Organise and Diarise

Last Thursday’s challenge (12WBT Pre-Season Task 6) was to get organised and diarise everything: functions, events, public holidays, workout time, grocery shopping time, cooking time etc. Mish suggested setting aside time on the weekend to cook ahead for the following week and freeze or refrigerate meals. Just like I did the weekend before last. It worked that week too. I had a warm fuzzy moment realising that I’d managed to work out something helpful for myself without having to be told. I have to say though, it was more a ‘remembering what Mum used to do when we were younger’ than working out from scratch with no prior knowledge or experience.

I haven’t done it yet, but I’m going to try putting all of this into the calendar on my phone because that’s what I use instead of a paper diary. I might have to invest in a bigger memory card though. I’ve already got a ‘storage space is getting low’ message permanently on my notification bar…

Progress Report:

Just an update report on the blue light sunglasses… I have been wearing them most nights (I have to take them off to play Draw Something though). I don’t know if it was the glasses, or just the mental shift/transformation I’m going through at the moment but since buying them I have managed to drag myself out of bed at 6am each day (except yesterday and today I set alarm for 7am due to some extra late nights). Watching the Biggest Loser Finale was interesting… I admit to taking the glasses off now and then to see what colour the clothes REALLY were. Some of them looked pretty awful with the blue removed.

I have also been getting sleepy at night and sleeping better. Again, I’m not sure if this is the glasses, or the fact that I’ve been dragging myself out of bed. However, anyone who is having trouble going to sleep at night should consider this as an option. For the massive investment of just $12 AUD ($6 of which was postage from the US), I think it’s worth a trial.

Perhaps it’s a mental thing (like a placebo). Perhaps not. Either way, I’m sleeping at the right time of day/night. If even a part of that can be attributed to the glasses then it was worth it.

Kitchen Makeover

Monday’s 12wbt challenge was to clear all the junk food out of the kitchen so it’s not there to tempt me anymore. This was a bit scary. I wasn’t sure what I would find. While I was at work, Mr K cleared out his Milo and Quik and hid it somewhere so I don’t know where it is and I’ll forget we have it. Thanks.

Tonight I did the clear-out. It actually wasn’t that bad. The only things I had to toss were a packet of taco shells – over 12 months out of date (I’m SURE I’ve cleared the pantry out in that time), and a packet of microwave popcorn.

It dawned on me that we’ve actually been pretty good with our grocery shopping. Over the past 12 months or so we’ve made a concerted effort to buy more healthy food and cook more meals from scratch (well, as scratch as I ever will).

However, it’s also made me realise that the problem is not what I keep in the pantry or buy with the regular groceries, it’s the incidental, impulse buys of chocolate bars and soft drinks. They are what kills my diet. We don’t keep biscuits in the house (not often anyway). We don’t store chips “just in case visitors pop in”. We don’t, because we have known for a long time that if we did, we’d eat it all before the visitors ever arrived.

The result:

• I was pleased to see what progress we’ve made over the past 12 months
• I am committed to cutting out the mid-afternoon or mid-morning (unhealthy) snacks

I’m looking forward to one day realising how much money I’m saving too by not buying chocolate bars at the servo when I fill up, or at the supermarket when I’m passing, or when the mobile coffee man makes his stop at the shop next door to my work.

More money to spend on my cruise which departs in 3 months 9 days and 17 hours. Apparently.

Highs and Lows

The challenging task yesterday was to make a commitment to do whatever it takes, through the highs AND the lows, to get to where we all want to be.

Yesterday was the “high” of the commitment, motivation, enthusiasm and support from others. When I posted my commitment in the forum, the box to receive an immediate notification of future posts in the same topic was selected. My inbox has been flooded with 100s (literally!) of commitments from other men and women who are on this same (but different for them) 12wbt journey.

Today must have been the first of my lows. I wonder how many other people came crashing down today. I don’t even really know how it happened. I thought I’d been doing well. Obviously I wasn’t as ‘ready’ as I thought. I went to the supermarket on my lunch break and for some reason walked out with a 50g Cadbury dairy milk chocolate bar (which I ate in the car on the 5 minute drive back to work) AND a 200g bag of M&Ms. I shared the M&Ms with a work colleague so only ate about half the pack but that only took half an hour.

Needless to say, I wasn’t feeling the best this afternoon… I had been eating a ration of 4 squares of chocolate a day and usually that wasn’t until I got home from work. Today I overdosed. I came home ready to cook up a healthy dinner, trying another one of the recipes from my new cookbook (Michelle Bridges’ No Excuses). It looked ok, certainly nicer than most meals I have cooked in the past:

I’m sorry to say that I didn’t particularly enjoy it. As evidenced by my plate after I’d ‘finished’ eating:

Can you see the evidence of yet more chocolate for dessert? That’s all my coleslaw. Mr K ate his. He ate his chicken too but his skewers are on my plate.

My plan, all day, had been to go to the gym after dinner so at about 9pm I made my way back into town. I had planned to start week 4 of the C25K program. I did the 5 minute warm up and about 1 minute of the first run but I couldn’t run today. I was all lopsided and nearly tripping off the side (not the back????) of the treadmill. I decided to slow it down and just walk. I’ll try the C25K again some other time. I had trouble even walking straight though. I kept tripping on the join in the band/belt. I guess I don’t lift my feet high enough. I ended up opening the kindle app on my phone and just read while walking. I didn’t work up a sweat and I didn’t use my arms (I used them to keep me near the front of the treadmill, to stabilise myself and to turn the pages of my “book”).

I decided to keep going until I had burned 300 calories. This would be my biggest session since purchasing my heart rate monitor. Can you guess what happened? As the magic number 300 appeared on my watch, the time elapsed on treadmill was about 56 minutes so I figured I might as well make it up to an hour. Then, at an hour, I was so close to 5km I figured I’d keep going. I stopped after 5km though. That was enough. I was starting to feel a bit light-headed and my feet were getting pins and needly. Perhaps a result of the lack of a substantial dinner? Or the high sugar content in my system? Or a combination of the two.

Regardless, I was happy with the ‘workout’ even if it wasn’t what I’d originally planned.

(I didn’t enter my weight into the treadmill until halfway through the session, that’s why this says only 174 calories.)

After coming home, I decided I should find out what the damage was and enter all the bad food I ate today into my calorie counter (myfitnesspal). All in all, it had the potential to be a lot worse but because I went to the gym (and because I didn’t like my dinner), I ended up only 133 calories over my allowance for the day (it adds the 1200 allowance and the 353 earned through exercise).

It’s bad but not irreparable. Tomorrow is a new day. And:

Click image for source.

Matthew 5:37

But let your ‘Yes’ be ‘Yes,’ and your ‘No,’ ‘No.’ For whatever is more than these is from the evil one.
The Bible, New King James Version

Today’s pre-season task for 12wbt (number 4) was to make a commitment. To Michelle, to ourselves, to our close friends and especially our family. I made this commitment to myself the other day when I wrote my goals. I made the commitment to Michelle in the 12wbt forum tonight. Now, I’m announcing my commitment to the world.

I’m declaring, right now, that I AM going to do whatever it takes to get there. I’ve said it. I mean it. I’d better I will do it.

A robust regard for round numbers

The definitions of “robust” at thesaurus.com are healthy or strong. Today, I realised that both apply equally to my appreciation for round numbers.

History

Since joining my gym, I have struggled to stay on the treadmill long enough to cover a 2.5km distance.

Here’s my history:

Date	Distance (km)	Time (mins:secs)	Calories
13/3/2012	2.02	21:25	152
15/3/2012	1.73	14:36	?
18/3/2012	1.79	17:12	?
27/3/2012	3.47!	40:07!	285
26/4/2012	1.31	13:00	79
30/4/2012	2.27*	22:22	172
3/5/2012	3.34	31:40	245
7/5/2012	2.51**	23:22	187
8/5/2012	2.53**	21:15	189
9/5/2012	2.26*	20:10	164
14/5/2012	2.83***	25:46	238

* sessions when I pushed on to reach 2.25km

** sessions when I pushed on to reach 2.5km

*** this was a C25K workout session

Today

Today was pretty ordinary all around. It started well with me getting out of bed within half an hour of my alarm going off. I was ahead of schedule so decided to do “one thing” before leaving for work. Big mistake. Ended up late to work. Had one of those work days when you’re busy all day but have nothing to show for it at the end of the day. Went straight to a meeting after work.

I had taken my gym clothes in the morning so I could get changed after the meeting and go to the gym on the way home. So, I got changed, hopped in the car and thought “blow it, I don’t feel like going, I think I’ll just go to Coles, buy some chocolate and curl up in bed with my new book” (A Devil to Play). It arrived last week and I’m soooo looking forward to reading it.

I have to drive within two blocks of my gym to get to Coles. Guess what? I turned left and went to the gym instead of turning right to the shop…

I popped into the loo and put the heart rate monitor strap on. Clambered onto the treadmill. Stood there for a few minutes turning phones onto silent and starting my C25K app on my smartphone. Switched on the treadmill and away I went. I was really struggling at the end of the fourth (and last) run segment. It was only 3 minutes but I feel like my throat closes up when I’m running and I struggle to get air. (I really need to see a PT and find out if I’m doing something wrong.) My face was hot as anything and I’m sure it was very red. My heart rate was hovering around 180-182… I have no idea if that’s normal or even safe.

Anyway, I got to the end and did the 5 minute cool down as well. By then, I was so close to 3km I thought I might as well keep going. I did, using a mixture of running/jogging/walking. Then I passed 3km and was so close to 30 minutes I thought I might as well keep going. I did, using a mixture of running/jogging/walking. At 28 minutes I was thinking, oh no, what if I get to 30 minutes and I’m close to 3.5km I’m going to have to keep going even longer and I didn’t even want to be here in the first place (I was there in robot mode ).

Can you see where my robust regard for round numbers was taking me?

Fortunately, as the time flicked over to 30 minutes, the distance covered hit 3.33km. That was round enough for me. I turned off the treadmill, climbed into my car and headed for Coles.

Once in Coles, I grabbed some bananas and apples then made my way to the confectionary aisle. I picked up some chewing gum and exited the shop via the checkout.

I did it. I went to the gym when I didn’t “feel” like it. I lasted half an hour on the treadmill with an average speed of 6.67km/hr. I burned 286 calories in the session. I’m starting to see that it IS possible to burn 500 calories a day with planned exercise. I went into a supermarket craving chocolate and came out with fruit. And this is just pre-season. Bring on 4 June and the start of the 12WBT proper!!!!!

So, my love of round numbers is certainly strong. And at this particular time of my life, it’s going to mean a healthy me.

And instead of curling up in bed with my book, I’m sitting at the computer, freezing my butt off (I suppose if that could really happen I’d be  happy), typing this post.