Lifestyle Changes

This past week's focus has really been on Thing 6 - Reach Goal Weight. I managed to work out a little bit everyday but Friday. It started last Sunday with the step class, then Monday night I worked out with Laura on her Wii. That little board is deceiving, from Wednesday to Friday my stomach was so sore, and I think it was from the hula hooping! Every time I sneezed, I winced! Tuesday I got up early to run cross country with one of my students. He needs a little extra encouragement, although I was worried that he would easily outrun me, since I'm not the strongest runner. Happily, we both made it through the run, and I'm pretty sure that I could have run even longer than I did. Hopefully I can get over my anxieties about how I look when I'm running, and continue to pursue the hobby! Wednesday night Laura and I tried to go to a Body Flow class at Good Life. Unfortunately, after we got there, changed, and headed up to the class, we found out that the online schedule was wrong! Very disappointing, since we co-ordinated schedules for 2 days to figure out what class we could both go to! They offered us gym bags to make up for it (no thanks), then offered us both 5-pass Hot Yoga cards ($60 value) for free(yes please)! We've been warned that you need to drink a lot of water before doing Hot Yoga, so we're working up to it. We ended hitting another Good Life that night for some strength training - I'm happy to report that I managed to do most of the machines at similar weights to last year, which was a relief! Thursday I ran with my students again, although I was a few minutes late that AM (oops), so not as much as I would have liked to. Laura and I attempted another workout Thursday night, but it turned into a glass of wine and chatting - currently in contention for best workout ever. ;) Friday I took off, then Saturday I hit up the gym on my own, did 30 minutes of interval training on the elliptical, and 30 minutes of weights. It actually felt really good, and I'm hoping to add this in a few days a week, maybe bright and early if I can stay on top of things. Yesterday I went to Laura's step class again, and managed to keep up with most of the steps. The biggest hurdle to get through, beyond lifting your legs up onto the step 40 minutes into the class, is the lingo - which Laura has promised to help me with. It's almost like learning another language.
I haven't decided if I'll work out at all today - Janey Canuck and I discussed going for a hike, but unfortunately the thunderstorm warnings have stayed in place all weekend. According to the scale I lost about 2 pounds this week, but I wasn't expecting a lot. Once you work in strength training, the scale can't really be relied on, since you are building muscle. My diet went well this week again, I even made chili! The amount of sweets and treats I've turned down is pretty amazing. I'm pretty sure I need to make a bigger calorie deficit in my daily diet, and I'm currently trying to decide where it will come from.
Alright, onto some other Things!
~
I started out on Thing 59 - Drink 8 glasses of water a day for 8 days straight and Thing 28 - Get up when the alarm goes off every day for a week this week. I didn't actually complete them, and here's why: for Thing 59, it actually takes a lot of effort to work up to this. I made it to 8 glasses for 2 days, 6 glasses on 3 days, and less than that for the other days. I am going to keep working on this until I get it right, and hopefully incorporating Hot Yoga will help. I'm not going to worrying about making up for the water I sweat out while exercising, if I need more I will drink it, but I'm not doing the math! For Thing 28, I made it to Stage One of the goal - I got up everyday after snoozing twice. Every morning I set 3 alarms on my phone, 5 minutes apart. I'm a little OCD about the whole thing, really. Usually after the 3 alarms go off, I reset them again for 20 minutes later. That's where it gets really ridiculous! I'm happy to report that this week I got out of bed right after Alarm 3 every day. Not the whole goal, since I really just want to hop out of bed for an entire week right away, but a good start! This week I hope to continue on both of these Things.
~
I really view this List as a way to make changes to my lifestyle. Yes, the list is made up of some one-off experiences and dreams of mine, but I also tried to put in Things that I want to start to do automatically. Mentally, this week was tougher than the last few. I felt happy, but I also felt stress that I might not reach some of my goals. I expected this, and so far I've been dealing. I didn't really feel like even writing this blog entry, but obviously I pushed myself to do so! I keep telling myself that Rome wasn't built in a day... 
~
This week was the first time since April where I felt like I might have a panic attack. I haven't missed that feeling, believe me. I'm not sure why I get them, the situations rarely match up, but thankfully they didn't progress and I was able to redirect my thinking both times I started to feel anxious. 
~
I think I forgot to update this last week, but Thing 5 - Find a full-time teaching job with benefits progressed a little last week, as I signed a full-time contract at Kehila for next year. No benefits as of yet, but I'm halfway there!
~
As you can see, my biggest focus right now is on Thing 6. I'm hoping I can sustain the drive to reach it before my 30th birthday in January. I let it slide for far too long, and now it's time to give it all I've got! :)
I'll try and blog more often, but it may have to wait until my report cards are written! I'm thinking about incorporating the way Janey Canuck and kidAmy have written about each Thing separately, but I need a bit of a tutorial on how to create those fancy links they use from post to post!

Until next time,
Katy