Week Four

I can't believe it has been four weeks already! I have to say, I'm doing pretty well considering everything that's happening in my life right now. Well, mostly just one thing: school starting. Week Four coincided with the first week of school, which meant that towards the end I didn't go to the gym as often as I should have. Trying to deal with getting back into school mode and getting to the gym the appropriate number of times simply became exhausting. For this week, I've decided to work out when I can (in the afternoon) while I settle into the rhythm of school, then the next week attempt to implement my 5:45 am schedule*.

As far as eating was concerned, I'm pretty pleased with my performance there as well. I've been cooking almost every night for myself and The Boyfriend, with healthier, tastier results than what I would get in the dining hall. I also just really enjoy cooking (and eating!) and am excited to try out some new recipes this week.

The Boyfriend and I also made an agreement: remember when I talked about my sweet tooth and lack of self control? Well, this month, we decided that I would give up sweets completely, cold turkey, with a system of rewards and punishments in place to help keep me on track. For those of you who are questioning my boyfriend's character right now, please be aware that he only wants to help me in my quest; none of this is fueled by derogatory remarks about my body or eating habits from him. He just knows that I can't help myself when it comes to anything with sugar. :) Anyway, if I go the week with no sweets, we get to go to the movies (or something else fun that we don't usually do, like check out a new exhibit at a museum or go to an Italian festival) and if I do succumb to my own longing, I have to run for 30 minutes. Anyone who knows me knows that running and I are like oil and water; we just don't mix. Thus, it is a fitting deterrent. This week I succeeded in abstaining from sugar so we went to see Inception (finally), which I very highly recommend.

Though some people might hate the "cold turkey" attitude, I know that for me, it's the best method. It's too easy for me to go from "one dessert a week" to "Oh, it's just a small piece of cake, no big deal" every day. I've even done something similar to this before. My senior year of college, I gave up alcohol for the entire swim season. I figured, it was my last season, why not do everything in my power to make sure it was the best one? Of course, I ended up busting my shoulder up, but despite that injury, which kept me out of the water until January, I stuck to my goal and made it. I actually cried while I had my first sip of wine in February, since I knew that it meant that my last competitive season was over. Anyway...no sweets until October 1st, and who knows? Maybe I'll carry it beyond September.

Stats for Week Four:
yards swum - 3,000
hours spent lifting - 50 min
weight change - -.4 (yay!!)

ciao

* 5:45am may sound terrible, but I think it might be the only good time for me to get a solid workout in. We'll see how this week goes.