I'm very stalled, and even beginning to trend upwards a bit. It's lack of attention, because other things need my attention. But taking a few minutes just to look at what I've actually been doing opened my eyes.
I haven't been tracking my eating very often, and that is of course because I'm allowing myself to eat as if it didn't matter. So no data there, except the lack of data, and the hazy memories of apple crisps and fancy ice creams. But I wear my magic device that tracks my steps, my periods of extra exercise and activity, and it estimates the daily calorie burn. So that is what it is, collected even when I'm not paying attention. I don't have time to build charts, graphs and tables like I would love to do. But a quick paging through summary statistics shows a dramatic decrease in my calories burned over the last month. Steps, minutes of exercise, and summary totals all are down significantly. This isn't a surprise, though actually I was surprised by how much activity I managed to get in this summer. But the onset of fall has slowed me way down.
This is partly, truly, driven by the change of seasons. As I noted last year, my reptile brain wants me to slow down and bulk up to make it through the hard times that are coming. But, the less I do, the less I do, and I've got to keep moving. Inspired by this insight, I did get 20 minutes on the basement NordicTrack this morning, before even having a cup of coffee. This is the easiest exercise to add to my schedule, and perhaps I will be able to keep it up. That's a short-term goal: two more NT sessions this week.
We are entering the Eating Season, from now through New Year's. What is realistic to achieve for the next couple of months? I would be happy to end the year with the scale showing the lowest number I've already seen so far this year. That would be five pounds lower than today's reading, though only three pounds less than I saw a couple of days ago. That low weight was in August, after a little blitz to move off my six months long plateau. It would be a nice symmetry to end the year on the lowest number, after having hit a huge spike up so that I started the year at the highest by a lot.
The challenges I will face are considerable: a short international vacation, two birthdays, Halloween, Thanksgiving and Christmas, folks wanting more social events at work. The only way I can manage the eating side of the equation is to make RULES. I am going to need to devote some energy to making rules in advance and then following them in the moment. If I stop paying attention, all is lost.
But every time I've been successful at losing weight, there was a large amount of exercise happening at the same time. Let's at least get some more movement in there. So easy to be motivated on a weekend, when I've got the time to spend an hour at my computer. Now, errands and chores will soak up the time for the rest of the day. But - I have 20 minutes of pushing myself into exercise already behind me - it's in the bank! Reason enough to consider this approach as a habit to cultivate.
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