“…and the livin’ is easy.” Yeah Right!
This summer is rapidly going from a blissful break from the hectic grind of the school year to a MORE stressful time where I’m yearning for September. Last night while talking before bed, Pam and I were discussing our busy summer plans. We’ve already been gone for two weeks, taken two weeks of swimming classes, and had visitors for a week. Still on the agenda are two more weeks of swimming lessons, one week of summer camp, a weekend camping trip, a weekend trip to the beach, two weddings and several races of epic proportions.
Pam said to me as we were turning of the light, “I just want a summer where we do nothing.”
I replied, “Then you’ll have to stop racing” 
But seriously, I feel a little bit stressed out with all that is going on these days. I’m not finding the time to exercise properly, and I’m not eating very well. My weight is inching up slowly and I don’t like it all. It’s time to get back to the basics of eating small meals, counting calories, and getting on that treadmill if I can’t get outside for a run. But I seem to have forgotten how to turn the momentum around. Once I get back on track, keeping up with the plan is easy for me. I need that switch to flick in my brain. Or for someone to hit me upside the head. Any volunteers?
{ 3 comments… read them below or add one }
Mac, you should at least do what you did when trying to stay on track with running, which is to get with an accountability partner for whom you have to show up consistently. In the case of eating, someone who has similar goals as you, with a very specific target, a very specific set of behaviors you checking in with about, and a very clearly defined end date. You call this person a couple of times a day. There’s an obvious candidate for this: your partner in crime, J.D. Roth. As you say, you’re good at maintaining momementum once you get started, so you probably only need to aggravate each other with these calls for a couple of weeks. You started this blog to support each: now’s the time for you each to step up for the other. (I have an accountability partner who helps me to stay on track with my GTD Weekly Review.)
The hardest thing about any exercise program is going
out and running when you don’t want to. It’s always easier
to just go to bed (or STAY in bed, if you run in the
morning). You just have to force yourself, if you really
want to be in shape….as the Nike commercial said “Just DO it”.
Like you say, you just need to force yourself a few times
till you get your momentum back, then once in a while when
you’re tempted to slide. Good luck….it IS hard.
When you are entertaining and cooking for a houseful of people or visiting at friends homes it isn’t always the easiest to stay on track. Everyone is gone and you can get back to it. So like Harm said “Just do it”