I have been exercising consistently for over a year now!
Last November, I began exercising three days a week or more. I stuck with Slim Katie's advice - to not do anything to lose weight, that I wasn't willing to live with forever. In January, I set a goal to keep going and make my exercise consistent and moderate for an entire year, and I have done it!!
In the past, I have had a few months of exercising regularly, but then I would make my expectations too high and then stop. So this time I just kept my expectations moderate. It has definitely made a difference in maintaining my weight loss and it has made my small weight loss (7 or 8 lbs) appear larger than it was.
The last few months have been the hardest time to keep exercising. My life has gone from regularly busy to over the top busy, as I have begun teaching (future teachers) one night a week at the local community college. I love it, but it requires an enormous amount of prep work. This new teaching opportunity came at the same exact time I began working on my administrative internship, which requires that I log many hours each week working with my administrators. On top of that, my boss asked me to switch positions this year, from teaching fifth grade, to teaching reading. Of course, this is all on top of my "normal busyness" as a full time working mom of two children, one with special needs. Thank goodness I have a supportive husband!
The internship means more evening commitments and I have often been stressed and physically tired. So honestly, I have gone from enthusiastic workouts to slogging through the minimum, hanging on by a thread. But that is okay, because I....have.....not.....stopped.
My eating is not consistent however, and that still needs work. I have maintained my loss, but it isn't because I eat consistently. To a large degree, I have mostly stuck with eating what I love, in moderation. However, this fall the moderation has been stretched a bit and I am starting to slip with my ice cream consumption. I am still nowhere near being what I consider a "consistent eater". I still have have roller coaster eating, just to a lesser degree.
This may sound strange, and I have never had an eating disorder, but I consider myself a "disordered eater". Disordered as in I am not a "normal" eater. I would like to change that over the long term, but this is not the time really. Just maintaining what I am doing is taking everything I have, and I can't up the ante right now.
I need to stop focusing on what I haven't done and take a moment to appreciate that I have stuck with my exercising through an extraordinarily busy time in my life. :)
Insert moment of appreciation here................................................................................................
Having said all that, my goal between now and Christmas is to keep on exercising and to reign in my ice cream eating.
