Merry Christmas! #resolve Day 6

Merry Christmas all!

I'm fully in relaxation mode now and enjoying time with my family in Atlanta. My sister and brother are both here which has been unusual the past few years as my brother is a pilot for American Airlines and has just gotten enough seniority to not have to fly today. As with most families, food is a central part of our celebrations. My sister-in-law made some of the most amazing chocolate bourbon and oatmeal-chocolate chip cookies and my sister helped my daughter make gingerbread men. Along with the constant barrage of cheese, snacks, wine and outsize meals, the temptation can be overwhelming (driving the need for New Year's resolutions). So what to do? Run first of course!

As soon as presents were complete this morning, I laced up my Brooks Burns and headed out into some of the beautiful 60 degree Georgia weather. Aided by my best friend Pandora on my iPhone, a great mix of ACDC and Akon propelled my 6 miles around Dunwoody at a pretty decent pace. Imagining the amazing taste of the turkey my brother has been painstakingly smoking since late last night, I cranked out a great run and pre-burned what is sure to be a calorie rich Christmas dinner. With 6 days to go, I'm still holding at half my goal loss but I will enter the new year with a strong start on my physical fitness goals.

My biggest learning is that for me, commitment is more of a time management issue. I've also used the few minutes of personal time my runs afford me to listen to a few tunes and as some completative space to think about work/life/Duke basketball...whatever. Mindset becomes an amazing ally and I find myself looking forward to this time. I'm now going to spend the next 6 days working as hard as I can toward my goal and developing the remainder of my resolutions.

Have a great holiday and spend some time imagining yourself achieving your goals in 2009. The reward will be amazing.

Progress Update

Total Miles - 57

Caolries Burned - 8,550

Weight Lost - 5 lbs.

Stuck - #resolve Day 11

I know you can related with this, my weight-loss progress is stuck. I've lost 5 lbs total but the 1-2 punch of holiday food and multiple business dinners have halted my progression. Fortunately, I have been able to maintain a decent workout regimen and keep some portion control in mind so I haven't lost ground but with only 11 days left and Christmas and New Years dining on the imminent horizon, I'm getting worried about achieving my goal of 10 lbs total loss prior to the new year.

This is the point where many self-improvements derail. What happens? Life happens! Our office has become a veritable smorgasbord of eating temptations: cookes, fudge, candy canes, chocolate. I was doing great at avoidance until I ran headlong into the PR departments' baklava tray. Now I don't know about you, but I will not leave a piece of spare baklava just hanging out by it's lonesome. Anyway, I had just come from the gym that morning and a hard 4.25 mile run so that was my breakfast (feeling a tad guilty about the narrow definition of breakfast I enforce with my daughter). The real damage came yesterday when I was setting up a conference room for a meeting and someone had left 3 half-full boxes of Krispy Kreme's. There was no-one but me and the three green boxes calling my name. That I was able to only eat two was a minor miracle.

There are positives though. At most of my dinners I ordered fish and a green vegetable (the product of 7 years of good marital guidance), and beer does not exist in my household at the moment. I have been very good about keeping first things first and scheduling my running prior to any other daily activities (the financial equivalent of paying yourself first). This morning, Mary Catherine and I ran about 3 miles to the playground on the trail using the jogger stroller. It was great to spend some time with just the two of us after a long week and get a nice run in too. Afterward we split wood (she was at a safe distance mom). Her's where you have to power through, don't give up and use your support network. My wife is bugging me (as asked) and I'm finding the blog is helping by just allowing me to focus on the barriers a bit more closely than I would otherwise.

I still think I can make my goal. We leave for Atlanta to visit my parents on Tuesday AM. Now, on to a great dinner tonight, hold the carbs please...

Progress Update
Total miles - 42
Calories Burned - 6600
Weight Loss to date - 5 lbs

The Tyranny of Business Trips and Meetings

#resolve - Day#18

In the past week, I've been on the road for 3 days and had 3 nights of business dinners back in Bentonville. My Michigan and Indiana trip became very challenging due to the snow and by the end of each day (lot's of driving) I was done (my very impressive Ford Edge rental from Hertz kept me safe). Net result, the outgo side of my weight loss challenge is non-existent and the input side is highly leveraged. Not that I don't mean well, my running shoes are well traveled, I think they've earned platinum status on American this year. Unfortunately, they sometime do make it our of my suitcase (they keep my other clothes company though). That said, I have been able to eek out small progress by portion controlling my meals and limiting alcohol. I now have a collective loss of 4.5 lbs on my goal of 10.

Travel and other interruptions frequently derail self-improvement projects. I find I'm most successful when once again, I schedule my workout activities into my trips. my favorite method is to schedule a run in between the last meeting of the day and Dinner. That way, if I'm out late I don't have to worry about getting up terribly early and I find that it limits my appetite as well. It's tough, I like to pack as many meetings and events into a trip as possible so I can take less trips but it can be done. Thankfully, no more business trips this year and the only personal trip is to my parents house in Atlanta for Christmas. My Mom is a mean walker so I'll get plenty of miles in.

#resolve - Day 29 Rest

It's taken me several years to realize this but quality rest is critical to most of life's endeavors. People have different needs but the simple fact is most need between 7-9 hours. Many people believe (as did I) that you can get by on 4 or 5 hours but your body has a nasty little trick for that, it simply adds weight (via stress reaction) to compensate for unrealistic energy needs. Additionally, you become less and less efficient so your productivity ceases to overcompensate the hours invested. Again, I'm not a doctor or a medical professional all of my advice is simply observational.

Part of my #resolve plan is to get plenty of rest. As with my workout plan, I find success when I plan. The other insight is to be consistent with sleep and wake schedules. When I'm on a regular work schedule this is no problem. I wake up around 4:30 and either go to the gym or work from home for a couple hours prior to going to the office. the challenge becomes on week-ends and holidays, it's so tempting to sleep in. For all of my Thanksgiving vacation I maintained the schedule. It programs my body for routines and helps me maintain a consistent rhythm. By 9:30p, I'm fading but it's very effective and I have much more energy throughout the day. I'm up late this evening watching Duke-Purdue on DVR due to a dinner I attended after my class (flexibility is also important) but at least I'm multitasking.

Results to date - 184 lbs (3 lbs lost). Thanks to a great 4 miler at the gym yesterday and a 2 miler with Mary Shannon on Sunday, I've completed 26 miles on my 100 mile goal. Lot's of work still to do but solid progress thus far. Let me know how you're doing!