So after actually about 10 days of life tracking, as it were, here’s what I’ve learned so far, both good and bad…
I CAN exercise on a regular basis!
It’s funny how simply writing it down makes all the difference here for me, almost like I’m keeping score like in a video game. Whatever works, though – over the course of the last 10 days, I’ve exercised for 6 of them, 2 days on, 1 day off, which after months of not doing a damn thing, even after dropping a grand on a new elliptical, is a win in my book!
I need to work more on getting a consistent amount of sleep.
This really isn’t a huge surprise – I have a bad tendency to stay up super late when I’m being creative, then suffer the next day and eventually end up falling asleep early. This happened to an extreme last week when I got less than 6 hours of sleep several days in a row, then clocked in something like 15 hours when the weekend hit! Besides, ultimately I know that I’d have more time if I went to bed at a set time and worked a little bit each night – I just need to work on it.
I REALLY need to stop eating out for lunch!!!
This fact was probably the most disturbing of all – over 10 days, I ate out for SEVEN OF THEM, and for a couple it was even multiple times each day. My excuse is that I’ve been really preoccupied with getting the book done and thus cooking hasn’t been anywhere in the proximity of my priorities, but considering the fact that all of this fast food may very well have directly counteracted my weight loss efforts, needless to say, I need to come up with some simple things I can make next week to avoid the drive-thru…
All in all, my official weight change for the period was 1.4 pounds, which my wife is trying to convince me is actually perfect for gradual, healthy weight loss, but this early in, I still have significant fears that it will follow my typical pattern and this week will be my most productive, thus leading to a failure even earlier than normal. I’m trying my best not to think like that … for now we’ll just have to see how the numbers look next week.