Day 63

Week 8, Day 4 Pilates X done. Today was better as far as doing the workout. Wait, I need to start from the beginning. Today I woke up as yesterday and did something I haven't done in a very, very, very long time. I did not turn on the TV. I usually turn on the Today Show and watch that while getting up and getting ready to workout and then after the workout etc all the way up to the Andy Griffith Show which comes on at 12:30 CST. At 1 pm I usually turn to AMC or Spike or FX or something other than local stations to "watch" a movie or Cops or something, while I am not really watching the show it gives me "noise" at which I can use to "help me focus". Is this noise really helping me focus, or am I just so used to turning on the TV and looking at it or just listening to it to distract me from "eating that frog". I think it is the latter. I catch myself from time to time focusing on the current show or movie on the TV and not getting things done I need to.

Yesterday I started a new trend. I will not turn on the TV until the 5:30 pm national news. I will watch or have the TV on until whatever prime time shows are on that I want to watch are over or I get tired of it being on and get started on reading for the night. Now with that the cutoff time for me is 11:30pm CST and last night I turned off the TV at 9 pm. The show I was watching was over and I did not hesitate and turned it right off. I have to form these new habits to help myself grow. Why the TV, well for the past 30 something years I have left the TV on and half watched or fully watched something and the place I am in now is not where I want to be. Obviously the TV isn't helping me get better or grow into a better person, so time to get rid of it. I used tobacco until May 15th 2012. When I decided it was time to not use tobacco any longer I stopped. I did use an Ecig to help me, but I barely used it and I had bought enough cartridges to last 2 weeks while on vacation with my kids. I never used them. I have not touched any form of tobacco including my all favorite cigar since then.

Back to today. I got up, without turning on the TV, and did my 2 mins of planking. I got out the Pilates X dvd and did that as well. I made my morning breakfast (a shake and hopefully the last one without Shakeology) and sat down at my computer to post my social accountability on the various sites I use. So you know, I post on this blog, with a link on my FB page. I post in 2 places on FB other than using this link, they are challenge groups I am in, on the Teambeachbody website both in the Supergym WOWY and the message boards and finally I also use myfitnesspal.com but it is not really a social site for me more of a record or journal of diet and exercise. Now all of this may seem trivial to most, and for the most part it is. Most things we do as individuals for ourselves are trivial to others. They are huge to us, because we know how important things are to us and how we need to do certain tasks in our daily lives. Mine is working out and then posting my social accountability. Yeah its social accountability, but I don't do it for you, I do it for me. If by some chance it helps or inspires someone, then awesome! I do hope that happens, but I do it to be selfish. I may be the only one proud of what I am doing for me, but that is ok. I am the only one that has to live and die with my decisions. My ultimate goal is to inspire others to take back their lives, be a better person and learn how to love yourself again. It will not be something that happens overnight for any of us, but if you are consistent and persistent you can find that path that will lead you to in the right direction.

As far as the workout goes, I feel great about it. Getting the breathing down was tough and it was a huge struggle the first time I tried to do this workout. Today, I felt much better about what I was doing and it seemed to go pretty smoothly. I still have a crappy core, but I was stronger than I was the last time and I could do things better. I am feeling it in my abs now as well, so I know I was engaging that core. All you can do is your best, after that everything else is just gravy (low calorie of course).