Day 273 - Oh You Have Time

source

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!!

Day 194 - Courageously Burning Lettuce

To shed the darkness of obesity for something better is Courage necessary? If you consider embarking on a mission to get healthy to be very challenging, to be unknown in some respects if not many, or to be one where you success is at risk from the start; then you likley also consider courage to be a necessary attribute to embrace. If you disagree, please share with the class.


Good day yesterday, no great day. Had a follow up visit for my cheek scar and all is healing as it should at this point so says the doc, excellent. Got in the cardio I mentioned yesterday in the morning and followed that up with solid eating through to the end of the day. Let's see if I can follow that up with a repeat today.

For those that asked to see the new clothes, I am here to make your requests reality; feast your eyes to the right... clashes withe sea-foam'ish green walls doesn't it?

How many are a fan of the show Burn Notice? My kids love the show so I see it on from time to time, thus I am familiar with it. I win't go as far as to say I am a fan as if there aren't goals being scored or checkered flags being waved I have a hard time giving the television time.

That said, this not a post about a television show, rather it is sort of about calories. Each day we take in calories and burn off calories. Most if not all reading here understand how the math works. Knowing the math is important. No, it is critical for understanding the basics of health if I may dare say so.

Breathe easy, I am not going to bore you with a caloric math lesson. If you want that, there are a zillion websites, try this one. Or better yet, Allan over at Almost Gastric Bypass has written some great posts on the math, give his site a search.

Knowing the math, I am interested in how to make it a fun ride on the caloric teeter-totter? Why make it fun? Well, because I like it fun, and fun it will be. If that is not reason enough then consider my (or maybe your) dozens of previous missions to get healthy. Myself, many times I just plodded through focusing on the math, and just the math. Sadly, I quit each of those missions.

A common and key learning from all of those attempts; if you don't enjoy what you are doing, your chances of success are a skosh above zero. Accepting the mission to become healthy is hard enough, particarly mentally; why make it harder still by accepting that it has to be boring? Not me, not this time. Here is one way I try and keep it fun...

I wake up, and while attending to the 3-S's I ask, What will I burn off today?

Yesterday, I committed to burning off not exercising the day before, at least 400 calories.
Today, I committed to burning off a piece of birthday cake since I will be avoiding three birthday cakes this weekend. I do not plan on eating any, not one bite, but I am going to burn one off anyhow!
Recently, I committed to burning off 10 heads of lettuce. Figuring 75 calories per; 750 was my target that day.
Once, I committed to burning off all the carbs I ate the day before. Figured a target burn of 200 carbs or 800 calories; the biggest culprit in that number were the 150 carbs of spaghetti with bolognese from dinner.

Sound goofy? To some it will. To others it won't.

Getting healthy ought to be fun! So get busy having fun & fit.

What will you burn off today?

Responsibility 199 - Gotta Do It!!

Day 74 - Semi Complete

The last day of June is here. Half of 2010 is just hours away from being history. Did you hear me; HALF! Where does the time go?

Seriously; Where does the time go?

For me it used to get thrown away waiting 6 cars deep in a drive-thru line for a Big Mac value meal and 2 double-cheeseburgers off of that lovely dollar menu (where was that when I was in college?). The doubles were my appetizer before the Big Mac main feast; anyone else do that before?

Time was also given up to watching hours, 4-5 hours an evening, of TV. Crap like reality shows and how-to shows. Did I really need to learn taxidermy & how to grout tile on the same day? Will there ever be a time I do either; let alone do them both on the same day?

Oh let's not forget those hours I punted by napping on weekends if I didn't have anything else to do or because I was stuffed from stuffing my face. Just how relaxed does one person need to be? Plus dreams from naps aren't as good anyhow.

That's where too much of my time used to go to waste when this year began. Today Big Mac's have been replaced by balanced & portion controlled choices, most TV time has been replaced by blogging, and extra sleep has been replaced by weight lifting & walking.

How is today different for you from your days just six months ago?

Did you make any resolutions on Jan. 1, 2010 (I didn't) and if so how are you doing against them?

Responsibility 199 - Gotta Do It!!