Lifestyle Change Update #1

So it's Day 6 of the radical lifestyle transformation and I'm doing ok. Actually, in many ways I'm surprised at how easy it has been.

A list of items I've changed:

1. "Train" for my long term triatholon goal 5 days a week
2. Be sure to get some form of exercise every day of the week
3. Soda as a special treat only (trying to limit to once a week)
4. Dessert/sweets only once a week (Monday night at the moment)
5. Snacking only on fruits, veggies, and lean proteins
6. Going to bed before 11pm

Looking at this list in print it all seems so simple and not all that "radical". But when compared to life before this decision, it's a pretty major change.

The toughest points so far have been late afternoon (2 to 3 pm) I crash and want to eat sugar sooo badly. Need to figure out how to handle that crash....when and what should I eat to prevent it? Any ideas?

Another difficult point has been figuring in the training, especially if I miss Plan A for the day. I've decided to have a Plan A and a Plan B for every day. That should double my chances for getting in the exercise.

Need to start looking at triatholons a year out from now. I want to be sure to make it a good solid goal. I do better with deadlines as much as I complain about them.

I've enlisted the children's help with the change. They've been super in helping. Oddly, I think they are eating healthier too...although I haven't applied my own restrictions to them.

All in all a good almost week. I guess I'll know it's a changed life style when I no longer count the weeks!

Babysteps or Radical Tranformation

I need to be healthier. It's that simple. Period. I am currently the least healthy I have ever been in my life and I don't even have a good excuse. Oh, I have lots of excuses, but none of them are good ones!

In the past, when trying to make a lifestyle change, I have taken the typical advice to make small babysteps, changing a few simple things at a time. The idea being that implementing one or two changes is achievable, won't overwhelm, and can be maintained long term.

Given my lack of results with the above approach, I'm thinking of doing precisely the opposite...radical lifestyle transformation. What if I changed everything all at once? Rather than small, incremental changes, would it work to radically change my current lifestyle and start living a "healthy person's lifestyle"? I don't see that this could be harmful.

What does this healthful living look like? When should I begin? What if I fail? All things to think about. For now, I'm contemplating my approach...

Babysteps or Radical Transformation???

Starting

A beginning, a dawning, an inception, an outset, an opener, an origin.....a start

As a mother, I hope that I am teaching my children to seek the positive in situations and especially in themselves. Any parenting book around will tell you that the best way to teach your child is to model the behavior yourself. So I am learning, perhaps striving, to seek the positive in the situations and people around me, especially myself.

And so I arrive at the beginning of my first blogging experience searching for the positive in an ordinary life. I have no idea where this blog will lead or why I have begun blogging, other than it piques my interest. Whether it interests anyone else, remains to be seen!

There's nothing extraordinary about the life I live...I'm a regular mom of five children, working full time for an adoption agency, trying to balance work, life, and time for myself in amongst the every day happenings of what in today's world would be considered a "large" family.

One thing is certain, I am a great starter! I have begun many home projects, books, work concepts, etc... It remains to be seen if I can become a more accomplished "finisher". Perhaps one of the purposes of this blog is to motivate myself in that direction, to challenge myself to follow through and continue with something I've begun.

Cheers to beginnings!!!