I want to say everything is going well.
Morning Person
I generally wake up around 9-10 now :) It is SO much better than when I was sleeping in until late in the afternoon, I feel better and I feel like there is more to my day. I would like to be a bit more strict with it and start getting up around 8-9 soon though. :)
Clean Home
This is improving too. I am in the habit of giving the house an overall cleaning/tidying after my morning cardio and then I do the dishes and get the kitchen all clean. It is also a good way to start my day. This last week I am finally doing better with my deep cleaning and giving each room a little "extra attention" each day.
Healthier Eating
This has really been something I am working on/ struggling with. I am doing carb cycling and just trying to keep my foods healthy and nutrient dense. I do good most days most of the day but often at night I find myself really craving junk. I AM working on some healthy snack alternatives to keep around though ;). My Homemade peanutbutter coconut icecream should be ready tonight!
Am Exercise
This is going very well, I do 30-70 minutes of cardio everyday now and......I don't hate it!!!! =O
I enjoy my jump roping and hula hooping while watching tv a lot and it leaves me feeling awake and motivated.
Languages
At first I didn't do so well with this but I have kept track of any times I missed and am making myself make up for the lost time by doing extra time x). Slowly catching up!
NEW GOAL
I want to make the goal to make 1 video per week. for 10 weeks. Even if there is a week or two where I dont manage it the end goal is still to make 10 videos. I am for some reason VERY camera shy, I think it comes from my deep fear of giving speeches, and I want to improve that. I also want to learn to set up a video, record it, edit it, etc. I think it will teach me a lot and be fun. :)
Friday, July 18, 2014
Friday, July 11, 2014
Week 3 Update
Morning Person
This one is going pretty well and this morning I woke up and got out of bed at 9:30 :D. Still trying to regulate my bed time and wake up time but I am really happy about getting a much much earlier start to my day than before.
Clean Home
This has been going better but still needs some work... I have been tidying the house in the am, going through my daily cleaning list and doing the dishes. Which isn't always super fast and easy because living in China, I don't have a dish washer! * :( *...The dish washer is...me....
However, I do need to do better with cleaning my designated daily room as there was about 2 or so days where I didn't do very good with that last week.
Healthier Eating
This has been going very well :) My carb cycling has really helped me to focus on healthier eating and eating whole foods.
Am Exercise
This is another goal that I am happy with. I really enjoy my daily cardio session, and not only is it a good workout and I sweat a lot but the jump rope gives my legs, mainly calves, a good workout and while I hula hoop I flex my stomach to work that a bit too.
New Goal!
15 Minutes per language per day devoted to improving myself at that language.
I have lived in China for many many years and my Chinese is very good but I would like to continue improving my reading and writing as well as continueing to expand my vocabulary. Reading and writing Chinese is HARD and so always room for improvement. :).
For Chinese I will make 10 new characters to learn, as well as do things like reading random books or articles.
I have also been learning Spanish for a little while now. I have a tutor once a week but do not have as much opportunity to speak Spanish as I would like and so I need to be focusing enough time on improving my vocabulary, grammar, listening skills etc.
For Spanish, I will be doing things like watching movies, reading books, doing grammar exercises, studying vocabulary etc.
Lastly I have begun learning some Thai and am in very very beginner stages of it but I have a few books both for speaking and reading I want to work on. :)
In the future I want to spend more time on each language but I think 15 minutes is a very do able start.
This one is going pretty well and this morning I woke up and got out of bed at 9:30 :D. Still trying to regulate my bed time and wake up time but I am really happy about getting a much much earlier start to my day than before.
Clean Home
This has been going better but still needs some work... I have been tidying the house in the am, going through my daily cleaning list and doing the dishes. Which isn't always super fast and easy because living in China, I don't have a dish washer! * :( *...The dish washer is...me....
However, I do need to do better with cleaning my designated daily room as there was about 2 or so days where I didn't do very good with that last week.
Healthier Eating
This has been going very well :) My carb cycling has really helped me to focus on healthier eating and eating whole foods.
Am Exercise
This is another goal that I am happy with. I really enjoy my daily cardio session, and not only is it a good workout and I sweat a lot but the jump rope gives my legs, mainly calves, a good workout and while I hula hoop I flex my stomach to work that a bit too.
New Goal!
15 Minutes per language per day devoted to improving myself at that language.
I have lived in China for many many years and my Chinese is very good but I would like to continue improving my reading and writing as well as continueing to expand my vocabulary. Reading and writing Chinese is HARD and so always room for improvement. :).
For Chinese I will make 10 new characters to learn, as well as do things like reading random books or articles.
I have also been learning Spanish for a little while now. I have a tutor once a week but do not have as much opportunity to speak Spanish as I would like and so I need to be focusing enough time on improving my vocabulary, grammar, listening skills etc.
For Spanish, I will be doing things like watching movies, reading books, doing grammar exercises, studying vocabulary etc.
Lastly I have begun learning some Thai and am in very very beginner stages of it but I have a few books both for speaking and reading I want to work on. :)
In the future I want to spend more time on each language but I think 15 minutes is a very do able start.
Progress and NEW goal :D
I meant to upload this last week. *oops!*
Everything is actually going pretty well. I feel so much happier overall and I am much more productive and motivated. Being lazy and having breaks is fun but after a while I just need routine and to feel like I am accomplishing things.
Morning Person
I am starting to become convinced that I have some issues with sleep!
In the beginning of my "Morning Person" attempts I had an impossible time getting to sleep and some nights couldn't sleep at all!
After about a week I started to do better and going to bed a bit earlier, with a goal of about 15-30 minutes at a time but I was still having so much difficulty falling asleep at my prescribed bed time. Generally, I would feel a bit tired, but much much earlier than I planned to sleep so, I would stay up. When it came time to actually sleep; however, I was wide awake! So.. the only response seemed to be just to sleep as soon as I was tired! right?....
Well..now I am feeling really tired much earlier than I wanted and not sleeping through the whole night but waking up a few times and then going back to sleep again.
On the bright side I am waking up at 10 now :) Which is only ONE hour away from my initial goal time. I want to get myself a little more adjusted to my current time and then move it up to 9:00.
Waking up earlier has really helped me get more done and I feel a lot happier. :D
Clean Home
This has also been really going well. I am back into the habit of giving the house a good tidying every morning and doing the dishes. After this I work on cleaning the designated room of the house and am also improving at re-cleaning the kitchen after cooking which I was always really lazy with before.
No Junk
Cutting off my nightly snacks was a bit hard at first. Letting myself eat anything else removed any feelings of deprivation but the first few days I was REALLY craving carbohydrates. I have adjusted to it a lot more now and just from that small change I have noticed my diet is healthier :). Hopefully my skin will clear up!
NEW GOAL! 30 minutes of Morning/Early Afternoon Cardio
I have more time now due to my improved sleeping schedule and I want to begin doing 30 minutes of cardio (any form) In the morning or afternoon before I eat.
I want to do this because:
1. Empty stomach cardio is a great way to lose fat and I am having trouble with that last little bit.
2. Exercising in the beginning of the day puts me in a healthier mind set for the rest of the day.
3. If I am later unable to go to the gym I already got in exercise for the day :)
I have begun doing 30 minutes of jump rope and hula hoop intervals while watching a tv show :D. This will be day 3 of this and so far I have really been sweating a lot during my 30 minutes. I wanted to find a form of exercise I enjoy because exercising and being healthy shouldn't be miserable!
I have tried to take up running quite a few times and in the end I have to admit to myself I really just don't enjoy it and it doesn't help that I easily suffer from shin splits.
I enjoy jump roping, which surprisingly does not bother my shins, and it is a great high intensity exercise
I also enjoy hula hooping, which is a good cardio exercise and when I keep my abs flexed during it seems to help the muscles show more when I flex them otherwise.
Everything is actually going pretty well. I feel so much happier overall and I am much more productive and motivated. Being lazy and having breaks is fun but after a while I just need routine and to feel like I am accomplishing things.
Morning Person
I am starting to become convinced that I have some issues with sleep!
In the beginning of my "Morning Person" attempts I had an impossible time getting to sleep and some nights couldn't sleep at all!
After about a week I started to do better and going to bed a bit earlier, with a goal of about 15-30 minutes at a time but I was still having so much difficulty falling asleep at my prescribed bed time. Generally, I would feel a bit tired, but much much earlier than I planned to sleep so, I would stay up. When it came time to actually sleep; however, I was wide awake! So.. the only response seemed to be just to sleep as soon as I was tired! right?....
Well..now I am feeling really tired much earlier than I wanted and not sleeping through the whole night but waking up a few times and then going back to sleep again.
On the bright side I am waking up at 10 now :) Which is only ONE hour away from my initial goal time. I want to get myself a little more adjusted to my current time and then move it up to 9:00.
Waking up earlier has really helped me get more done and I feel a lot happier. :D
Clean Home
This has also been really going well. I am back into the habit of giving the house a good tidying every morning and doing the dishes. After this I work on cleaning the designated room of the house and am also improving at re-cleaning the kitchen after cooking which I was always really lazy with before.
No Junk
Cutting off my nightly snacks was a bit hard at first. Letting myself eat anything else removed any feelings of deprivation but the first few days I was REALLY craving carbohydrates. I have adjusted to it a lot more now and just from that small change I have noticed my diet is healthier :). Hopefully my skin will clear up!
NEW GOAL! 30 minutes of Morning/Early Afternoon Cardio
I have more time now due to my improved sleeping schedule and I want to begin doing 30 minutes of cardio (any form) In the morning or afternoon before I eat.
I want to do this because:
1. Empty stomach cardio is a great way to lose fat and I am having trouble with that last little bit.
2. Exercising in the beginning of the day puts me in a healthier mind set for the rest of the day.
3. If I am later unable to go to the gym I already got in exercise for the day :)
I have begun doing 30 minutes of jump rope and hula hoop intervals while watching a tv show :D. This will be day 3 of this and so far I have really been sweating a lot during my 30 minutes. I wanted to find a form of exercise I enjoy because exercising and being healthy shouldn't be miserable!
I have tried to take up running quite a few times and in the end I have to admit to myself I really just don't enjoy it and it doesn't help that I easily suffer from shin splits.
I enjoy jump roping, which surprisingly does not bother my shins, and it is a great high intensity exercise
I also enjoy hula hooping, which is a good cardio exercise and when I keep my abs flexed during it seems to help the muscles show more when I flex them otherwise.
Saturday, July 5, 2014
Two Week Update and No Junk Food Goal
I have definitely made improvements in the last two weeks and am looking forward to next week. :)
Morning Person
At first, it was a bit rocky. I had a lot more trouble with adjusting my sleep schedule than I had anticipated and quite a few nights I couldn't sleep at all and finally gave up in the morning and began my day.
I felt discouraged and let myself mope about it for a day or two and finally decided to continue working at it.
The last time I couldn't sleep I only let myself take a small nap later on and so I was able to sleep really well that night. I'm very happy to say that I woke up at 10:30 today which is 6 hours earlier than I had been waking up when I began. While I still have a little ways to go I'm really happy that my sleeping is improving.
Cleaning
This also had a slow start as my sleeping greatly interfered with my motivation to clean; however, as I improved my sleeping habits my cleaning also got better. Today I did my Daily Cleaning routine, did the dishes, and cleaned the things on my list of the day :). I still need to improve my routine and make sure i'm doing it daily. I would also like to improve on my night time tidying which I can make a goal of this next week :).
New Goal: 1 week without junk food
I want to make a new goal to eliminate junk food from my diet, starting with a one week commitment.
I'm realizing that I rarely go a day without eating some sort of junk food. While most of my diet is fairly healthy, I attempted to abstain from junk food yesterday and I felt truly deprived! From just one day without anything sweet and processed in the evening I felt grumpy and was unwilling to go without enjoying a packet of vanilla Oreos!
I have been working out for a few years now and have definitely improved both my strength and physical appearance; however, I have always had a little trouble with my diet. It has improved over the years as well but my personal goal has always been to be able to have a six pack, as well as to be able to show more of the other muscle I have worked hard for. While having a six pack itself is not a very important goal when looked at realistically, because it has been something I have desired since I was young. I really want to accomplish the goal for the sake of working hard and accomplishing something that I have wanted. I have only a small amount of fat left to lose but It has been extremely difficult for me to make it budge so I want to focus on eating good, but healthy foods and removing that "dependency" off of a daily treat.
Morning Person
At first, it was a bit rocky. I had a lot more trouble with adjusting my sleep schedule than I had anticipated and quite a few nights I couldn't sleep at all and finally gave up in the morning and began my day.
I felt discouraged and let myself mope about it for a day or two and finally decided to continue working at it.
The last time I couldn't sleep I only let myself take a small nap later on and so I was able to sleep really well that night. I'm very happy to say that I woke up at 10:30 today which is 6 hours earlier than I had been waking up when I began. While I still have a little ways to go I'm really happy that my sleeping is improving.
Cleaning
This also had a slow start as my sleeping greatly interfered with my motivation to clean; however, as I improved my sleeping habits my cleaning also got better. Today I did my Daily Cleaning routine, did the dishes, and cleaned the things on my list of the day :). I still need to improve my routine and make sure i'm doing it daily. I would also like to improve on my night time tidying which I can make a goal of this next week :).
New Goal: 1 week without junk food
I want to make a new goal to eliminate junk food from my diet, starting with a one week commitment.
I'm realizing that I rarely go a day without eating some sort of junk food. While most of my diet is fairly healthy, I attempted to abstain from junk food yesterday and I felt truly deprived! From just one day without anything sweet and processed in the evening I felt grumpy and was unwilling to go without enjoying a packet of vanilla Oreos!
I have been working out for a few years now and have definitely improved both my strength and physical appearance; however, I have always had a little trouble with my diet. It has improved over the years as well but my personal goal has always been to be able to have a six pack, as well as to be able to show more of the other muscle I have worked hard for. While having a six pack itself is not a very important goal when looked at realistically, because it has been something I have desired since I was young. I really want to accomplish the goal for the sake of working hard and accomplishing something that I have wanted. I have only a small amount of fat left to lose but It has been extremely difficult for me to make it budge so I want to focus on eating good, but healthy foods and removing that "dependency" off of a daily treat.
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