Twenty six days and counting
When one embarks on any sort of daily regimen of exercise, diet, writing or otherwise — or what I call the daily something, some days feel great and others are to put it charitably, “tougher” than others.
At best, one feels something a kin to a “glow” of self-satisfaction for having put in the work and effort while basking in what feels like tangible results. At worst, however, is that feeling of being in the mud having worked and worked without getting anywhere — and maybe even losing some ground.
Like any annoying Pollyanna, my response is to say focus on the bright-side, but when one has schlepped oneself day after day to some activity, or to the discipline of say, no chocolate except on Saturdays and the scale looks back with numbers on the wrong side of the goal, that is small solace.
To put it more plainly, when one is my age, a later rather than sooner 50-something, a scale that tips the wrong way feels like a miserable defeat! Inevitably (with a pardon to the youngsters out there) it becomes one of those “shut-up” moments when the whole hot flashing, weight fluctuating, mood altering, welcome to crone-hood stuff comes crashing down in a giant, “G-d damn-it” because in my world it means I can’t find my glasses again to even keep the awful number on the scale in focus.
That’s when my other, less grumpy, too cheerful for her own good self makes an appearance and screams out “suck-it up!”
Let’s face it, 26 days of a daily something is an amazing achievement — and what’s meaningful is the “and counting” part of it. So whether it’s shadow boxing before dawn, writing a poem a day or blogging about it, or any of the myriad of great things we all work hard to achieve, congratulations to you for even trying.
Girlboxing 
Good for you, my friend. I’m finding my momentum again after a month of nothingness, and some of that is due to your inspiring words. You keep me honest. 🙂
Here’s to another 26.
Regarding the scale, maybe try an experiment. At meal times, halve whatever you would usually put in your plate. At first, this might make you freak out. In my case, a mini version of my grandmother sits on my shoulder and screams “mangia, mangia.” But after a few days you realize that we’ve been programmed to think we need much larger portions than we actually do. If you get hungry later, you can always have a healthy snack, or more of your original meal.
I’ve also found that eliminating carbs in the form of wheat and similar grains has helped. I’ll occasionally eat some brown rice in small amounts and quinoa. But other than that, I try to stay away from it.
Keep up the good work, GB.
Thanks so much for that, Margaret. What’s really weird is that I was about to write about halving meals this morning and then went off on another tangent! My mother used that trick over the years and found it very helpful! Though if I want to stay truly trim, I’ll have to stay away from your recipes 😉 Great going on staying away from the carbs too! I find it nearly impossible — and I wonder why I’m not underweight!?I
Best of luck to you on finding your way back to a daily something! I’ll be up upon the morrow watching the snow flakes as I peer up from downward facing dog! Best!
26 days of something. Hm, you’ve made me start thinking about a Daily Something. I’m wondering if there’s anything (are there really people who shadowbox before dawn? Dude, that’s def not on my list, lol)that I do every single day that adds serious value to my world.
As far as eating healthy, I think I probably aim for an 80% – 20% life. Most of the time I do it well. But every day, probably not. And like Margaret, I learned to avoid the heavy-duty carbs a couple of years ago, and now it’s hard to believe I used to eat white potatoes, white pasta, white rice, and white bread pretty much every day (speaking of Daily Something) once upon a time. Once I quit doing that, my weight shifted down and stayed where I wanted it.
Hmm… still thinking about a Daily Something. Meanwhile, a cheer and a clink of the mineral water glass goes out to you! Good on ya, mate.
Thanks for your comment, Lisa! I came to the Daily Something this year — more as a way of coping with my grief at my mother’s death this past June than anything else. I found that if I put aside a little time for myself, even if it was only five minutes, I could find a way to be “with” myself, if you will. That idea grew into this blog and a commitment to getting back to Gleason’s after about a year off. Having the Daily Something also gives me the self-permission to set out whatever tasks I want and importantly to *not* do other things: such as train 3 nights a week as my *only* way of training. I’ll add that I got the idea of a Daily Something from my mother who had taken to reading the Talmud everyday in a cycle known as the DAF (7-1/2 years of reading a page a day!). She was well into her 5th year when she passed — and even though she was a decidedly non-religious woman her entire life, the daily readings gave her an intellectual challenge that carried her through horrific illness among other things. I took some inspiration from that — and created my own construct of daily writing and with the new year added in a daily Yoga component. There are days when I am ready to shoot the alarm clock – but I still haul my butt out of bed and into the living room to get it done which in and of itself is a pretty good feeling.