Thursday, September 14, 2006

One Bottle of Water (or, The Post in Which I Call Myself a Schlub Five Times)

Yep. One bottle is all the water I drank today. I’m such a schlub. I have been so negligent lately about eating healthy and exercising. For a while I was doing really great about working out every other day. I was going to yoga twice a week, on my off days. I was drinking more water than soda. I was eating healthy foods and cutting back on my addiction (High Fructose Corn Syrup). Somewhere, that all stopped. Actually, I can tell you when it stopped.

It stopped when we went to Etna to pick up The Girl from her visit to GG and Papa’s. We were down there for three weeks. I did pretty good at first. I went to the gym every other day. I took a really long walk (almost five miles). Pretty much all I drank was water. I was eating really healthy. I only made it to yoga the last Monday we were there because of the holiday and a family dinner. I’m not so sure it stopped there, or if it stopped when we got back. The working out stopped when we got back. I don’t know why. The Hubster was unemployed, so I didn’t have to take the kids with me, so I don’t know what my excuse was. I was still going to yoga twice a week. Then, mid-August I cancelled my gym membership. And even though the membership doesn’t actually expire until the end of September, I stopped going to yoga. Like I said, I’m a schlub.

Something I’ve learned about myself over the last few years: I’m one of those people who have to start with working out, and the healthy eating follows almost without conscious effort. Therefore, when the working out stops, the healthy eating stops as well. So, since I’ve given up pretty much all physical activity, I’ve given up pretty much all healthy food. And really, it’s not that I’m eating tons of unhealthy food. Really, I’m just not eating much at all. I usually skip breakfast, which I’ve heard is a big no-no. Some days I have lunch and some days I don’t, depending on how much energy I need to put into the kids (meaning: more energy, no lunch; less energy, yes lunch). I usually eat dinner, because most nights I cook it. But I have been eating smaller portion sizes lately, since I was shocking myself with the amount of food I was consuming at the evening meal. My water-drinking has become almost non-existent. I’m back to eating lots of candy and chips, especially late at night (which again, I’ve heard is a big no-no). Again, I’m a schlub.

Something else I’ve learned about myself over the years. I am not very self-motivated when it comes to working out. I can’t pop in an exercise video at home and have a great workout. I don’t like to use the treadmill in the dining room, or run on the road, alone. The thing is, even though I didn’t talk to anyone at the gym, I was so much more enthused about working out when I was there. I could run on the treadmill for an hour. I could do a weight machine circuit in no time. I would just put my headphones on, sweat like a fool, and watch people. But the thing is, my life isn’t very conducive to gym memberships. I’ve got two small kids and a husband at home. I have other things I could be doing with that time. But I enjoyed that time so much! I enjoyed feeling healthy. I enjoyed being able to touch my toes for the first time in my life after four months of yoga. And let me tell you, after a month of no yoga, my body is protesting. That is definitely something I need to keep up with.
Anyway. I’m not sure what the point of this post is. I guess just to tell you what a schlub I am. How I don’t take care of my body. And I’m not even getting into showering and hair products and make-up and how many times a day I brush my teeth. Hygiene is a whole other post. But only because I’m a schlub.

1 comment:

Kimi said...

Did you read my post this morning? I was just talking about this. I have been feeling the same way. Too bad we don't live closer so we could motivate each other. I think I might start yoga.