Responsibility 199, what is it?

Responsibility 199 is a belief; I believe that to be healthy and to increase my longevity I need to weigh 199 pounds or less...
Responsibility 199 is a need; I need to reduce my weight, reduce my percentage of body fat, and the elevated threat of disease my present condition presents...
Responsibility 199 is a mission; I recognize that achieving 199 will be a challenge, perhaps the hardest I have ever undertaken...
Responsibility 199 is a commitment; I acknowledge that I must commit to action, commit to change, commit to myself and those I love to achieve this mission, to increase my longevity...
Responsibility 199 is ME.

Friday, January 14, 2011

Day 273 - Oh You Have Time

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I can count on more hands than can be found holding beer cans at a Nascar race the number of excuses I have used for not working out. One of my favorites, "If I exercise today I won't have the energy I want for that really hard workout I have planned tomorrow!"

But I don't want to go on here about excuses for not exercising. Oh no, I want to get into the remedy, the things you can do to make time to exercise. Now I have to say, I am writing this because I admit that I need to find more time to do so. So, here is what I am thinking; just maybe you need to think about this too...

Tele-commute more often. I do have the option to work from home when desired. I choose not to unless I really need to because I crave the face time with the people I work with, even the people I find as friendly as vultures in a desert. But on days I do work from home I can easily convert that 60-80 minutes of drive time into exercise time.

Sleep less, or sleep faster which ever feels more comfortable. I am going to try the sleep faster technique and if it doesn't work I will wake up 30 minutes earlier and get in a focused mini-work out before getting lost in the tasks of the day.

Give up stuff that wastes my time. Some quick possibilities... watching television - such a suck-hole of life; shopping - I hate shopping of all types with a passion, some forms I can pay others to do for me I bet; doing other peoples work for them - this applies at work, home and places in between.

Read less. Oh I don't mean stop reading but there are book shelves of under-appreciated short-stories out there. Put down the 3-400 page best selling novel and pick up some compilations written by authors that can get to the point in 30 pages of less. When the story is done, the sweating starts!

And if those don't work, just  make time. Seriously, have you ever looked at a clock and noticed how much wasted spaces is between the numbers? Reduce by 1/12th the space between those numbers and add a 25th & 26th hour to the day. Eureka, now I have a new two hour window to work out every day!

Yep, I took some creative liberties in my thoughts.
Creative or otherwise, hit me up with some additions to this list please.


Responsibility 199 - Gotta Do It!!

16 comments:

  1. Just make time - absolutely! Even doing ten minute workouts, three times a day beats doing nothing, which is what I've learned the past couple of weeks. Great post, Patrick! :)

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  2. I don't have a problem finding the time to exercise, Patrick but at this moment the spirit is willing but the flesh is weak. The toe is giving me fits again today, however I will manage to get some kind of exercise in even if I can't make it to the treadmill again today. I will have to do some walking anyway as I have an appointment to day. I know in my mind if I let one day go by without doing SOMETHING, that will become the new trend and will undo the hard work I've done since I joined that challenge.

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  3. I find my issue is sometimes just making it a priority.. There is always so much to do, and when I DO have time, I feel guilty that I'm not spending it with my son or husband. To get past that, I try to exercise when my son is asleep or get him involved (the kinect). There always days I just don't want to, but that's easier to work around!

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  4. I agree with Mrs. D. It's a priority issue. If you make exercise a high priority, somehow you find time. If you don't, that's when the excuses start. Great post!

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  5. Stop whining, that's what I need to do! If I gathered all of the minutes of the day that I spend whining about exercising and just do it, that would give me an extra 30 minutes no problem! :-)

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  6. That's why i get my exercise in before i go to work on my afternoon shift. If i don't it won't get done

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  7. Sounds like a plan. I find that I have to take Melatonin and then I sleep fast and hard and wake up earlier and refreshed. Also, I watch TV while working out, two birds with one stone. My elliptical is right in front of my TV. And I work more from home in the PM.

    Polar's Mom
    www.polarspage.blogspot.com

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  8. Ha ha ha, vultures in a desert. I haven't heard that one before to describe co-workers, but yes, I will use it.

    I agree with the wake up earlier, if I go to bed earlier. Sleep is very important to my well being and I've heard that it has been related time and again to weight loss. Our bodies need that time to do housekeeping and rebuild.

    Limiting my time on Blogger - because that can become a time warp too (no matter how enjoyable). I also note my work out time in my day book so that I don't book a dinner with a friend or anything else. That time is important (#1) and nothing short of an emergency should intefere. Even if I don't exercise flat out, but do a yoga tape or meditate or something. Me time.

    Also, I do not count on exercise for weight loss, but I do it to tone my body, lift my mood and for my heath - especially my heart and lungs. That way I don't look at it as another thing I need to do to lose weight.

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  9. LOVE grocery shopping online! It must save me about 2 or 3 hours each week that I *should* be using more wisely.... ;o)

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  10. It can be so hard for me to find the effort to work out because with 4 kids some fish a dog and a wife there is no other time I have but in the morning before work and that forces me to get up between 4 and 4:30am. This is difficult for a motivated person let alone someone who is waffling the night before. It is truly a struggle for me but I have to overcome I have no choice.

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  11. I've been looking into ways to combine timely activities with the non-timely. So, instead of watching an episode of Bones season 2 before my workout -- I just watch Bones season 2 during my workout. works.

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  12. One thing that finally got me off my huge duff, is seeing a bumper sticker. I was seriously inspired by a 5cent piece of sticky paper. It simply read "somebody who is busier than you is running right now."

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  13. Got to love this post & that last comment from James - love it!!! It is about priorities & if there is a will , if yo want it bad enough, you will do it. Heck, I do stretching & stuff while watching recorded shows so even if you do have the TV on, you can still do stuff!

    Happy Friday Patrick!

    PS: I always worked out before work.. I made the effort to set that alarm early & do it... too many things get in the way later.

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  14. I've presented you with an award, Patrick! Stop by my blog to snag it! :)

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  15. Neither my husband nor I work outside the house. We have lamented to each other that we should be in the best shape of our lives with no excuses for not exercising!

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  16. Ha ha...I totally use that first excuse: I want to conserve my energy for TOMORROW's tough workout! Thanks for kindly showing me how stupid that is.

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