Big Weight Loss Goal – Day 1

I divided my measly calories/day into 3 meals and a snack and started measuring at breakfast. 300 calories for breakfast was satisfying, and I was amazed at how much more I was used to eating then. Then I went to the gym and stayed on the elliptical machine until 400 calories were burned. Only 37 minutes, compared to my usual 30 minutes. Not bad. By the time I got home at noon, I was starving and looking forward to lunch. My leftover chicken & rice dish had 350 calories, leaving me 50 more calories to consume in a few bites of veggies and fruit. So far so good.

About an hour later I was starving! It was going to be a long afternoon! I was preparing dinner in the slow cooker, and it’s always hard to be surrounded by food when you can’t eat! But then I remembered that I’d planned a snack into my day, so I only had to wait a couple hours until snack-time. I drank water; I chewed gum; I did anything I could to convince my stomach I wasn’t hungry. It didn’t help that I was planning meals, menus and grocery lists for the week! Finally, at 3:15 I decided to have my 100 calorie snack. But I was smart and thought about it: what would make me feel the most satisfied at 100 calories? Protein always makes people feel more satisfied, so I ate ½ cup cottage cheese. Mmm, creamy, cheesy, protein. I tried to eat slowly; I almost resorted to a kiddy spoon. I felt satisfied afterwards. Good. Half an hour later, I was starving again! When’s dinner?

I guess what it comes down to is that it’s supposed to be hard. I was doing it the easy way before and not seeing any results. (pep-talk to self:) I need to change my lifestyle if I want to see results. It’ll get easier in a few days as my body adjusts to the change. Besides, it’s designed to fail: Losing 10 lb. in a month is unrealistic; eating 1200 calories/day while exercising off 400 cal/day is extreme. The plan is designed with a cheating function: I can eat an extra 600 calories/day (that’s another meal!) and still lose the 5 lb. I actually want to lose.

The Difference Between Losing 5 lb. or 20 lb.

I think that it’s easier to lose 20+ lb. than 5-10 lb. If you need to lose 20+ lb. you know that you need to make major changes to your lifestyle. You need to exercise, and you need to eat less and healthier foods. Those are not at all easy things to do, but you know what you need to do. However, if you only need to lose 5-10 lb. you are already doing most things right. You are already exercising, and you are already eating pretty healthy. Your lifestyle just needs a little tweaking, but how? It’s hard to know what is keeping that little bit of weight on. At the same time, why bother losing so little weight? My answer is that I want my clothes to fit. (So, yes, if you have been following along this blog, you now know that I did not achieve my goal for October. I’m saddened by the fact that I have no more tricks up my sleeve, no more strategies to try.)

So my husband suggested I shoot for a big weight loss goal. Then, when I failed, I still would have lost some weight, rather than none. Hmm, interesting idea. . .

(First of all, let me say that I’m against the idea of losing lb. The number on the scale is meaningless, and I can always adjust my scale to say the number I want to see. My goals have always been abilities or frequencies or something more concrete than the number on the scale, which is affected by muscle mass, water weight, and body fat.)

. . . However, taking his advice as something new to try, I calculated how much of a calorie deficit I would need to lose 10 lb. in a month, instead of the 5 lb. that would make my clothes fit better and be a more realistic one month goal. Then, I figured out a combination of lower calorie consumption and additional calorie burning through exercise to meet that goal. The extra exercise is easy in the sense that the cardio machines at the gym tell me how many calories I’m burning, so I just need a few minutes more each time and continued consistency (20x this month).

The hard part is counting calories, which I hate! I don’t remember how many calories foods have. I looked online for a good calorie counter, and the ones I tried were not easy to use. I dug up a little pocket-sized calorie booklet that I used 20 years ago, which is easier for me to refer to. If you know of any good online ones, let me know! So I started keeping a food journal, awful! But by writing it down, I can refer back to things I eat often, like my daily coffee, 67 calories. I can check the packages for some other things, and my favorite cookbook has calorie counts for all the recipes! Helpful!

Injury is No Excuse

Follow-up from before: I wrote that there’s no excuse not to exercise while traveling because most hotels have a fitness room. However, in Paris, Las Vegas, the fitness center is part of the spa, all of which is available to guests for $25/day. $25 for 30 min. on a cardio machine?! Forget it! But we did walk a lot the day after our big buffet dinner! Now, my left foot hurts! I think it’s related to walking around the concrete, tile and marble floors of Las Vegas with uncushioned shoes.

Wednesday, I took a break from cardio because of my injured foot. However, when I was at work at the gym, I noticed the lowly rowing machine. Little used and tucked in a corner, the rowing machine doesn’t really use your feet! Perhaps I could use that with my hurt foot! So I looked around some more . . . how about a recumbent bike? You sit and bicycle your legs forward; that might not hurt my foot. How about a regular bike? I’d be sitting, taking a lot of the weight off my injured foot. Here I’d thought that I couldn’t do any cardio exercises because they all require being on your feet, but, low and behold, there were three machines that don’t require standing. I tried out all three and found that the stationary bike did still put a lot of pressure on my injured foot. However, both the recumbent bike and rowing machine felt fine on my foot! Yea! Cardio I could still do despite a foot injury!

“No excuses not to exercise while traveling”

While most people I know exercise less while traveling, I have one client who always says, “There are no excuses not to exercise while traveling!” What a wonderful surprise to hear! And why is that? Because nowadays, almost all hotels have a fitness room. There may only be the basics, but what more do you need while traveling? And it’s just down the hall from you! How hard is it to throw a pair of sneakers and a t-shirt & shorts in your bag while you pack? See, that’s the first step: being conscientious enough, while packing, to take workout clothes. Step two would be to actually put on the workout clothes with the intention to workout. Step 3: just do it!

So let’s see if I put my money where my mouth is this weekend in Vegas and actually use the fitness room at our hotel . . .

Exercise Alone or With the Kids?

After dropping off Zoe at daycare and Maya at her first day of preschool, I spent some time, alone, thinking about what I want to do during those 3 hours 2x/week of alone-time. I listed all the things I do, divided into groups of things I can do with the kids vs. alone.

I’d always thought I needed to exercise alone, yet I felt I was wasting my alone-time doing it then. Confusing contradiction there. Once I broke down “exercise” into specifics, it became clear that I could do it with my kids around. For example, I can bike with the girls in the bike trailer. I can do toning exercises at home while the girls and I watch a 30-minute video. Maya gets a kick out of watching me exercise and enjoys trying to “help” me by sitting on me or pushing me up from underneath while I do a plank. My other option with the kids is to put them in the HBC daycare while I work out, which costs much less than their babysitters do. Really, the only exercise that I need to do alone is running.

So now I have fewer excuses not to exercise, and I realize I can do it with my kids, saving my precious alone-time for things I really need to do alone.

Double Workouts

Funny that I should happen to do a double workout last Sunday because I’ve been doing that this week too! It’s just worked out that I’ve had lots of time to work out on Tuesday and Thursday, but not on Monday and Wednesday.

Tuesday I did toning exercises in the middle of the day, and then biked to pick up my girls from daycare late that afternoon. The problem was that I was stinky and sweaty all afternoon between workouts. Why shower if I knew I was just going to get sweaty again a few hours later?

Because I didn’t really like being sweaty all day, I changed my plan on Thursday. I met a friend for a fast walk, and then did toning exercises afterward. The toning exercises were really tough, and a few times I felt light-headed when I stood up. What was up with that? Was it the double workout that left me listless?

Then I remembered that I’d eaten a small breakfast 5 hours earlier and I’d only eaten a power bar for dinner at work the night before! Well, no wonder I had no energy! It wasn’t the double workout that made me so tired; it was trying to workout while running on fumes! Yes, the power of food: it gives you energy!

The Accounting of Exercise

Sunday, my family went on a lovely bike ride around Alameda. Nick was pulling the bike trailer with Maya & Zoe in it (~100 lb. total), which means it was a slow, leisurely ride. So my questions is whether a “low intensity” bike ride for 70min. followed by “low intensity” toning exercises are considered exercise? And, can I count them as 2 workouts (to meet my goal of 5x/wk)?

I used my fancy heart rate monitor which tracks all my info. and made it clear that the intensity was, indeed, low. My HR was mostly 50-60% of maximum, sometimes lower, which is definitely low intensity. We rode for 10 ½ miles at a speed of 5-12 mph, averaging 8.8 mph, which is quite slow. It says I burned 568 calories, which I find very hard to believe. When we returned, I did some toning exercises, but I was also distracted, so I took a few minutes’ break between each exercise.

So this is the accounting of exercise: adjusting the numbers and justifying them to make them sound good. Yes, well isn’t low intensity also called “fat burning?” Don’t I burn more “fat calories” by keeping my heart rate low? And if the computer says I burned 568 calories, it must be true, right? And if I did a cardio workout (biking) AND strength training, isn’t that like 2 workouts?

The most important thing I learned is to just work out during the week so that I don’t have to worry about it on the weekends. But I’m still going to count it as 2 workouts!

Initial Improvements!

Yea! I’m starting to notice some progress after 2 ½ weeks of commitment to exercising 5x/week! (Of course, it always takes 2 weeks or so before starting to see improvements in a health/fitness program.)

I’ve been biking, rather than driving, when possible, and I’ve noticed my legs are getting stronger. I’m downshifting less and upshifting more.

Also, I’ve been swimming laps once a week and have noticed I’ve improved my cardio. I can swim 10 laps non-stop more easily than before.

Most importantly, my girth is decreasing! A couple of my tops that used to be too snug, now, fit in the belly!

That’s my real goal: for all my clothes to fit me comfortably again. Even so, I hop on the scale now and then and have gained 2 lb. since starting this venture. Nine months ago the scale read 7 lb. less than now, but if all my clothes fit, I don’t care what the scale says.

This weekend, I’ve got to make up for the 2 days this week that I skipped exercising. Now that I’m starting to see progress, I need to be sure to keep it up!

"Recovery"

I'm trying to accomplish more, so I'd planned out the day in detail, especially what I'd do, alone, during the 4 hr. I'd have a babysitter. But my babysitter didn't show up. I called after 15 min., to no avail. This was the stumble, the question was: Was I going to recover or fall to pieces? Could I go through with my plans for the day with kids in tow? Uh . . . I guess so. That's the "recovery." It's psychological: I had my plan, which included 4 hr of "alone time." Without the babysitter, then what? It's the same when someone gets sick: Do you throw all plans out the window or "recover," modify plans as needed, and continue with the day?

The same is true of living the SWEET Life: If you stumble, you need to recover, not fall. If I miss Sleep too many days, I need to decide to either take a nap or drink some caffeine to wake up, rather than slogging through the day unproductively. If I Eat junk food for lunch one day, I need to eat a healthy dinner, rather than thinking my eating plan is ruined and continuing to eat crap the rest of the day. If I don't Exercise, I need to plan ahead to exercise the next day, rather than dwelling on what I didn't do. In short, I need to "recover," not give up, and not fall to pieces.

Santa Cruz & "Weight Management"

Today is Labor Day, so we went to Santa Cruz for the day. It was a beautiful day to spend at the beach, but you can imagine how well we ate: chips, corndogs, sodas. On the way home this evening, we picked up fast food Chinese, supposedly healthier than other fast food chains? And I was starving, so I ate too much, too fast. Ugh! My stomach feels like a beach ball right now.

And so much for exercising every weekday; I didn't exercise today. That means I'll have to make up for today, next weekend. I've decided not to try to exercise first thing in the morning. I just can't do it anymore, and I've been trying with little success for the past nine months! I'm going to give in to the fact that it's just not for me and plan to exercise later in the day. I've planned my times each day this week; now I just have to follow through . . .

My sister-in-law Linda was in Santa Cruz with us, studying Weight Management on the beach. She's a Registered Dietitian. "Weight Management" is a buzz word these days; it seems to be the polite way to say "obese." Interesting juxtaposition: swimsuit-clad people, many of whom need "weight management" next to lithe Linda, a dietitian, reading about weight management. It was interesting to learn from her about how overeating leads to so many health problems and how some medications cause weight gain. All the while, Nick and I were munching on chips an soda!

End of the Week Follow-Up

Why am I surprised that I actually followed through with my goal plan (to figure out a time to exercise every weekday)? I did it! It’s Saturday and I already exercised 5 times this week! Hmm, when was the last time I actually did that?! (beyond saying I’m going to). Huh!

Here’s the breakdown:

• · Monday: 35 min. cardio at the gym after my shift at 9 p.m., plus 15 min. of abs & stretching.
• Tuesday: 30 min. of toning exercises from a magazine after a stretch class
• Wednesday: same as Monday
• Thursday: 30 min. of toning exercises from a magazine first thing in the morning
• Friday: swam 50 laps (30 laps freestyle, 20 laps kicking) after teaching Aqua Aerobics

The swimming was easier than I had anticipated. I don’t swim laps often, and the last time I did (last month?) I had a hard time swimming 10 laps non-stop. This time I did it more easily, so that’s good.

So how do I feel? Well, not any stronger or slimmer or more fit. In the last two weeks, when I’ve exercised 5x/wk., I’ve gained 2 lb., feel the same, and my clothes fit the same. L Not encouraging. But I have to keep up the faith that things will change in the long run. Two weeks isn’t long enough to achieve any fitness goal; I need to give it at least a month. I only feel a small sense of accomplishment at achieving my weekly goal. Beyond that, I have to know that I have had “invisible” improvements.

“Invisible” Achievement

I realized that I saw more improvement in my ESL (English as a Second Language) students, in 16 years of teaching, than I do in Personal Training clients, in the last 3 years. Huh! Is English easier to learn than physical fitness? Certainly English can be studied more hours per day than the average person can work out, which would lead to more improvement. But, say, each were done 5 hours/week; then how would the progression compare? In that case, I think the development would be about equal.

A big difference between the two is the “visibility” or lack thereof. I can “see” ESL students’ improvements in writing and speaking. I can ask comprehension questions to “see” whether they understand what they hear or read. However, fitness improvement is often “invisible.” The first progress my clients always notice is improved energy and sleep, which are imperceptible to me. That’s usually followed by increased strength and functional ability (i.e., climbing stairs, getting up from a chair or the floor, lifting groceries, etc.), which are indistinguishable to me. A doctor’s visit might inform them that their heart and bones are stronger, their cholesterol is better, their metabolism and immunities have increased, and their blood pressure, stress, and risk of injury have decreased; all of which are unseen. Consequently, their doctor might have them decrease their medications, which is also invisible to me. Lastly, their clothes might fit better, even if their weight doesn’t change.

So, rather than thinking that my clients aren’t improving, I need to think of them like advanced ESL students: They don’t advance by leaps and bounds, like beginning ESL students do, but their English becomes refined, fluent, comfortable. Even if I don’t “see” my Personal Training clients’ progress, their workouts result in a wide range of “invisible” improvements.

New, One-Month Goal: Exercise 5 days/wk

I’m having all my Personal Training clients set one-month goals, so I am too. My problem is that my goal since May -- to fit into all my clothes again – has become stale, so I set a new goal: to exercise 5 times a week, including abs. I’ve been good at 3-4 times a week, but that 5^th day is a really tough one. That used to be a habit; now it’s a goal!

Steps to achieving my goal: Figure out a 30-60 min. time each day to do it!

1. Monday, 30-45 min. of cardio + abs after my shift at HBC: 9:00 p.m.

2. Tuesday & Thursday, 30-40 min. of toning exercises at either 6:30 a.m. (if I sleep well) or at 11:00 a.m. (before I take a stretch class at noon).

3. Wednesday, 30-40 min. of running at 6:30 a.m. If not, 9:00 p.m. cardio, after my shift.

4. Friday, 30 min. of cardio either before or after I teach Aqua Aerobics at 10:30

5. If I skip a weekday, this weekend I’ll make-up that damn 5^th day.

Obstacles to achieving my goal are:

1. Lack of a regular exercise schedule

2. Chaotic sleep pattern (depending on whether my kids wake up during the night)

3. Toddlers to raise alone 11 hr/day

Ways to work around the Obstacles:

1. Plan when the best time will be each day, being flexible

2. Either push through the fatigue or have alternate exercise times planned

3. Tu, Th, F put the girls in the HBC Childcare Center while exercising there

Getting Organized

Sleep
These days it seems I don't get enough sleep Sunday - Thursday nights, but I do on the weekends. By Thursday or so, I'm ready for a nap! Over the course of a week, that doesn't add up to enough sleep. :-(

Water
With this hot weather, I'm really trying to stay hydrated, and the heat makes me thirsty, so it's pretty easy.

Eating
I was taking an exercise class yesterday and realized I'm kinda bulky. It's muscle, but I'm bigger than I want to look, and the #1 key to bulking up is to eat more than you burn off. For that reason, I need to eat less, so I'm taking advantage of the lack of appetite brought on by the heatwave and trying to really cut down. I eat balanced, healthy meals, but I just need to trim the serving sizes.

Exercise
I was going to exercise first thing, at 6:30 a.m., but I didn't sleep well, so I was going to take an exercise class at 9:00, but I had a hard time getting up after not sleeping well, so I was running late and didn't make it. Then, I was going to exercise by riding my bike to pick up Zoe, but I needed to get her quickly, so I drove. Then, I was thinking of going to the gym after dinner, but I had to help get the girls to bed and it was too late. How many times have we told ourselves the same story? I suppose most people don't have as many opportunities to exercise in one day as I have. It's pitiful when the end of the day comes and I haven't exercised and I have no good reason why not.

Tranquility
Today was a backyard pool day. I filled both of our inflatable pools, a 6'x10' rectangle and a 5' circle. I started them just 1/3 full of water, which heated quite nicely during the hot mid-day. In the afternoon, I filled them up to 2/3 full, mixing the heated water with cool, refreshing water. That's a lot of water! I also stuck our little play structure slide into a pool. Then, we had at it! First it was just me and Maya; later, a couple of her friends came over with their moms. We ate popsicles, drank mint lemonade with coconut rum and ate strawberries and little cookies. It was wonderful! I look forward to playing in the pools all this hot week.

How did I do, and how do I feel?
Today, I had a _WE_T Life.
I feel good (except for the lack of sleep and exercise) ever since I finally sorted out my desk mountain of papers. I did that last weekend and have felt better ever since. I feel less overwhelmed, mostly because, in merely sorting the papers, I realized there wasn't much that required immediate attention. The biggest sorted piles I ended up with were trash, magazines, filing, and mail to open. Most of the mail was stuff to file. There was very little To Do in that huge mountain. I recycled the trash, stacked the magazines in a magazine rack, and told myself I was going to spend 15 min/day filing papers. Now, 2 days later, my filing stack is very small; I should finish tomorrow. In addition to filing, I'm spending 15 min/day tidying up my house, and I'm making sure to wash one load of laundry and spend some time completing things in my To Do file. I just feel more clear-headed and in control. :-)

Determination

I'm determined to live the SWEET Life today. I've been keeping track, all day, on my SWEET Life Plan and will see every letter highlighted on my SWEET Life Cycle. Why the big push today? First, I went camping last weekend where two things happened: We ate a lot! Everyone brought so much food to share with everyone (there were 22 of us), and we were snacking all the time. Also, the shorts I brought in anticipation of the hot weather were uncomfortably tight in the waist, which they didn't use to be! Tight shorts on a hot day is a bad combination! In addition, it's the last week of the month and I'm not near my goal, which was the same goal as last month, which I didn't achieve either. I need to stop the negative cycle, now! I have to focus and live the SWEET Life fully and consistently to see the results I want to see. It's that simple.

Sleep: Despite a midnight interruption and two kids coming in to join us, I slept well. It was nice to be in my own bed again after two nights in a tent.

Water: I've been keeping track of each beverage I've drunk on my SWEET Life Plan, and I've drunk plenty.

Eating: After three days of camp food (i.e., too much and of varying nutritional value), I was ready to eat healthy and make sure I was eating balanced nutrition, marking off each portion on my SWEET Life Plan.

Exercise: I laid in bed this morning, awakened by my "exercise" alarm, asking myself if I needed more sleep. Eventually, I realized I was wasting my time laying in bed, awake! Either sleep, or get up! So I got up and exercised, using my new adjust-a-weight dumbbells. I'm now trying to do toning exercises on Mondays & Wednesdays and cardio on Tuesdays, Thursdays, and Fridays.

Tranquility: There was a surprise knock on the door at 8:30 a.m. It was our babysitter! I'd forgotten that I was starting to use her every Monday morning. What a pleasant surprise! That meant I got some Tranquility this morning, not doing anything in particular, just getting organized post-camping.

How did I do, and how do I feel?
Today, I lived the SWEET Life.

Sometimes you need a new routine

Sleep: Zoe still keeps me up most nights, as I mentioned before. But I've gotten more sleep the last 2 nights, partly because I'm not getting up to exercise at 6 a.m.

Water: Yes, I still drink enough water, but I have to focus on it these days; it's not automatic to drink enough.

Eating: I've been using my SWEET Life Plan, front and center on the fridge, which helps me focus on what I'm eating better.

Exercise: This week, I'm focusing on a new exercise routine. I'm giving up my early morning exercise in order to get more sleep because Zoe keeps me up most nights. I'm also interested in teaching group exercise classes at the gym where I work, so I'm trying to take more classes. I planned for a class every day this week, but I only went to two because Maya's been sick and stayed home from preschool (when I was going to take classes). However, I did, also, do some new exercises from Fitness magazine one day, and I biked, dragging the kids in a trailer, one day.

I'm getting into biking these days. I always feel silly when I drive 1/2 miles to Park St. to run errands. When the kids were babies I strollered over there a lot, but now that they are toddlers, they want to walk, but can't walk that far. I biked one mile to the Harbor Bay Club twice this week, with kids in tow. I feel like I just discovered it even though we've had the bike trailer for 3 years. The main problem was that the bikes were not easily accessible, and I had to drag out the trailer, put it together, etc. It would take 1/2 hr just to get set up to ride 1/2 - 1 mile to run errands. Now we have the biking stuff more easily accessible so that it's much faster to set it up and go. Unfortunately, we don't have a garage where we can simply leave the bikes & trailer all ready to go. I'm hoping the combo of biking and exercise classes will keep me motivated to exercise for the next month or so.

Tranquility: I don't feel like I've been getting a lot of tranquility lately. I have some down time, but not a lot of time where I feel very relaxed and content.

How did I do, and how do I feel?
Yesterday, I had a SWEE_ Life.
I was feeling very down and depressed last week, and this week I feel much better, more motivated, happier, etc. I still don't have enough time for the things I want to do, but I don't feel as overwhelmed.

End of Cycle Recap

The past, 4-week, SWEET Life Cycle ended Sunday. My goal was to "Be Able To see that I lived the SWEET Life 5-6 days every week." Well, I did a pretty good job of it. I did keep track every day, no days with question marks. My one weakness was that I only exercised 4 days a week instead of 5. I also wrote a few notes on it, explaining why I didn't do some things, like "chocolate, coffee" one day when I didn't eat well.

So let's see how things went today:

Sleep: I did sleep 7 hr, in Maya's bed, which was otherwise empty. However, that didn't really make up for the little sleep I'd gotten the night before.

Water: I did make sure to drink 8 cups of water today, 4 tall glasses-worth.

Eating: I cleared off the front of my freezer and prominently displayed my SWEET Life Plan so that I would remember to keep track of and check off the amounts of each food group. Yesterday, I ate no vegetables (!) so I made sure to focus on those today. I need to buy some easy to eat veggies, like baby carrots. Looking at the food groups on my Plan actually helped give me ideas for what to eat.

Exercise: I got up early and did my toning exercises at home.

Tranquility: That's right now because I didn't have tranquility all day. I set up a Skype account and want to use it to call my mom so that she can see her granddaughters and vice versa. It's too late at night to call anyone, so I'll have to try my first web cam/internet call tomorrow.

How did I do, and how do I feel?
Today, I had a SWEET Life!
It's unfortunate that I'm up so late (11:30 p.m.) because I want to get up at 6:15 to exercise, which would not give me enough exercise.

I feel motivated because I've set a new goal and really put some thought into how to achieve it. But more about that the next time. . .

1/2 Week Synopsis

I feel a light at the end of the tunnel at the moment. Of course, it will be short lived. I was so backed up with schoolwork to grade and yet another test to write that it was having an adverse effect on my SWEET Life. But I've finally gotten caught up, only to give a test (which gives me a break during class time), which I will, then, have to grade.

The first few days of the week, I was skipping one aspect of the SWEET Life daily, but a different one each day. Today, however, I've already skipped both Sleep and Exercise, both of which I've already skipped once this week.

Sleep
I slept enough Monday and Tuesday nights, but not the past 2 nights. Right now I'm ready for a big night's sleep!

Water
Somehow, I didn't drink enough water on Monday, and I don't think I have today, but I did on Tuesday and Wednesday. However, my 2-a-day caffeine drinking has become a habit. :-(

Eating
I've eaten pretty well this week, a healthy variety, but on Tuesday, due to stress, I ate a lot of chocolate.

Exercise
So far, I've only had time to exercise Tuesday and Wednesday this week, but I want to the rest of the days.

Tranquility
I have had Tranquility every day this week! Hurrah! Of all things, during a stressful time, at least I've gotten a break from it a little every day.

How did I do, and how do I feel?
This week, the past 4 days, I have had a SSWWWEEE EETTTT Life.

Weekly Recap

Sleep: Last night I slept enough. However, since my kids kept me up the first three days of last week, I only slept well 4 out of 7 days last week.

Water: I filled my pitcher with water, but didn't drink much yesterday! That's rare; I drank enough water 6 out of 7 days last week.

Eating: I've been focusing on eating better, and I did 7 out of 7 days last week!

Exercise: I was too tired to exercise, after not sleeping well, Monday and Tuesday, and I was too busy Saturday, so I only exercised 4 out of 7 days last week, but that seems to be my norm since I started teaching ESL in January.

Tranquility: I got tranquility every day last week! 7 out of 7!

How did I do, and how do I feel?
Yesterday, I had a S_EET Life.
Last week I did pretty well. The lack of sleep 3 nights in a row was out of my control and affected me the rest of the week. However, the main thing is that I'm paying more attention to living the SWEET Life. I'm also trying to get my husband to live the SWEET Life too.

Renewed Motivation

I'm renewing my motivation for living the SWEET Life. Having Spring Break last week helped encourage me because I had more free time to focus on it. Last week also started my latest 4-week goal cycle. My 4-week goal is simply to consciously live the SWEET Life, which I had become increasingly worse about doing over the previous 6 weeks.

We went to Lake Tahoe for 4 days with another family, which was great fun. I took my SWEET Life tools, with copies for the other adults on the trip. It was a lot easier to live the SWEET Life while on vacation because I recruited the others to live it with me for those 4 days.

Sleep
Last night I slept horribly! I went to bed late because I was trying to get some stuff done, and Zoe cried out for me, then squirmed around in my bed the rest of the night. Horrible!

Water
I drank enough beverages yesterday, although they weren't all water.

Eating
I ate well, but surprisingly, I didn't eat a lot of grains.

Exercise
I went running on the beach yesterday.

Tranquility
I got a lot of stuff done while my girls were napping, so, yes, I had tranquility.

How did I do, and how do I feel?
Yesterday, I had a _WEET Life.