Or should I just be annoyed?

Yesterday was a typical on-plan, ho-hum day for me. I ate within my calories more or less (I was one or two over, I think? Hardly noteworthy!), did 30 minutes on the stationary bike (8.8 miles total), got a decent amount of sleep, drank water all day.... very typical for me. And wouldn't you know - as predicted, I was 224 even this morning. I imagine it will go even a few tenths of a pound lower tomorrow, we'll see. Either way, 1.4 pounds from last week is a much more realistic loss, given my food journal and activity level, than losing less than half a pound.

Is this a good thing? Certainly! So what am I annoyed about? Well, I am annoyed that so much of weight management and dieting focuses on numbers on the scale or even dress size. Quantitative data is useful, sure, but I wish more emphasis was placed on healthy and long-term sustainable habits than on achieving a certain amount of weight lost in a certain amount of time. It misses the deeper issues, big picture, AND leads to the famed yo-yo cycle when the given results are not achieved. If more emphasis was placed on aiming for general good health and using food and light activity as a proper tool to do it, I think many men and women could be saved from years of heartbreak regarding their issues with obesity, food addiction, etc etc.

On an aside, I must confess something regarding my exercising, that fits in with my greater philosophy on weight management and health: I am exercising as much as I ever plan to, given where I am in my life.

Sound shocking? Let me explain. Every habit change I undertake, I do so with the mindset of 'can I do this every day for the rest of my life?'. If the answer is 'no', then I know that change is not something I can adapt as is, because I cannot keep it up. Because I am not focused on temporary results, but on maintaining good health for the rest of my life with the skills and habits I am acquiring now, I am unwilling to choose something I will have to replace or drop later.

How does this work in with my exercising? Well, my goal with exercising was not weight loss, primarily, but rather fitness and cardiovascular health through light, daily activity. I wanted to move more consistently, not aim for creating massive calorie deficits or getting shredded through arduous marathon workout sessions. With two small children, and more coming down the road, plus future plans of homeschooling on top of my daily housewife responsibilities I already have, fitting in exercise is any significant block is tough. Furthermore, I am prone to getting burned out if I work myself too long or hard any one day, and that makes the consistency I aim for difficult to achieve.

So through pregnancy, new babies, fussy toddlers, gradeschoolers, and any number of everyday crises to manage, I needed to find a method for activity that I could faithfully adhere to most days of the week. For me, that has been a half hour to 45 minute block of time dedicated to moderate exercise daily. I am doing it right now - biking or working out to a video most weekdays. For me, I am doing all the daily scheduled exercise I can ever see myself doing. I simply don't have time each day to put off my chores or put my kids in a safe place long enough to manage more, without feeling it is more drudgery than enjoyable. I could bike longer and harder, or walk farther, but I don't want to backslide down the road. I would rather shoot for lighter activity and more consistency than winning any endurance or bodybuilding contests.

So right now, I am exactly where I want to be with my exercise. I try to go more intensely or at higher resistence levels using my allotted block of time, but a half hour of moderate, planned activity daily is where I want to be and seems to be the magic combination for getting me to move, and move regularly, without too much exhaustion or burnout. The only area which I wish to improve at this time is scheduling my activity at the same time each morning (earlier than I have been getting up) and being a little more consistent to really do it daily, with just Sundays off. Right now I am not getting it in quite as much as I'd like, but I am well on my way.

This is not to say I don't plan on being more active in life, in general. Quite the opposite - I am trying to move more in daily life through unplanned or spontaneous activity, like walking to the park with my kids or running in the yard. I am eager to move more than I have in the past. But as for schedules, formal activity each day - I KNOW I have to make it a priority, but I also know that 30-ish minutes daily is all I will ever strive for in the foreseeable future. I'm already 80% there on my consistency, and everything else I am very pleased.

So long story short, my Missouri 60 challenge was to exercise consistently each weekday and I am there, for the most part. But you're not going to see me blowing huge amounts of money on gym memberships or classes at this present time, or training for marathons and the like. My life just isn't in the right place for exercise to be any more than a tool I use a little each day to make my body healthier.

I may very well take some classes down the road, or do some event training, but it will we extra, outside of my daily planned slot for working out. It will not likely expand upon that base activity I require for myself. I just can't see doing an hour or more a day until my old age, and sticking with it with the consistency I desire. So I set my sights modestly on moving around, and daily feel the success of committing to and achieving that goal.

Perhaps I should retitle this blog "Moderation In All Things - No, Seriously" instead of its' current moniker? Either way, just as I don't sweat the ups and downs of the electronic number generator, I don't sweat that I am not constantly striving to one-up myself with exercise, either. For me, I know my success is had through consistency and commitment, more than achieving ever-higher goals. I can picture myself a few more babies down the line, radiant and fit and enjoying my days with a half hour of me-time doing my exercises, munching happily on delicious, healthy food, and looking and feeling how I know God intended my body to be. It is a good picture, friends, and one I am plugging away at attaining every day.