Now on to the updates! Have you been following along with last weeks goals? Each week I pick one way to improve myself on three different planes. Here's a little recap for you:
Mind: Read classic literature - Pride and Prejudiceby Jane Austen
Body: Meal plan and check in at http://www.myfitnesspal.com/Soul: Socially reconnect with someone once a week
How have you been doing with any of these ideas? Write me some comments of obstacles you've come across, or advice for anyone going down this road with me. I'm almost done with the book - should be finished by this week so I can start a new project for my mind, but that's a whole other blog! The meal planning has been great, and I'm really learning how to maximize my food intake within adequate calorie needs. Just look at my little weight ticker at the bottom of the page. Progress feels great, doesn't it? And last but not least, I had a great time with my friend last week, and already have a gym date and a party to attend to this week. These accomlishments make me feel great, especially on a Monday!
But what about the blog today? I've been reading a few facebook statuses that have been irking me, even though they are sadly true. I've been a member to a Planet Fitness gym in the city that I live in for the last four months or so, and I really enjoy it there. In January though, what do almost everyone's resolutions entail? A loss of weight. A healthy lifestyle transition. A new you, right? Except, I've been reading status updates like, "I can't wait for all these people to fail at their new year's resolutions, so I can have my treadmill back." Well, pardon me. Why does success through another's failure make sense? When I was working on my first undergrad degree, I was in this group called the Emerging Leaders Program where I learned this amazingly simple, thought provoking exercise. You start with a line between two people facing eachother. You look at one person and say, "You're job is to get to the other side of the line." Then you look at the other person and say the exact same thing. Tell them to grab hands, and GO. What do you think is the first thing to happen? An all out tug of war, battle of strength, play dirty struggle. Now where was it ever mentioned that it was a competition in any way? What on earth has our minds hard-wired for winning? They each could have easily crossed the line and both succeeded. That's my point. Why do we feel the need to be mutually exclusive? Can't we find ways that empower everyone, and raise both parties up? So yeah, I go to the gym, and I have to park four businesses down, and I can't find a treadmill. But I guess those are the days that someone else can be proud of the work they accomplished at the gym, and I get to experience a new piece of equipment!
So this brings me around to my work towards bodily self improvement of the week. I thought about my desire to work on a healthier lifestyle. It made me reflect a lot about my family and the condition that my relatives are in. Most of my family is overweight, and very inactive. That's when I realized - why not use my goal to work with someone else and accomplish their goal, too? What am I getting at? To improve my body this week, not only am I logging my meals, but this week starts a low level gym regimen. I want to get to the gym three times a week, and work to burn atleast 350 calories each session. But the catch - I got my grandpa to join me! Today I introduced him to the arc trainer for 20 minutes! It was an easy thing for me to get into, but man was I proud of him. He's never used anything more than a stationary bike, but he trusted me enough to try something new. What a compliment! I even showed him a few upper body machines, then we both jumped on a bike for a few miles. I know I could have woked harder, but the work we did together was better than anything I would have accomplished on my own. So why don't you try? Get a hold of your mom or brother or whoever, and go to the mall and walk for a half hour. Let's help each other this year, and in turn help ourselves. Beyond that, I heard about a study at Cambridge the other day that showed a positive relationship between the aging population walking 6+ miles a week and new brain cell growth. What's this mean? That there may quite possibly be a link between excerise and things like lower significance of Alzheimer's!!! I'm still looking for the exact study that was quoted on the radio show, but boy have I stumbled over a ton of other studies worth reading. Go look some up, then get our parents and grandparents moving!
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