I've heard it said that it takes 21 days to successfully change a habit. Some say its that you have to do something 21 times to make it habit. But there are all kinds of habits. Talk to a habitual drinker or smoker and I'm sure they will laugh at your 21 days and times! Some habits are just so engrained that they are a struggle to modify no matter how deep your conviction for change. Then there are also physical restraints. For instance, I may really want to change my eating habits and become a Vegan. However, my physical make-up simply doesn't support a total Vegan way of eating. I need the iron that meat provides. On top of that, I really like a little meat in my diet. So, I'm not a Vegan.
There a four major changes that I must make now that really, I have no choice about. That means cold turkey change is in order and my thinking (read: attitude) will make or break the process of building these new habits. What are they, you ask? Here's a quick list! (Ah...I love a quickie list!)
- Work - I have built a habit of traveling the 11 miles to my office, 5 days a week for over 27 years. As of this week, I now work only 2 days per week at my office and the other 3 days, I work from home. My total travel time for the 11 miles with traffic is usually about 30 minutes. I was not eager to start this new work arrangement, but after checking my thinking (read: attitude) and writing down a list (Really? Go figure!) of all the good things that come from working from home part of the time, I'm really glad to be making this change. Here are what I perceive as the benefits:
- Commute time cut from 5 hours per week to 2
- Miles on my car of 110 miles per week is down to 44
- Instead of 1 tank of gas per week, I'm now using less than 1/2 tank
- I'm able to start and end work earlier in the day when I'm at home
- I'm more comfortable (I like my work area at home very much!)
- I'm not going to wear as many of my 'work' clothes each week, which should make them last longer
- I have less interruptions at home (even with other people here)
- I can enjoy my home more
- I'm not polluting the air as much since I'm not driving as much
- I'm one less car on the roads where I live
- The benefits seem endless!
- But what about the drawbacks?
- I'm not seeing the people I work with as much
- I no longer have a private office, but must share space with another manager (I still have my own desk, but there could potentially be another person in the room with me.)
- I may miss out on some office wide events
- Personal - Exercise. I like to exercise, but when you gain weight it really is hard to do most exercise routines. However, hard or not, I miss exercise in my life and the wonderful benefits of it and I want it back. So, back it is coming. What I've learned about myself is that I HAVE to make it fun. So, the game is this, find at least 6 different exercise routines that I can perform and then use each one on a different day Monday through Saturday (Sunday is my day of rest). Here are the routines I've selected (all available on YouTube and links provided):
- FitnessBlender's Low Impact Cardio Workout for Beginners
- Leslie Sansone's Start Walking At Home 1 Mile
- Biggest Loser Power Walk 1
- FitnessBlender's Beginner Boot Camp Workout
- Leslie Sansone's Start Walking At Home 2 Miles
- Biggest Loser Power Walk 2
- Personal - Food. I like...no, I LOVE food. I love everything about it. I love buying it, cooking, planning it, serving it, cleaning up after it, you name it. I LOVE it! And, I'm good at it. The distressing part is it doesn't really love me back, so much. I have to watch what I eat. I've lost and gained weight lots of times, but most successfully in 2008 I lost 107 lbs. only to gain it back when I injured myself and had to have emergency surgery, then my brother was diagnosed with cancer, then I was diagnosed with my own cancer and had to have surgery all within a 2 year period following the weight loss. So, what did I have? I had weight gain! Everything has settled down and now is the time for me to re-remove the 107 lbs. plus take it further and get even more gone...for GOOD! After all I've learned, here is how it will work:
- There is no time limit...I don't care how long it takes! I'm not running a race this time
- Exercise every day except Sunday.
- Eat what I want in smaller portions, making sure to have plenty of vegetables and fruit
- Make sure that every day of the process is fun and that I'm having food I LIKE.
- Weigh weekly for now and move to daily as soon as I am less than 200 lbs. (This is key! When I gained the weight back, one of the things that made it easy was I stopped weighing myself!) I do not fear the scale! It helps to keep me honest.
- Personal - Tea. Caffeine is something I was warned about when I lost my kidney to Renal Cell Carcinoma. When you have one kidney, too much meat and caffeine is not a good thing for you. Too much protein and caffeine make the remaining kidney work too hard. Now is the time to make sure I correct that. Tea had to leave my life. I've waved it off now for good and I won't be bringing it back again. I drink water. Call me dull, but it is just easier this way.
So that's it. I'm over here making changes. I know that everyone is working to improve their life experience and I'm no different. Although my nature is to just be happy, I am deeply unhappy with what I've done to myself, just by neglecting exercise and runaway eating. I chose this and I don't want it. So, I have to undo what I've done and that means choosing something new! For me, it means:
exercise - eating with some restraint - monitoring
The exercise, eating and monitoring is going on over on my weight loss journey blog at www.pleasestepawayfromthecupcake.blogspot.com. Be sure to check it out and see how I'm doing! Until tomorrow when I'll share something new from the world of The HumbleVoyager, Godspeed, Voyagers!!
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| A half dozen roses, just because they are beautiful! |
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