Lost my fuel on the way

I ran for a whole month every other day and i was feeling fine but apparently running was a bit too much for me. On my 5th week of training i felt really weak and had to stop running ... i guess i wasn't eating properly or something i have been out of energy always .

I went to the marathon on the 27th but i didn't run , i walked... i tried to run but i felt weak and my heart was racing so i preferred to just walk. This past month has been pretty crazy , i got sick with the flu for a week then one day at work i overworked my right shoulder and my neck, got home with a horrible headache and ended up in the hospital, did some exams but everything was OK. Since then I've been having neck pain, shoulder pain, back pain .... upper body pains in general i think i fuc%#$ up my shoulder because its been quite some time and it still didn't heal. So guess what, no waking up early no work out at all I've been feeling like shit ... but hopefully march will be better yay!!!!

I have been running every other day !!! For the first time i actually am following the plan, i am already on my third week of running and i feel greaaaat ! To be honest the first week was pretty hard , i had pain in my legs and it was hard to catch my breath while running but now i feel awesome. But talking about wake up early , well, that's not even close to happening .... i don't really know what else to try. Next month i ll be back to my swimming classes and maybe that will make me tired enough to actually sleep when i get home from work. Oh i almost forgot , i have been following the advice that i saw in another blog, keep in touch with your family and friends, i have been calling and emailing one of day everyday , that does make a difference in happiness and motivation, you should try.

There is sunshine after the rain.

So, my one week challenge ended January 9th... since the last post i haven't been able to wake early exercise or anything. On the third day of the challenge i overworked out and the next day i was in pain and very upset because of that so i couldn't follow through with my morning routine or anything. I have been waking up really late and the days have been going from bad to worse because of my gastritis.

Yesterday i finally started to feel better, after having a acai smoothie that set perfectly in my sick stomach everything started to change. I have been felling better and motivated and yesterday i exercised again, and hopefully i will tomorrow too.

From what i see, my mistake here was overdoing things and wanting to change all at once too fast. So from now on i will not set a goal, my challenge will be small daily changes. I'll try waking up 10 min earlier every 2 or 3 days , and i think exercising will be easier now because i registered for my first 5k run and my boyfriend is doing it with me so we are training together. We got a iPhone app that works like a running coach its great and we only do it every other day so i don't have to push myself so much.

So far so good

Great news! In the past 2 days i have been able to wake up at 10:20am and i have been doing my 30 min work out!!!! My secret is , the alarm clock is set for 3 different times: 9am, 9:30am and 10am, that way when i hear it at 9 i already know its almost time to wake up and for some reason at 10 i am not sooo sleepy and tired. Another really important thing is the morning routine, i realize that it makes it easier when you wake up and you know what to do rather than just wake up and sit in the sofa waiting for your brain to respond. I noticed that listening to music while eating breakfast and brushing my teeth it makes my morning more pleasant. Another thing i have been setting everything the night before, when i don't i get lazy in the morning and again i waste time thinking about it. The work out is going fine , I'm sure that if i have set my goal for an hour i would have failed it, 30 min is a perfect start. I also have a big motivation with the blog, believe it or not i caught myself thinking about doing the right thing just so i could post it here hehehe. Lesson of the day : It is all about the choices we make.

First day of my week

I decided to start my week challenge this monday and here I am for my first report ...
This morning I wasn't able to wake up @ 10am like i wanted to , i set my alarm to 9am and 9:30am but still i slept until 11:20am. Ok i didn't leave my blinds half open, last night i didn't have time to reduce my number of choices this morning, i didn't set my coffee maker to brew at 9:50 so that i would wake up with the great smell of coffee. Wow i actually missed some really important steps but here is the good news, i did work out for 30 minutes and i did the whole morning routine. So i guess it wasn't a total waste after all, tomorrow i'll try not to skip the steps i skipped last night.

Also this experience made me practice something very important, positive thinking and not being so hard on myself , changing our self-image is not an easy task but it can be done. It requires practice and patience. I usually criticise myself a lot, today since i didn't wake up in time i would think i failed completely and that i'll never be able to change my habits, but by thinking positively i could see that i did achieve some goals and that i can try again tomorrow. Its a process that won't happen overnight .

1 Week Challenge

OK the goal was a 30 day challenge but i think i will set my self to failure if i do that, so i decided to go with the 1 week first.

In one week i will have 2 goals.

Wake up early ( I go to bed around 2am because i work late so i figure to wake up @ 10am would be ok... i usually wake up very tired, not motivated and around noon . I'll follow the tips from the post wake up routine)

Exercise at least 30 minutes a days ( i tend to wake up and watch tv on the couch so if for 30 minutes a day during this week i work out it will be a biiiiggg accomplishment)

A couple of guidelines for those who want to follow me:

Choose an easy goal. Don’t decide to do something really hard, at least for now.

Choose something measurable. You should be able to say, definitely, whether you were successful or not today. If you choose exercise, set a number of minutes or something similar (30 minutes of exercise daily, for example, like i did.)

Be consistent. You want to do your habit change at the same time every day, if possible. This makes it more likely to become a habit.

Report regularly. I will come here every day to do my daily report, or at least every 2 days.
So challenge yourself this week!

Achieve Your New Year's Resolutions

This year, I will loose weight. This year, I will be more active. This year, I will quit smoking.

Do any of these New Year's resolutions sound familiar? More than likely, many of us have created New Year's resolutions. But how many of us have acutally STUCK to our resolutions? Year after year, it is the same old thing...resolutions are made, and then quickly broken. Sure, anyone can make a New Year's resolution, but the hard part is actually sticking to those resolutions. There are many different ways to stick to those resolutions for the New Year. Some of the helpful ways of keeping your resolutons are to : write your resolutions down, tell a friend your resolutions, look for help with the resolution, remind
yourself, keep positive thoughts, don't set your standards too high, plan everything out, create realistic goals, achieve those goals slowly, and to keep yourself flexible with the resolution.

Write down why you want a particular resolution. Do you want to loose weight so you can fit into a good looking swimsuit come the summertime? If so, keep a journal of your daily progress towards achieveing that goal. A journal of your progress towards your goal is a great way to keep on track.

Keep yourself positive! It is easy to gain negative thoughts, especially if you do not see immediate results. Give your resolution time. Great things were not achieved in one day. If you get off track, do not beat yourself up. Instead, make sure that you get back on track, and keep moving forward!

Do not set your standards too high.Making it to the finish line is so much easier when it is served in smaller portions, rather than one large one.

The goals that you create must be realistic. Creat goals that you know that you can achieve. If you know that you can not work out five days a week, then don't! Working out three days a week is better than nothing at all! Breaking your goals down into small pieces and figuring out what it takes to achieve each small step is the best way to set a realistic goal.

Another aspect of creating an achieveable New Year's resolution is to plan your goals out. Write down how you want to achieve your goals, and stick to it! If you are trying to quit biting your nails, get a nice manicure. With money well spent on keeping your nails nice, you will not want to ruin them.

Keep yourself encouraged, remain positive, and stay on track.
Your New Year's resolutions CAN be achieved !