Hi!
Yesterday my friend Lizzi Sparks surprised me by being in town and offering to take me to dinner. I haven't seen her in a year! We ate a little bit more decadently than I would have chosen if I was home, but we also walked around for about three miles in Baltimore to get to a comic shop instead of taking the bus. I had a great time and felt good while I was with her, but I felt depressed while going to sleep. I think I am used to going to the gym every day now and when I don't, I feel like my day was too empty... I'm applying for jobs but don't have one yet, so if I don't make it to the gym I feel like I should have accomplished more.
I did go to the gym today! I was supposed to do "Upper Body Strength" yesterday, but I did it today instead, after warming up on the rowing machine. (There was a real rowing athlete on the machine while I was waiting to use it, so I was able to see what good form looked like...) Today I added five pounds to each machine from what I remember using last week. (I know i am supposed to keep track of this... before i was just playing it by feel every time I went to the gym, but from now on I will keep track and make sure I am pushing for heavier weights over time). I feel very sore now as a result, but also accomplished! For the free weights I was able to go from five pound to eight pound dungbells, and I am close to being able to use the ten pounders.
I am at about 178 pounds as of today. I only lost about a pound this week, which is below my average. I am surprised because I worked out MORE intensely this week than usual... but I know where I went wrong. Derek likes to have sweets in the house, and this time it was something I couldn't resist: cookies. It was bad both because it was high in calories, AND because they make me feel sick, but if they are right there in the house I have trouble resisting them at night. I feel like I was making the decision not to eat them several times per hour all day and just ran out of steam by nighttime. I explained which sweets I found hardest to resist, and now we will have a compromise where he gets sweets that I find less amazing :) Derek has been very supportive of my process and I know he will oblige.
That's all for now... I should get to sleep to let my arms recover. Have a great day!
Elizabeth
I don't know if it is the same for you, but I always get more depressed when I don't have work to do. It would be unbearable for me not to have a job. I think your moods will stabilize when you get a job. In the meantime, some daily discipline in addition to exercise might help. Something like 1 hour of healthy food prep, 2 hours job search related work, 2 hours art, 1 hour workout, 1 hour of math homework. I am not kidding about the math. It really cheers me up.
ReplyDeleteThat is a good idea! I will work on a schedule that works for me. I really dislike math, but maybe I will consider sudoku or something else numbers-related that is a game :) Thanks!
ReplyDeleteCOOKIES! I can't resist a good cookie. Even a bad cookie- I have a hard time limiting myself to just one :/ Reading what you said about making your decision over and over again to not eat that cookie reminded me of a study a read a while ago. The conclusion was that you have about half a second to decide whether or not you're going to eat the cookie, but if you waver in your initial decision, you're just going to deplete your willpower eventually and eat the cookie. While searching the internet for that study, I came up with this one:
ReplyDeletehttp://www.nytimes.com/2011/09/04/books/review/willpower-by-roy-f-baumeister-and-john-tierney-book-review.html?pagewanted=all
about the finite supply of willpower, ways to increase willpower, and how kindergarteners who chose two marshmallows Later over one marshmallow Now did better in many aspects of their adult lives.
But I also just came across this other article:
http://www.nytimes.com/2011/11/27/opinion/sunday/willpower-its-in-your-head.html?_r=0
that says that people who think willpower is limitless have unlimited willpower, and people who think they have a willpower muscle will tire that muscle out. Weird, huh? I guess I'd like to believe that second article because a) it was published a couple months after the first one, so I can only assume the author was 2 months smarter (i kid, i kid) and b) I'll believe it just in case it gives me limitless willpower, without having to do those pesky willpower exercises (like doing your everyday tasks with your non-dominant hand). Of course, maybe only the people who are born with unlimited willpower are the ones who believe in that. hmm, more research is in order...
lookin good cuz!
I hope my mom doesn't read this and scold me for all my run-on sentences and poor grammar!
Hi Judy! I only just saw this, thanks for commenting :) I think it probably is a muscle too.. .those were interesting articles :) Also I have a lot of run-on sentences too... it's the internet after all.
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