Operation: Healthy

So, about my brilliant plan to get my life back in order. As someone who is OCD about structure and planning yet unable to motivate herself, I decided to make a schedule for myself to implement when I got back from Thailand. Here's the skinny-

Primary Goals: to lose 5-8 pounds, tone upper body muscle

Secondary Goals: to create a healthy lifestyle by implementing a healthy diet and consistent exercise


Method: follow workout guideline in The Perfect Body Diet; keep a detailed food journal which records how much I eat, at what times I eat it, how I'm feeling, and the workout I did for that day

Anyone who knows me well knows that I am a very active person. I swam competitively for 10 years, and will probably never be in that good of shape again. Once my competitive career ended in February 2009, I savored the freedom for a bit. Not having to work out for two hours every day was blissful. When I soon began to get restless, I found the transition to "normal people" workouts surprisingly difficult. My whole life I was used to pushing myself harder and harder, and the temptation to keep pushing myself that way was irresistible; it was all I knew. Being able to work out less was completely foreign to me. So, every time I started working out again, I got frustrated with my "failure" to be able to work out at the same level I had before, and would quickly, and simply, give up. That, coupled with the fact that I never really stopped eating as if I were swimming two hours a day, have led to a lifestyle (and body image) I'm not exactly thrilled with.

Now, I don't like to think of myself as a quitter. I'm more of a starter- I like to start things then just have a small problem seeing them through. Now that I've accepted the fact that I will never truly swim like I did in high school and college again, however, I am determined to develop a healthy, normal lifestyle.

Along with this new zeal for physical health, I've been trying to shape up my mind as well. I plan on taking the GRE in a few weeks, so I've been attempting to get in gear and study for that every day, as well as really accept the fact that school is starting in two weeks and I really need to get some lesson planning done. I think all this, the physical and mental health, goes hand hand, and it's hard for me to have one without the other. So, here's to the last two weeks before school starts, and to seeing if I can get something great started - and stick with it.

ciao

P.S. I in no way have body image issues, think I am seriously overweight, or want to cut back my eating just to achieve a number on a scale. I just want to be consistently healthy, which I don't think I am right now, and if getting a better bod is a result, all the better! :)