Motivation and Action

Isn’t interesting how you start a project (like losing weight) and are excited & enthusiastic & full of hope & promise? It is so easy to make good choices & even lifestyle changes – for a little while. About two weeks in, I suddenly burned out on preparing fruits & vegetables all day long. Fast food seemed like the easy button. Diet Coke sounded a lot tastier than water. I thought that I was doing something wrong.

I asked my trainer for ideas – I told him that I’m just not feeling it. He asked me, “What’s changed? Are you stressed? tired? what’s different?” Oh yeah… the kids were back from scout camp & the 50-miler. Scott was back to work. Chris started his Spanish class @ tech. My days were suddenly not my own. I took a nap. I took a rest day (sort of – after a killer personal training workout). I just followed the eating plan without thinking too much. (It helps that the diet & the working out are working!)

The good news is that I really like to exercise. Gretchen Rubin (a blogger who frequently writes about happiness) said, “Regular exercise ‘improves your mood, decreases anxiety, improves sleep, improves resilience in the face of stress and raises self-esteem.’ It also offsets the effects of aging. In fact, in some studies, the effect of exercise was equal to that of drugs or psychotherapy.” I am all in favor of happiness & better sleep & good moods.

OK, I think I am rambling. The whole point is that I don’t have to feel like it to do it. I guess that’s one of the lessons that I’ve learned from being an adult. I might not feel like cooking dinner, but if I don’t do it, the kids will have cereal or PBN (peanut butter & nutella). I might not feel like making my bed, but it is too close to the front door to neglect. I might not feel like going to boot camp at 5 a.m. but I made a commitment to be there this month & so I go. I might not feel like exercising on Saturdays (the other days are pretty easy) but when I do, I feel so much better!

We watched the movie “Marathon Man” about Dean Karnases who ran 50 marathons in 50 states in 50 days. The pictures & the music & the words were put together very well. It inspired me to be more of a runner. (Being inspired & being fast are not connected in my world yet.) There was a quote by a random guy in the show, “The only way I lose today is if I don’t have the courage to come out & try.”

Yesterday, I decided to have courage & go try another 5K. It had been a long time since I had run on pavement (other than laps around the building at 5 a.m.). The temperatures were steamy at 8:30 a.m. I left my headphones at home (even worse than the heat!). But the course was beautiful (Furman University). I ran & finished Maggie’s Run in 36:50. It was as difficult to run as the half marathon I completed back in March, but I still felt like I had accomplished something great as I drove away.