Week One...Done!

One week of trying to get healthy down and what did I learn? 1. It's true folks...the energy I have and the lift in my mood are totally worth not eating junk and sitting around all day long (at least that's what I'm telling myself). 2. Zumba is AWESOME! According to the interwebs, a person my size doing moderate Zumba for one hour burns around 600 calories!!! All while having a great time and shaking my booty? Heck yeah! (and I'm pretty sure I'm doing a little more than moderate activity since I can barely breath for most of the workout). 3. Running sucks. It's getting better, but sorry those of you who just love to run. To me, it still sucks. It's getting easier, but I find it incredibly hard, my back hurts after, and I'm bored the entire time (even with music). And did I mention it's hard? 4. I can live without a massive cheat day. We celebrated Cate's birthday last Saturday and while I did eat pretty bad, I tried to keep things in check. I just didn't see the point in undoing all of the hard work I'd done all week. So I splurged a little and went over my calorie count, but I tried really hard not to overdo it too much. I think I was fairly successful, but in the future, I think I'll just have a cheat meal instead of a cheat day. 5. I love, love, love myfitnesspal.com's iphone app and internet tools. I mean LOVE them! They're free, have just about every food you can imagine, allow me to instantly track calories (and other nutritional info, but my focus right now is on calories), and even help me to plan my day's food intake. I can enter my own recipes and the programs calculate the calories for me. This app is making my life SO much easier! 6. I need to stay off the scale...I knew this before I started last week. Ultimately, it's not really about how much I weigh and I KNOW my body by now. I don't really lose pounds right away, especially when I'm exercising. Weighing myself every day is just not something that encourages or motivates me, so I'm not sure why I do it in the first place. From now on, I will weigh once a week, on the same day at the same time (preferably in the morning since the number is the lowest then). That way, I won't get so frustrated by the ups and downs through the week. (BTW, I am down 3 pounds this week). 7. One of the greatest moments this week was when I was doing yoga in the living room one evening and Cate and Jack came in to join along. It helped drive home the point that being healthy is one of the greatest things I can do for my kids. Modeling good habits such as eating healthy and exercising will help to form life long good health in my children. I've always known that, but to see it in action just made it "real." 8. Positive self-talk goes a long way. At the risk of sounding like a New Age guru, I have to admit that talking to myself in my weakest moments has been really helpful. There have been a couple of times that I have found myself out and about wanting desperately to drive through to get a coke or wanting to quit short of a jogging phase during a Couch to 5K workout, but I just tell myself "you can do this" or "don't quit" and it genuinely helps. Finally...This. Is. HARD. When I think of how easy it would be just to go back to eating whatever I wanted and sitting around doing nothing physically challenging, that just seems like such a wonderful relief. I know that all of this will get easier as I get into better shape and learn how to be healthier, but man, I have to think about every little piece of this right now. I am just supremely grateful for the time I have this month to focus on me. I am very proud of the progress I am making (even though it's only been a week) and I am so thankful for all of the encouragement I've been receiving. On to Week 2!