"Exercise: Necessary Evil or Untapped Enjoyment?"

I am late. My meetings are, as you know, on Wednesdays and now it is Monday and I'm finally getting around to writing about the "Exercise: Necessary Evil or Untapped Enjoyment?" meeting topic. Regardless, here goes nothing:

Exercise. Ugh. The bane of my existence. Even growing up, when I tried to play sports as a kid, I was never very coordinated or skilled at anything. I got used to the idea that my brother was the athletic one, and I was the smart one. It's funny how those early memories stick with you and influence your adult life. Still today, when I try some new form of exercise, there is that little voice of doubt in the back of my mind reminding me that I am not athletic and will probably suck at whatever I try. It literally took me months of psyching myself up before I could set foot in a spinning class. I was sure there was no way I was in good enough shape to keep up. Turns out, I was! Plus I really enjoyed myself!

This week I have earned exactly 0 activity points. I have not lived up to my promise from last week that I would keep up the great workouts even though I am going back to school. I was tired and my schedule was hectic and I used that as an excuse to be lazy. I am positive I will see a difference on the scale in the morning... and I hope it will be enough to motivate me to do better this week.

On a related note, I am ending my gym membership and I am totally okay with that! At my meeting last week I came to a realization that although I really detest going to the gym (sometimes enough to make me avoid going altogether!) I actually really enjoy many other types of exercise. I got caught up in the mindset that unless I was slaving away on a cardio machine at the gym (and hating life) I wasn't actually exercising. Last week, I realized that was not true. I had that huge loss and I did not set foot in the gym. I hiked with my dog, I ran intervals on the power line through the woods, I rode my bike. I loved every minute of it, earned a ton of APs, and had a huge loss on the scale. That was a real light bulb moment.

I decided that I am done treating exercise as a necessary evil and that is the attitude I have when I force myself to go to the gym. It doesn't make sense to do something I hate, just because it burns calories. I wouldn't force myself to EAT something I hate, just because it is good for me! Instead, I would find a substitute healthy food that would give me the same benefits but that I could actually enjoy. My new fitness goal is to tap into the enjoyment side of exercise. I will continue to try new things in order to find activities that burn calories and work out my heart, but I will require they are activities I actually enjoy! Plus, it sure won't hurt to have an extra $35 a month that I am currently spending on my gym membership!!

Week in Review

This morning's weigh in was super successful! I lost 4.1 pounds since last week. Typically, that's a pretty unrealistic expectation. However, since I have not been living super healthy for most of this summer, and last week was the first week I really got serious about getting back on track, a pretty big loss was the result. I expect it to be a much smaller loss next week, but I'll certainly take that 4.1 for now!! I'm only 4 pounds away from my lowest adult weight!

Accomplishments of the Week

This week I kicked ass because:
1) I tracked everything I ate (even the junk, even the littlest bites and tastes, everything!) - This is so important! It's easy to ignore little tastes, or write off the junk food as a screw up, but all of it adds up! Note to self - suck it up, admit you ate it, write it down!

2) I made it through a wedding, and several beers, without binging on any junk food there (and, of course, I tracked the beer!) - Weddings are tough. A lot of times you have no idea what food will be served and by the time it IS served, you have made great friends with the bartender. For most of us, more drinks = less capacity to make great decisions. At this wedding, I didn't allow myself to fall victim to the taunts of cheesy pasta, fatty beef, or creamy dips. I ate super clean. I chose chicken breast, a baked potato, steamed veggies, and fresh fruit. All of that even after a few drinks! To me that's a sign of a healthy lifestyle starting to become the norm, instead of something I have to force upon myself!

3) I bought tons of fresh, local fruits and veggies and used them for everything (breakfast, lunch, dinner, dessert, snacks, you name it!) - 'Tis the season for local produce, no matter where you live. Take it from an upstate NY girl, where most fruits and veggies aren't ripe until mid-summer: seize it while it's available, it will soon be gone! I can't stress enough the importance of supporting local growers. Their produce is fresh, your money is supporting your local economy, and you are helping the environment by purchasing goods that didn't have to be shipped across the country for your consumption. Check out this amazing caprese salad I made the other night with local tomatoes, fresh mozzarella, and basil from my own herb garden:

Goals for Next Week

Next week I will kick ass, because I plan to:
1) Try some new recipes - I have three picked out. Not sure if I will get to all of them, but I'm going to try. New recipes really help keep things fresh and exciting. There are some foods I love and could eat everyday, but I don't want to get stuck in a rut or get bored by food.

2) Go back to WW meetings - I am going to admit that (gulp) I haven't been to a meeting since May! Eeeep! Seriously, I love my meetings, I love my leader, I have no idea why I strayed. Then it got to the point where not going just became habit. But tomorrow, I GO! I promise.

3) Kick it up a notch - When I'm not on track for awhile and I decide to get back ON track (like I did last week), I tend to focus on one aspect of a healthy lifestyle at a time. Last week, that was the food part. Since I was so successful at getting my eating back under control, this week I will be continuing eating healthy while also focusing more on the activity part. Today, I already made a step in the right direction:

Here I am, in the reflection of my car window, getting ready for a bike ride (always wear a helmet, people!).  I have a pretty decent mountain bike and I haven't had a chance to ride my favorite trail much this summer. Today was a cool day, but sunny, so I took the opportunity to ride for about an hour and a half. I had an amazing, peaceful ride plus I earned 7.5 activity points!!

My favorite trail is part of the "Rails to Trails" program. It's an old railroad converted to a multi-use trail. People use it for hiking, biking, horseback riding, etc. I really love it because it's such a beautiful ride through the woods and past swamps where I get to see a lot of different wildlife. Today I saw deer, rabbits, and a tiny little turtle sunning himself on a log! Most of the trail looks just like this:

... and makes me think of "The Road Less Travelled". The great part about "Rails to Trails" for beginning bikers is that since the path used to be an old railway, there were rules about how steep the grade could be... Meaning there are no areas where there are super steep inclines!

So I felt really great about getting all those APs right in the beginning of my week. It's a habit I hope to continue as the week goes on. Even when I feel like I don't want to make time to exercise, I try to remind myself that it's essential for a healthy lifestyle. Could I lose weight without it? Sure. But will I get all the same health benefits, just by losing weight and not exercising? Nope. So exercise it is.

Good luck and stay healthy!