The Funk

Here is a little Friday stream of consciousness for you... Happy weekend! :)

It is funny. All that time spent in graduate school has given me a new perspective post-graduation. While I am SUPER grateful to be done with homework, late nights reading articles or textbooks, or group projects, I am finding that this time after graduating has been fun and relaxing, but different. While life and work and normal responsibilities still are moving at a fast pace, I am finding that all the things I thought about doing post-graduation, I am lacking the routine or discipline to actually do them. I had projects GALORE I wanted to do once being done with school. All those nights I was writing or meeting virtually with group members on projects, I had a list of "man, I wish I was doing [insert some form of fun that doesn't involve schoolwork here]". I even wished I had time to clean...like clean your whole house clean. Now that I have that time, I am having a difficult time making a routine. Scheduling my days to accomplish something outside of normal work hours. Once I get home, I just want to watch tv. I have never been a big tv watcher, but now, that's much of what I find myself doing. My books I have from the library even remain unread. What is going on?!  I need to get myself back on track and find a good rhythm. When you are forced to do hours of schoolwork, you just do it. It is hard, not fun, but it forces productivity. I can't handle not doing something productive. Just sitting is so foreign to me it makes me feel almost guilty for doing it. I guess, like in all things, I need to find a balance. I need to balance sitting watching tv time with doing projects or other household activities. I mean, I have been keeping up with routine cleaning, etc better than when I was in school, but the extra projects seem to be just waiting to be addressed and I keep putting it off. I am not a procrastinator, for the most part. Why am I suddenly doing this? I need to get out of this funk. This "wanting to be lazy" funk. I need to get on a schedule...you know I love a good list:) looks like it is to the drawing board on "being productive post-school".

I'll let you know how this all turns out... :)

The Break Up Update

So a few weeks ago, I declared that I was going to make some changes. Some healthy changes. Eat healthier, stop drinking soda, exercise more. Here's an update on breaking up with old habits and the new habits I am trying to start.

Eating. My eating has gone up and down. I use the calorie counter and it helps, but sometimes it is hard to remember to enter everything or find what I am looking for in the searches. But, I am finding that even if it is a "close enough" search to what I have been eating, it makes me much more aware of how much and what I am consuming.

Moving into our house has made eating healthy much more difficult. When your trips to the grocery store become few and far between, it makes keeping fresh ingredients at home difficult. I am glad we are getting settled in and will be able to unpack all our cooking stuff so I can start making meals at home. Pizza and hot dogs for several days in a row are not exactly part of my eating-healthy plan. But, I have been able to make a couple quick trips to the store to get some fruit and salad stuff so I am making it happen the best I can in the interim.

One of my biggest things I am trying to work on is not to give up on this goal. It is discouraging when you can't eat healthy because of time constraints or because you don't want to overbuy right before/during/after a move while you are getting settled. It is so much easier to eat out or get something quick, like pizza. So, I am trying to keep a mindset of not getting frustrated. It is ok and it is only for a time. I am trying to monitor my portions, but if my current meal isn't ideal, don't worry, and don't fall off the bandwagon. You got this. I will try again the next time. I find that if I can't do something fully and completely, I tend to push it to the wayside. So I am working on that.

Soda Drinking. It is funny because I used to not be a big soda drinker at all. Times change, but I am doing pretty well with it. I have had some soda, especially with moving, etc., but kinda like with my eating, I am not going to fret over a soda I may have. Because I haven't been eating as healthy and the stress of moving and still going to work every day, my stomach has been giving me issues. Sometimes, you just need to drink a soda. Sugar and carbonation can help sometimes. So, what I decided was I should try and not have soda as much as possible, but if I am really craving one or am feeling not-to-great, try to just have 1 soda for the week. This goes back to the don't-fret-and-don't-fall-off-the-bandwagon mantra. Just have to keep plugging along and do the best you can.

Exercising. Packing boxes. Moving boxes. Unpacking boxes. This totally classifies as a workout. So the gym can wait. :)


So there's the low-down and update of my big declarations. I haven't found the scale yet in unpacking, so I guess that's probably a good thing for now.

:)

Here is to breaking up with old habits and keeping up with your new goals and sticking with them...but not fretting if you slip up now and then!

~AMK

Habits & Rabbits

Ok, so this post really has nothing to do with Rabbits. I just liked how it sounded. I am not a poet, but if I get a chance to rhyme a word or two, I feel like telling my high school self that it will turn out ok that you can’t master writing a haiku or other poetry types. (Confession: yes, I have been laughed at, by a teacher, with how poor my poem-writing-skills were, in front of the whole class). But that is neither here nor there…I’m beyond my need to write poetry. Doesn’t really suite me anyway, just not my thing. 

But ANYWAYS, back on track. Reeling it in.

Habits. I googled “define: habits” and this is what pops up:

Pretty straight forward and applicable. Minus the taking of drugs part. Just say no.

Anywho, I have gotten into a bad “regular tendency or practice” of not eating as healthy as I should, and not exercising regularly. I blame two things: I started dating KGK and I became happy, so why work out?; and I started grad school.

So now, I am more than 2 years beyond the start of KGK and I starting our fun-filled journey together and my grad work is behind me. I have gotten into quite the slump and extra humps (graphic, I know, how do you think I feel?!). So it is time to get myself back into better shape. I will never be within my ideal weight/BMI range for my height. Never have been. And even when I played sports with morning and evening practices and constantly on the go when I was younger, I was NEVER within those ranges. I was always like 20 pounds more than those. Not sure how they come up with that stuff, but I had two things going against me: big hips (even in middle school when those suckers started spreading), and big boobs (even at my lowest, these suckers are just big).

So now that I have gotten extremely personal and said things on the web that my mother would probably freak out over (sorry mom, but just being honest about the girls), I have decided to get myself into a workout routine and making healthier eating choices.

Now first, let me explain. I am not an expert. I will mess up. I love beer and wings, so those will still be in my food consumption every so often. However, I am making small choices to ensure I am feeding my body what it needs MOST of the time, and having those “fun” things only some of the time. My some and MOST have been flip flopped for the past couple years. So it is time to flip flop them back again. Get myself back on track and be a better and healthier me.

Ok, next. Working out. UGH. Say it with me…UGH. Well, time to get that kicked into high gear too. I am not planning to start going to the gym 5+ days a week. I will not spend more than an hour or so there at a time. Because let’s face it, if I place too big of a goal, I have more room to miss it and fail. So, I am starting small. I plan to go to the gym at least 3 times a week. If it doesn’t happen, I will try to do it the next week. Life happens. You can’t always be a machine and stay on schedule or keep to regimens as we hope we can. So I am allowing myself to be flexible, but not be lazy. I am going to force myself out of bed in the morning to go to the gym. I will be sure to go to classes or get a workout in even after long days at work. Enough forcing and it will be an easier push eventually. I will get in the habit of it again. I used to frequent the gym 4 times a week before grad/KGK happiness entered my life. Now, with more going on, I expect 3 times a week for myself. I want to be healthier and fitter so that I can be active for more years of my life. I don’t want to have a family and not be able to go outside and kick around a soccer ball or not go for hikes. I want my kids to see their momma as active and going on adventures. They need to see me making the time to take care of myself so that they will do those same things too. 

So now starts the hard part. Getting into the habit. Habit making is hard, habit breaking is easy and so much more fun. But once something is a everyday practice, it becomes easier. Making my coffee every morning is a habit. I enjoy it. Being healthy can be the same too. I just have to get over the initial work to get it brewing.

Received this gem from a friend today.

So my goals are to get some poundage off and be healthier. I will need all the help I can get, so any encouragement or words of advice/wisdom are greatly appreciatedJ

~AMK