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

Commitments and Priorities

Sleep
I forced myself to catch up on sleep last night, sleeping in instead of exercising. Boy, I needed it after two nights of too little sleep. Two nights of sleep deprivation isn't much, but I'm too busy during the day to lose the productivity associated with being tired.

Water
I've been more consistent with filling my pitcher and making sure I empty it by the end of the day.

Eating
I've been keeping track on my SWEET Life Plan, which means that by afternoon/dinner time, I refer to it to see where my daily diet is lacking so I can catch up.

Exercise
My exercise has become sadly inconsistent so that I feel I have to make up for it on the weekends (instead of taking off the weekends). It's all about priorities, and sometimes, exercise is not as high a priority as other things. For instance, this morning, sleep was more important to me than exercise. On Tuesday, preparing for a meeting was more important than exercise. But I made up for a lack of early morning exercise today by taking a long walk with my girls. It's not the same intensity, but it was a beautiful day to check out the early spring flowers.

Tranquility
I feel like I haven't been getting tranquility recently. Or perhaps I've been getting at least 30 min/day, but not the 3-4 hours that I used to get when my girls napped well. It's a really long afternoon if they don't nap, and I feel they intrude upon my tranquility time if they don't nap.

How did I do, and how do I feel?
Yesterday, I had a _WE_T Life.
I'm constantly interrupted, so I can't concentrate on anything. I like the idea I heard yesterday about committing to a specific hour of the day to focus on one thing that needs focused attention. I always say I'm going to spend an hour a day on something, but that hour always gets pushed around. The idea of saying, "1:00-2:00 I will do _____," like it's an appointment, might help me.