Back on Track

You might have noticed that I’ve not been fully committed to fitness for  quite some time. I’ve made a few false starts trying to get back to it but just never quite got there. I’m not sure why I did not keep that promise to myself. Sure there were major scheduling issues. My fun with an ulcer. Food allergies and intolerances that messed up my macronutrient ratios. But mostly, I just let it slide. I no longer put it first. I had so many commitments that something had to give and what lost was me.

I had my annual check-ups recently with my doctor, dentist and eye-doctor. In spite of my slacking, I’m healthy, fit even for a normal person. Indeed, my doctor did no blood work this year and did not poke and prod in the usual way since my results from last year were so good. I got to postpone all of the fun until my next visit where I’ll be 40 and flag all sorts of new fun tests. He did update my tetanus vaccination but that’s it. I learned from my dentist that my teeth are fine but my habit of clenching my teeth in my sleep has caused an abfraction of one of my canine teeth. If I keep it up, this tooth may snap off. Nifty. I started sleeping in a mouth guard that night.  I am hoping that my gums will recover and safely cover the root of that tooth again. There are times I wake up because of how hard I am clenching down on the mouth guard that it presses up into the roof of my mouth.

This Sunday, at peak PMS and full of cravings, I finally hit that point where I was ready to get back on track. It’s always like this for me when change is spawned. I hit that “enough” moment from which action spawns. I weighed. I measured. I dug out my old excel files from when I was 19% body fat and had not realized that I was actually in great shape. I was trying to approach maintenance like a normal person. Exercise regularly & eat healthy. Bah. I am not this person. I need a plan. I need to write it down and let excel add up the numbers. I need to track. I need to get on the scale each day. Today is day 4. I’m down 5 pounds from the bloated weigh in. On a positive note, I’m losing on about 1800 calories a day which is often maintenance for women my age and height (39; 5 foot 7 inches). I’m alternating 20-25 minutes of interval runs with full body workouts. I’ll share the complete numbers once I’m a week or two in and feel more confident about sticking to plan this time.

Want some inspiration? I found this article on Jason Statham’s workout. Only 35 minutes a day. I have the Transporter movies in part because he’s a pleasure to watch on screen.