Fit by 40, Week 6 – Recognition

Long weekends tend to be a break in routines for me, how about you? This can be lots of fun. When you’re trying to establish new routines it can also be a little on the challenging side. I had some minor setbacks in the eating and exercising departments in Fit by 40, Week 6. I know. I’ve been there before!

What Went Well, Week 6:

1. Meditation: I was able to successfully meditate several times this week. I noticed that it is challenging for me to ‘turn off’ my thoughts, even when I am focusing on a phrase. I have begun practicing just being during calm moments in hopes that I will be able to use these skills when I am meditating as well.

2. Making Better Choices at Night: My husband Nick and I have a habit. We like to snack after putting the kids to bed. With four young children, this often means snacking around 9:00 PM. This is a habit we would like to change. This week, I was able to forgo late night snacking almost every night. We ate a pretty light dinner with the kids on Friday night and I did snack that night (though it was about an hour earlier). It is definitely progress!  

3. Drinking More Water: We have a water cooler, similar to the ones you see in offices. The water is delivered every month and I love it! For some reason the water just seems to taste better. I tend to drink more water when I use the water from the cooler rather than our filtered water. I started drinking consistently from the water cooler in Week 5 and it has made it so easy to stick with this particular habit. 

Related Post: Fit by 40, Week 7

Areas That Need Work, Week 6:

1. Eating Sweets: This tends to be my area of weakness week after week! We visited grandparents on both sides of the family over the weekend. We had pizza and Chinese food and I was able to enjoy both without overdoing it. Desserts were a different story. I had ice cream twice on Saturday, though they were small portions each time. Then on Sunday, we had a cookout with three different desserts. Guess who had to sample all three… yes, it was me. I have some work to do here. Oh yeah, we had donuts on Sunday as well. They were fantastic! I think maybe limiting myself to dessert two nights a week may work. I’ll keep you updated.

2. Exercise: Unfortunately I received a minor knee injury and had to take it easy for a few days (thanks, child #4). Luckily, on Friday I went on a walking field trip with one of my daughters. We walked around for a few hours and learned lots of interesting historical facts. Also, my knee felt great! We also went to the zoo over the weekend. Again I walked for hours, though it was very relaxed walking. At one point I noticed a little twinge, though it went away quickly. I am going to go a little easy next week and work my way back up to my previous exercise routine.  

In conclusion, I am recognizing that sweets are a big challenge for me. Now that I am tracking what is working well and what I need to work on each week I am seeing a pattern: sweets are always on my list of things that I need to work on. I have come up with a plan to eat them in moderation this week and I am hoping my husband will help. I had no plan this week and I ate them more than I should.

What are you recognizing in your routines?