When I started this whole process I decided that I needed to do an inventory to find out some important information. Without information, there is no transformation.
Eat. Sleep. Move
I had to take stock and measure not just what I was eating, but how much I was moving and sleeping. People underestimate how important the last two items affect your health. Not just moving to exercise, but how much do you move in an average day. I had no idea how sedentary I had become. My job now entails sitting at a desk 8 hours a day, only moving to get a cup of coffee or to find files. Never mind exercising, I wasn't moving at all during the day and very little at night. So I took stock. I measured not just my steps with a pedometer, but how many miles I logged on the exercise machines or miles I walked, I measured how much yard work I did and walking around the big box stores or at the mall. It was interesting that when I became more conscious of how little I was moving how easy it was to increase.
So in addition to keeping a food diary I keep a exercise chart and a sleep chart. I've mentioned before how important it is for a person to get sufficient sleep. I have noticed that since I started to keep track of the amount of sleep I'm getting, I can accurately guess how much weight I'm losing. It's true, the better you sleep, the more weight you lose. The more you sleep, the better you move. The more you sleep, the better your attitude toward this whole process. So keeping track is now a must for me.
Does this all seem a little obsessive? It does to me sometimes. I think there is a fine line between being focused and being compulsive and I do at times cross that line. But again, if I don't inventory my mental state I wouldn't notice that I was being overly focused, that inventory helps keep me balanced.
You have to walk that fine line. You have to be aware without being obsessed. I often use to wonder how people with total body dis-morphia get that way, I wonder no longer. We get busy in this world and we focus on other things. How much money we make, how much crap we can buy, how much the neighbors buy. We lose track of ourselves. Inventorying is a way for us to find ourselves again.
At this point I'm hoping that this constant surveillance will soon move into a type of observation that is less focused and more natural. Keeping track of my body, mind and attitude without having to be obsessive about it. That's when I know that the lifestyle change is truly taking affect. Like Zen it will be doing nothing and achieving much.
An update, I'm online to reach my goal of a ten pound weight loss in the month of May. I have 3 more pounds to go.
Eat. Sleep. Move
I had to take stock and measure not just what I was eating, but how much I was moving and sleeping. People underestimate how important the last two items affect your health. Not just moving to exercise, but how much do you move in an average day. I had no idea how sedentary I had become. My job now entails sitting at a desk 8 hours a day, only moving to get a cup of coffee or to find files. Never mind exercising, I wasn't moving at all during the day and very little at night. So I took stock. I measured not just my steps with a pedometer, but how many miles I logged on the exercise machines or miles I walked, I measured how much yard work I did and walking around the big box stores or at the mall. It was interesting that when I became more conscious of how little I was moving how easy it was to increase.
So in addition to keeping a food diary I keep a exercise chart and a sleep chart. I've mentioned before how important it is for a person to get sufficient sleep. I have noticed that since I started to keep track of the amount of sleep I'm getting, I can accurately guess how much weight I'm losing. It's true, the better you sleep, the more weight you lose. The more you sleep, the better you move. The more you sleep, the better your attitude toward this whole process. So keeping track is now a must for me.
Does this all seem a little obsessive? It does to me sometimes. I think there is a fine line between being focused and being compulsive and I do at times cross that line. But again, if I don't inventory my mental state I wouldn't notice that I was being overly focused, that inventory helps keep me balanced.
You have to walk that fine line. You have to be aware without being obsessed. I often use to wonder how people with total body dis-morphia get that way, I wonder no longer. We get busy in this world and we focus on other things. How much money we make, how much crap we can buy, how much the neighbors buy. We lose track of ourselves. Inventorying is a way for us to find ourselves again.
At this point I'm hoping that this constant surveillance will soon move into a type of observation that is less focused and more natural. Keeping track of my body, mind and attitude without having to be obsessive about it. That's when I know that the lifestyle change is truly taking affect. Like Zen it will be doing nothing and achieving much.
An update, I'm online to reach my goal of a ten pound weight loss in the month of May. I have 3 more pounds to go.
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