Sunday:
Reducing starchy foods may be great for my glucose intolerance, but it's not doing anything for my weight which is continuing to creep up. I am replacing starches with large amounts of fatty food, in particular cheese which I am binging on in the evenings. I'm not exercising or being consistent with my CPAP or doing anything else to promote my health. And I'm slacking on the low-starch, too.
I'm reading this book about motivation. So far mostly about what not to do. For instance, a movitation like "I must exercise every day to reduce my risk of diabetes, to lose weight so I look better, to sleep better and eventually get rid of my CPAP, and to feel healthier" is apparently wrong on every possible level. A) it sets up exercise as a chore, not a fun gift I'm giving to myself. B) it offers future rather than immediate benefits, which is hard to compete with current comfort sitting around. C) it has multiple reasons, which apparently reduces motivation rather than increases it, you are better off with just one reason to focus on.
One problem I have with where this book seems to be going, is that I have already chosen exercises I actually enjoy while I'm doing them (walking and dance, and even elliptical with the hiking videos). It's not that I'm forcing myself to do things I hate. Yet knowing I will enjoy it still doesn't get me off the couch. Getting started just seems too much effort. Not just exercise, many things I enjoy quite a lot. It's easier to not do anything. But I'll keep reading and hope for tips. I haven't got up to the how-to steps yet.
Yesterday I took Jasmine clothes shopping. We had a productive morning, I clocked up 6,000 steps and I didn't get home exhausted like the day before. My neck was still a bit stiff but otherwise I felt ok. In the afternoon we played Dungeons and Dragons, and Tim and the kids went on a bike ride. I don't ride, in fact my bike was stolen a couple of years ago and my insurance company replaced it but I have never even tried out the replacement. I only rode the original a handful of times, very slowly. I felt wobbly and unsafe and much too high off the ground even though I got the extra-small size. Yet as a child I rode all the time! But as a child I wasn't scared of heights.
Today unfortunately both Tim and I felt unwell again. Stupid germs. I went back to bed for a while in the morning, then after lunch tried to go out for a family walk but I felt ill straight away and turned back, then spent the rest of the afternoon lying on the lounge. At least I had a good nap! Maybe it will help. Tim spent a lot of the day playing computer games but did manage to cook a lovely dinner for us.
Report card:
Diet: Ok to poor.
Exercise: Poor.
Water: Very poor.
Sleep: Good if you count two naps today?
Mental health: Ok.
Now that you mentioned it, I agree with the book... Thinking about my own experience, my goal was to lose weight, the benefits were to get my cholesterol level down, get my blood pressure down, look better (if that was even possible LOL), have more energy.
ReplyDeleteBut that being said, we all have different way to motivate ourselves, I think the main thing is to be positive and believe that what we are doing is the right thing. Have a plan that would set you up to the success road and FOLLOW it. No side road to un-heathy choices! It's mostly mental Natalie.