Half way to 66

Today is day 33 of my 66 day renewal. My eating is much better, except that I drank too much wine at a gala last night and feel crummy today because of it! I am exercising regularly and have lost ten + pounds. I weigh in again on Monday and am curious as to how I am doing. My body feels stronger, I sleep better and my clothes are fitting better. I have only skipped a workout when I was sick and make sure to do something 6 days a week.

Is this a habit yet? How about half way to a habit. It no longer feels like work but rather the toolkit I need to get healthy. I love my @66days twitter feed, I have sourced some of the most interesting voices in health and wellness and relish checking in on what they have to say.

Until Monday ... here's to half way!

Day #30

So I am down 10.5 lbs and working hard at keeping the momentum going. I got past a few historical hurdles, in fact.

1. Sickness: Traditionally, when I get sick during a "health kick" and I give up. I feel like I have become weak, eaten comfort food and really what is the point. This time I stuck with my goals and my nutrition and am healthy again after a nasty viral/bacterial infection and am still on program.

2. Open bar event: Anything that has an open bar and passed hors d'oeuvres has been a major pitfall for me. This past Saturday night I managed to eat and drink within reason at a family bar mitzvah. I have to say I was super proud.

So here I am making progress and I am anxious about continuing my success and keeping it off and staying strong and ignoring the voices of  The Resistance as Seth Godin calls it. The Resistance is what I fight everyday.

I have a ways to go (at least 15 to 20 lbs) but I am motivated and well on my way!

Day #9

So, I'm back in the fight to be healthy. It's really a no-brainer. Every other piece of my life is in place and then there is my health. So this is day 9 of my renewed focus on finally dropping the weight I gained over the course of two pregnancies. One has only to look at pictures of me from our vacation to South Africa to understand. It was weeks before I got pregnant with Max and no, I was not at triathlon ready shape, but I was healthy. That is easily 25 or so pounds from my current state.

I am energized and excited by the goal. But, I have also been here before. I have gotten 15 lbs away from this goal since Charlie was born and then found a reason to give up and gain again. Not this time. I need to make this part of my life again, fitness and eating right. 

They, whoever they are, say it takes 66 days to make a behavior become second nature, or a habit. This time, I am going to tweet and blog my way fit. I hope the public forum will lend a new added layer of accountability. Whatever works, it is time. I owe this gift to myself, and my little (and big) boys.


Weigh-in week 1: - 4.5 lbs

Business Travel

I have a moment or several hours as the case is, as I fly across the country to San Fran for business. I know I should spend this time writing, luxuriating, relishing my "me" time but tonight I am a little sad. I miss the boys a lot. 
I know I'll land and get in the zone, get my game face on and focus. But ...
Right now am watching "This Is It" the Michael Jackson movie, after a false start of the Time Traveler's Wife (which was just not as good as the book, even in the first 5 mins,) and feeling a little down.
My sister LOVED M.J. I remember that, as a child, she had this red leather zipper covered jacket and would listen to Thriller and [ugh, rough air] Off the Wall over and over.
I was worshiping Young and Dylan ... Mer loved Jackson. 


Anyway.

Beautiful Boy(s)

It took me only two nights to start and finish David Sheff's Beautiful Boy. I cried most of the second, that being last night, and it is sticking with me. More than anything, for a mother of two delicious boys, it is a gut wrenching book not simply about crystal meth addiction, but rather the paralyzing fear that no matter what you do you cannot keep your babies safe.

Harrowing. Being a parent on a day to day basis is more about routine and consistency and then along comes a book like Beautiful Boy that reminds you that underneath nursery school, play dates and snuggling up for books before bed, is an electric current hum buzzing "all is not predictable." One week it is staples in the head to close a wound, next week Motrin for the fever ... but honestly, when they go off and are faced with choices whose consequences are literally life or death, as Sheff excruciatingly details, there is so little you can really do to predict the outcome. 

Control is something that governs discrete portions of my life. High performing at work, relentlessly demanding the best for my kids, devouring research and news both personal and professional, yet struggling to get to the gym, enjoying too much cheese and wine and forever seeking balance. I know we have a predisposition for addiction  somewhere swimming in the soup of our gene pool. The boys are still so young but I know I will look up from my routine life and they will be at risk, put there by the very nature I have worked so hard to create in them: curiosity, confidence and creativity ... and I will reflect on Sheff's experience, hopefully, and do what I can to safely scaffold my own Beautiful Boy(s) as they seek to explore and escape routines and predictability. Gulp.