Day 238: Learning To Be Disciplined

 "You will never always be motivated, so you must learn to be disciplined."

Truer words have never been spoken ! Some days it is so hard to peel myself off the couch and get on the treadmill. Over the past 8 months I've gained a lot of respect for people who've exercised every day for years and years. I know I'm doing a lot better when it comes to exercise but I can't say I look forward to it. Honestly, I don't know how to change my mindset. It's not like there is a switch you can flip to suddenly crave exercise. In the absence of that I have no choice but to use discipline to keep the exercise going. I haven't quite mastered that either, as I still sometimes give up too easily if the conditions aren't perfect. I'm doing better, considering I didn't let my heel become an excuse. It's taken 5 days but it is healing nicely and I actually left it un-bandaged after my shower last night. Keeping it covered and applying antibiotic ointment every day seems to have been a good strategy. I always believed a wound needed to be left uncovered and dry in order to heal but a little online reading changed my perspective there. Instead of a dry crusty heel I have beautiful soft new skin. So tonight I broke out my new sneakers and said goodbye to the cheap Walmart ones .... but not for long !!! My new Dr Scholl sneakers are junk and my feet (not my heel) hurt immediately ! Less than 1 minute on the treadmill and I had to pause it and go back to my old shoes ! The new ones are hard and stiff and you really need a shoe that flexes for walking. So I guess I'll be sneaker shopping this weekend ! That's what I get for buying sneakers without trying them on. Back to motivation .. you would think that losing 91 pounds would be motivation enough to get on the treadmill. You can lose weight without exercise but exercise really helps accelerate the process and it's good for your overall health - this is what I keep telling myself. I do have to tune out those who say you don't need to exercise every day, because I feel like I need to have that expectation until I reach an appropriate weight. I think it takes time to really be disciplined, no matter what you're trying to achieve. Besides trying to exercise every day I've stopped having dinner on the couch. I have such a nice kitchen and it's been nice to sit out there and enjoy it. I did backslide into eating out of the plastic containers my Nutrisystem entrees come in, mostly because the dishwasher was full and I was out of the detergent packs and too rushed every night to stop at the store. I finally went to the Top's right in Mexico last night and bought some. So now that I've washed the dishes I'm back to using real plates and silverware tonight. I'm realizing I have a lot of bad habits to break and truthfully, it's not easy to do. I've used disposable cups, plates and utensils for years. There were a lot of reasons for that but I'm not going to dredge that up again, other than to say I didn't have a dishwasher before my home renovations. Suffice to say things have changed significantly in my life and there is no good reason to continue using them. I keep reminding myself I'm not going to change and be perfect overnight, just like I won't lose all the weight overnight. It's going to take time ... but it also requires motivation and discipline ! Seems like everything in life needs one or both skills, so I need to figure out the best ways to stay motivated and disciplined. I think we're all different so it's a matter of finding what will motivate me. I think that is the easier task. Discipline seems to be a bit more complicated, so I'm still trying to figure that out. Goals, motivation, discipline ... it's all related !

Breakfast was a 2.1 ounce 160 calorie cherry cheese roll with caramel vanilla cream coffee. Second cup was triple chocolate. Morning snack was a 155 calorie chocolate shake with peanut butter powder. Lunch was a 4 ounce 230 calorie meatball parmesan melt with raw carrots. Afternoon snack was a 5.3 ounce 80 calorie Light & Fit Strawberry Cheesecake yogurt and 2.5 cups of Skinny Pop popcorn (100 calories). This left 475 calories for dinner and an evening snack. Dinner was a 5 ounce broccoli and cheese stuffed chicken breast with roasted vegetables. Evening snack was a decadent 1.8 ounce 150 calorie chocolate cupcake. Total calories for the day are 1085 and I got about 80 ounces of water in.

Weather couldn't have been nicer today ! Blue skies and sunshine most of the day and temps in the mid 70's were perfect. Leaves are already starting to turn in some parts of the state due to the cool nights and Fall will be here before we know it. Weather doesn't look to be great during my vacation next week but that doesn't really bother me. I plan to do some cleaning in my garage so a cool rainy day really won't matter. I also plan to do some things with my mom and the weather really won't interfere with that either. Saturday is my birthday and so far I have nothing planned. Sunday is a Labor Day get together with my brother in law's family. The last party of the summer !

Hard to believe I only have one more day left to commute to downtown Syracuse ! I will not miss the city and I will not really miss the empty shell of an office we've been rattling around in. I will miss the daily interaction with some of my colleagues, but I'm sure I'll see them around the new shared spaces. Commuting only 2 days a week is going to be amazing ! Tomorrow I'll take my Keurig and other miscellaneous items to my car during lunch and then all that will be left to bring home at the end of the day is my laptop and its accessories. While I'm on vacation I am going to organize my desk so that it's an efficient work space. I'm glad I bought a large desk and a large comfortable chair !

Time for a shower and then some tv in bed .. I don't know about you but I'm really glad tomorrow is Friday !