the first post.

“Go on an Adventure.”

i try to do everything all at once or all at once and way too fast. in every aspect of my life this is true.  it's like i see a target and a timeline and i'm sprinting to get to that destination within a nano-second. of course this is not possible and i give up. no i don't try an alternative.


no i don't give myself more time. 
no i don't take a break and try again. 
and no i don't try to figure out what went wrong.


i flat out give up. but this time - i hope things will be different. i hope i can conquer this life-long battle with the scale. something clicked today in my head and i realize no i don't have to do everything in one day or one month. this is about the rest of my life, not a short term goal for a one day reward.  yes of course optimally i want to look good before my 28th birthday and i don't want to start my 28th birthday feeling fat. but i need to do this in strides - it has to be a lifestyle change, not a temporary fix. 


what this means is - that if tomorrow i worked out for just 5 minutes, that's okay. if i drank just one cup of water - that's okay too. as long as I DON`T GIVE UP.  the point is i'm starting slow and i'm building the foundation of my life.  the rest of my life counts too - not just one day or the day i reach my goal.


so i was thinking alot about desserts and snacks and all the yummy treats i so desire and devour and i'm thinking i am going to make sundays my baking days. i am gonna bake a batch of cookies or a small loaf of cake and portion it to last me and family the whole week. this way i don't devour 6 wafer cookies in one sitting or all the other damaging treats i've ingested today. 


i also calculated how much money it would cost me to buy subway for 30 days a month - and it turns out $3.66 (veggie flatbread) x 30days = 109.80 - i don't eat lunch out 30 days a month but if i needed to find an alternative on the days i forgot lunch i know i'm not breaking the bank.  and i'm thinking maybe i should alternate - i can make lunch twice a week and three times a week i can get subway and it still would be affordable and healthy calories wise.  there is also another dimension to this - i often feel super guilty letting ppl eat alone for lunch so i feel that i must keep ppl company and that means the 15mins i would take to go out and grab a subway i stay at work and purchase unhealthy, greasy food from the work eatery and chow it down mindlessly.  i have to put myself first. i don't always have to look out for others in cases like this and people are always more capable than what we give them credit for. and if they dislike me for this - then i have to brave this, b/c life goes on.


the other thing i want to do is also learn more about nutrition and exercise - for example what are complex carbs vs. simple carbs and what's the difference between strength training and cardio - so i thought i'll devote one week to a subject each week so that i'm enlightening myself as i go along.


i also want to take up a sport: i have my sights set on tennis and i want to do a 10k next year or a half marathon in 2012- i participated in a 5k this year and it was absolutely exhilarating and i'm hooked!


to do list: 
1. start with small habits: aim for 15 minutes of physical activity tomorrow (purchase a skipping rope)
2. pick a simple easy to do recipie for Sunday ( no more than 5 ingridients)
3. stock up on green tea and purchase a metal water bottle
4. buy subway for thursday (find the healthiest combination of veggie sub option)
5. pick a subject on exercise or nutrition to study this week - i think i am gonna do carbs - just cuz i'm obsessed with them from an eating perspective.
6. read coolrunning.com feature on from couch to 5k


i know i might stumble along the way - but i hope i get up and keep going still. 


to the stars,


uma