So, President Obama and Congress have me thinking about inertia.
source
WHEE (Weight, Health, Eating and Exercise) is a community support diary for Kossacks who are currently or planning to start losing, gaining or maintaining their weight through diet and exercise or fitness. Any supportive comments, suggestions or positive distractions are appreciated. If you are working on your weight or fitness, please -- join us! You can also click the WHEE tag to view all diary posts.
Join me on the flip side...unless you're stuck.
So, while I have no patience with our CongressCritters giving in to professional and institutional inertia, I must say, I battle inertia in my personal life constantly.
So many things get out of control so quickly--sometimes it seems like one day of inaction and all of a sudden the dishes are stacked up so high in the sink that I can't use the faucet, doggie hairballs are about to suffocate me, and I've got no clean underwear.
Inertia by Gracie
I find that inaction almost inevitably leads to ... more inaction--in my finances, my personal relationships, house and car maintenance, and most definitely inertia has played a significant role in my struggles with my weight and fitness. Once I stopped being active and started gaining weight, it was so difficult to take the first step, and before I knew it, my health and my body were out of control.
I've taken some initial steps in my journey to better health--I've lost about 30 pounds in the past year and have definitely increased my fitness. Here are some of the things that have helped me in my battle against inertia:
*Influenza. Yes, I got the flu on Christmas Eve. I was actually really relieved to figure out that it was the flu, since I made Christmas Eve dinner for my entire family that night. I was violently ill for about 48 hours, then just really, really sick until New Year's Day. When I went to get antibiotics for my strep throat mid-January (why yes, it was a rough winter), I also got a prescription for anti-nausea drugs because I was still having lingering grossness from the flu. I'd always heard about people who got a really bad case of the flu and lost a bunch of weight, but it had never happened to me before. When it did, I was slightly less enthralled with the idea, but decided to take advantage of it.
*www.sparkpeople.com. Okay, I know I've mentioned this site about fifty times on dkos, but I promise I don't get any $$ from them--it's just worked well for me. Sparkpeople is a free food & exercise tracking site. It's pretty flexible and can give you as much or as little support as you want. Initially I used some of their menu plans; now, I really just use it to track my exercise and food intake and balance my nutrients. There are social networking and chat aspects to the site for those who like that kind of thing.
*Failure, stillness, time for myself, laziness, boredom with laziness. Whatever you want to call it. I guess it's a little bit of all of those things. Time to sit and think and plan and desire something else. I've taken time like this in abundance over the years and have taken it in concentrated abundance this summer (yay summer vacation!). I think it's important to sit and think and dream. It rejuvenates the mind and spirit. And then it gets a little bit boring and it's time to get moving again.
*Hot, sweaty yoga. My friend introduced me to this amazing yoga instructor who is positive and controlled and encouraging. The first class nearly killed me. I groaned every time I moved for four days. It's gotten easier--now I only groan every time I move for one day. But I feel strong and I can feel my muscles moving and my endurance has increased dramatically. And even though I probably weigh 100 lbs more than some of the women in that class, it's increased my self-confidence--I'm still really flexible, more than many others. And it's allowed me to do things I haven't been able to do in the past--like start running (okay, jogging really, really slowly) with no shin splints or muscle strain. I'm in Week 3 of the Couch to 5K program (the iPhone app makes this fun and easy).
My next step in the breaking the inertia plan: turn in the evil black box. I vowed to get rid of my cable as soon as the election was over...I've been putting it off for, um, awhile. But I have not watched a tv show from start to finish without mostly being on my laptop for ages. Getting rid of the evil box will allow me to both save money, stop sitting twitching in front of the tv, and follow up on my other goals--like starting to write. Forward momentum can take us to some exciting (and kind of scary) places.
So, what are you doing to fight inertia? What are your next steps? Your ball, folks!
WHEE Roster
1864 House
3rdGenFeminist
Albatross
anotherCT dem
anotherdem
askew
badscience
batgirl71
bfitzinAR
bluesophie
blue jersey mom
Brimi
CA coastsider
chicago minx
Chocolate Chris
coigue
CONEFLOWER42
crystal eyes
cusoon
darthstar
debbieleft
digitalmuse
dotalbon
Dragonladykatie
Ebby
econlibVL
Ed G
Edward Spurlock
el dorado gal
Embee
Fabian
fiddler crabby
filegirl
flor de jasmine
freesia
gchaucer2
glow dog
GoldnI
GollyMissMolly
Greasy Grant
Gussie(no amputation)FN
im a frayed not
it really is that important
jennyjem
Jiffykeen
Ken in Tex
Kirsten
kkbDIA
lineatus
Lisamoe
Louisev
Luvsathoroughbred
Malharden
matching mole
Munchkn
nswalls
Oke
ontheleftcoast
Pandoras Box
Proylance
rb608
revgerry
RLMiller
roses
RunawayRose
SallyCat
Shayle
sheba
sheddhead
StageStop
Starrpower
still small voice
StrangeAnimals
supenau
Tenn Wisc Dem
Timroff
trs
volleyboy1
webranding
Wee Mama
xysea
You can also subscribe to the WHEE fit group on NING here.
Future Diarists (this is the latest list I could find--please let me know if there are updates or if you would be willing to take a diary):
July 27 Mon PM - StrangeAnimals
July 28 TuesAM - Kascade Kat
TuesPM - debbieleft
July 29 Wed AM - Edward Spurlock
Wed PM - sheddhead
July 30 Thu AM - mommyof3
Thu PM - Glow Dog
July 31 Fri AM - gchaucer2
Fri PM - help
Aug 1 Sat AM - help
Sat PM - help
Aug 2 Sun AM - louisev
Sun PM - help