Resolutions Update

Hey there everybody! So, it's been almost six weeks since New Year's, and so I thought I'd just write a little update on my healthy eating/exercise resolution. Maybe I'll write something about my writing/professional resolutions later this week.

So, I did a four-week, 4% body weight loss diet bet for the month of January and I won! Yay! So there's that. I lost 6 pounds for the bet (please don't do the math), and in total so far I've lost 7.5 pounds. Not too shabby. I ended up winning about $10. It is a tiny amount but for some reason I found the entire experience extremely motivating. It was probably more the thought of losing $30 of my hard earned bucks that really made me what to win, more than the prospect of making money. But either way, I made a little profit! And I stuck to a work out schedule for a month straight! That's the first time in over three years that has happened!

Since I was so motivated, I've decided to sign up for the Transformer on the dietbet website. It starts tomorrow! The goal is to lose 10% body weight over six months and the psychological stakes, for me, are higher. $25 each month. So I could lost out on $150 if at any point I quit. I am actually really excited about this because it means that I am going to stick to eating healthy and exercising for six months! One month, and I've got a habit. Hopefully after six months the habit will be so entrenched into my life that I will never want to stop eating right and especially exercising!

Routines

So, I just wanted to describe the routines I established during January that seems to be working for me so far. My dayjob sometimes starts as early as 7 a.m. (8 a.m. EST) and so sometimes I have to get up as early as 5 in the morning to fit in my workout and breakfast. It's not as hard as it sounds. I'm  naturally a morning person and as long as it's not before 5 I do just fine. Besides, it means that I head up to bed for 8 p.m. to read instead of what I did with my evenings before Christmas: sitting watching tv and munching until 11 p.m.

I've been following the routines on blogilates. I enjoy Pilates -- as much as I can 'enjoy' exercise. And even though I find the routines difficult, they have been helpful. Two caveats. The creator, Casey Ho, is a little too...positive...for me. Perhaps it's my continental heritage coming out but I really don't think I need to work out and be happy about it at the same time. It is too much to ask that a personal trainer tell me how to work out without the tough love or peppy attitude? I'd like a personal trainer who wears all black all the time and talks at length about existential ennuie or something over remixed pop tracks or more likely death metal. Because if I'm going to throw my body around in awkward ways in order to build muscle, there's really no way to make me be happy about it.

The other thing about blogilates is while it's amazing for gaining muscle definition...I find it a little lacking in the cardio. So I've added my own. Half hour on this old stationary bike that's sat in my basement and before that my parents for probably 15 years. Ain't pretty but it gets the job done.

And eating. Following the 17 day diet at the moment, phase one. I never seem to be able to make it to the second phase...