I am trying to make some changes, and it's HARRRRRD.
For the past few weeks, I have been pretty committed to a few new things:
{1} Packing my lunch the night before
{2} Eating lean, clean, and green
{3} Drink at least 50 ounces of water a day
{4} Building back up my relationship with running
{1} Packing my lunch the night before. I am super into a routine right now, which has never been an easy thing for me to keep. The only thing I am struggling with is juggling multiple routines. I am packing my lunch the night before so I don't have to do it in the morning before work (I am NOT a morning person, so just waking up and showering is about all I can manage...lol), and that is staying pretty consistent, but it's the other things that are wavering.
{2} Eating lean, clean, and green. I feel like breakfast and lunch are fine, which is because of the routine. I am having a protein shake for breakfast (OMG yum) and some combination of a salad (with actual green lettuce, not that iceberg stuff), a fruit, and water. I am loving the whole quinoa thing right now and have been adding that to my salads with various toppings that are super delicious. And you may be thinking, "Amy, that lunch does not sound very filling" but it really is. I start to get hungry after school, but have been pretty good about having a snack of some kind- plain almonds, a banana, a Kind bar, etc.- on my way home from work and that does the trick.
Dinner is the tricky part. When I get home, I just want to sit down. I spend a lot of time at work on my feet and sitting on my couch with my feet up catching up on the tv I missed this week is super enticing. Instead, I have been pulling things out of the fridge to get started on making dinner....which takes some time when you have to do everything leanly, cleanly, and greenly, lol. Eating non-processed foods has been good for dinner, but recipes are starting to repeat, and I'm worried about getting bored and not wanting to follow through. Any good cookbooks to recommend?
{3} Drink at least 50 ounces of water a day. Technically, I should be drinking more. Word on the street is that you should be drinking at least half your body weight in ounces of water a day, which is ridic really. Drinking water is literally one of the hardest things for me right now. I probably drink maybe 8 ounces of water a day, and that's if I don't forget my water bottle at lunch. If I do, well, you already read about how tired my feet are during the day so don't be surprised when I have no intention of going back upstairs to my classroom to get my water bottle! (Maybe I just need new shoes...hmmm) Even when I do have my water bottle, assuming that I remember to even bring a water bottle with me to work, I only take a sip at the end of my meal, and even then, it's not a large one.
Now some of you may be wondering how I haven't dropped dead from dehydration in the past 26 years. Well, every third day or so, I down water like it's my job all day. It's not intentional.
It's weird.
But not anymore! I am trying my best to drink at least 50 ounces a day, and it is not an easy task. I bring two 25 ounce water bottles to work and try to drink one before lunch, and one after lunch.
It's not that I don't like water, it's that I don't like to drink...if that makes sense, lol.
{4} Building back up my relationship with running. In 2012, I ran a half marathon in Chicago. It was awful. I was hot, hurting, and basically cried the entire time, lol. The training for it part was not so bad, until the few weeks before it was so hot that I didn't go out and run as much as I should have been, and that was a mistake. Anyway, most of the training for that half marathon was nice. It pushed me, motivated me, made me feel better about life, and helped me to appreciate nature. After the half, I kept running a little, but it was not the same. Since then, I have had an on again, off again relationship with running, that I want to change.
I like running. There is something to be said for being out on a trail, on a sunny day, listening to your favorite tunes, and enjoying the weather. My favorite thing has always been running at night in the fall because I love the cool crisp air, and the feeling of being cold and warm at the same time, lol. I also love running at night in the winter when there's snow on the ground and everything is white, still, and quiet. In the year after the half marathon, I realized that I like to train for runs on my own, but I need that satisfaction of running in a race with thousands of other people, a bib to add to my wall collection, and, of course, the shirt that comes in the swag bag :) I'm not ashamed to say that running and I are not best friends. I like it, but I'm not at the point where I can go out without my headphones and just go. Running is not a de-stressor, an escape, or the most exciting part of my day. It is something I enjoy, and makes me feel better about life, but I still require motivation to get off my butt and do it. Maybe I always will, but for not at least I know what I need from running and that's enough.
I hope one day that I will be a runner. I mean, I'm not sure that I think of myself as a runner right now, even though I think sometimes I don't give myself enough credit...
So anyway, I am struggling with keeping all of these consistent together. On days when I am really good at one thing, I don't do the others, or don't do them exactly how I want.
Multitasking life and drinking water are the worst.
And the fact that the butterflies in my K class have hatched from their pupas and they keep flying around their butterfly cage and they are FREAKING ME OUT. Butterflies are also the worst.
