Wednesday, January 1, 2014

I Blog, Therefore I Am

Post Number: 87
Review of Yesterday's Progress
     Daily Points Left: 51 of 71 (Goal: 31)
     Weekly Points Left: 49 of 49 (Goal: 49)
     Pedometer Reading: Battery died
     Meetings Attended: Overeaters Anonymous
     Exercise Completed: Recumbent Elliptical Machine
          (12.5 minutes & 1.0 miles @ 2.0 resistance)
     M-W's Daily Word: Abecedarian

A.S.:
Happy New Years!

"I Blog, Therefore I Am" That is not entirely true, but it has been wonderful to review the past to prepare the future daily. I know that blogging has, in a large part, made me better for having done it and increased my success for having thought my way through my day. What started out as a request by a student, that was followed by an experiment, has become a joy. I would call that experiment successful.

Having completed my experiment concerning the dating of entries and reported the results, I post this, my previously written entry for today so I may retire to bed until sometime on the second. That will not happen. I have kids... With my early morning body clock that gets them up around 6 am. But the idea of sleeping through until Thursday has appeal. So does the sleep that is fast approaching.

As the New Years was approaching, I was experiencing the juxtaposition of excitement and dismay. The excitement was born from the marathon goal of reaching a healthy weight. I will achieve continual success, right now, throughout today, beyond tomorrow, and well past next week. The dismay arrived with the idea of the difficulties I will be facing that are in competition for my physical and mental resources as I continue my push through the rigor necessary for the weight loss.

So I returned my focus to here and now. I rescheduled my early morning out the door exercise to the Y for later in the day to minimize fuel use. I was grateful that I pulled it off. The last couple times I rescheduled the Y for later in the day, it back fired. Not so yesterday. MBWM was able to have a break because I took the kids with me. Her respite was extended by hitting the bank, the library, and the grocery store ahead of the Y. And taking the kids with me only hampered my efforts in terms of getting out the door. This was reverse because OA was uplifting. Today's meeting renewed my soul to feel spiritually fed. The Tuesday afternoon one usually has these feelings associated with them. It was miracles all around and blessings that abound.

Now is time to watch build in some of those blessings by consequences, especially of the exercises. I upped the resistance from the 1.5 of last time to 2.0 this time. I have no idea what the 1.5 or 2.0 mean in terms of units, but it is definitely harder to get the fly wheel turning and keep it turning. I doubt, though, that 2.0 is twice the resistance as 1.0. My observations of the last time included:
  • I was able to limp away and drive the 17 miles home.
  • I was able to complete most chores, activities, and responsibilities the same day.
  • Later in the day and into the next day, it was difficult to convince my upper arms to hold my entire arms up for any length of time. I might not have noticed this if it weren't for holding freshly dipped chocolates above the pot to let melted chocolate drip back into the pot.
  • Even though it still felt like I was recovering from the elliptical, I didn't feel like I needed to cut short my swimming the next day.
With these observations in mind, I will be comparing the new resistance and distance. At this stage, I will up the resistance and distance again on Thursday. I hypothesize that the resistance is just about right but the distance will be pushed. After setting a good distance, then it will be bringing the time down.

And speaking of bringing time down, last night we counted down the time until we brought the New Year. But in our family tradition, we set the clocks to the time in Nova Scotia. That means that we all enfolded each other in Auld Lang Syne and were heading off to bed around 9 pm Idaho time. 

Yours in the joyful sunrise of the new day and advent of the new year,

Eliot

P.S.: While I do not believe in making New Years resolutions, I do believe in making changes in life style. I firmly believe in making the attitude of January 1st something that can appear anywhere in the year. But regardless of the date when you put changes into effect, the New Year will be like the old one if you keep on doing the same old things. My history determines my present. To change my present, I need to change my history. With that in mind: Just 8% of People Achieve Their New Year's Resolutions. Here's How They Do It. (Forbes)

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