NOT Healthiness

Let's talk for a moment about the difference between "fitness" and "healthiness." I think that the distinction is very important. Especially because we have all been seriously brainwashed by the advertising and media that constantly screams at us with promises of having both..."Get fit and healthy, now!" "In just 6 minutes a day, you can have that fit and healthy physique that will have the guys/ladies taking notice!" Blah, blah, blah!

I would propose that physical fitness is a state of having the physical ability to perform at a certain level. For example, Lance Armstrong...physically fit, enough said. Achieving a state of physical health, on the other hand, requires a less performance-based measurement and more of a holistic understanding of the continuous inner workings of these glorious bodies of ours. When your body is in a healthy state, it is free of illness and disease, it is digesting efficiently, sleeping well, and properly balancing hormone levels in a sea of constantly shifting currents. My point in making the distinction between fitness and healthiness is that, while they often come together, that is often not the case.