Finally. Finally finally finally. After TWO WEEKS at a weight-loss plateau, I FINALLY lost another pound. I am now at 26 pounds of weight lost. That was the most frustrating two weeks, I swear.
So, after my skip day Monday due to getting bloodwork done then having a fever later, I got back into dieting/exercise yesterday. I didn’t exercise as much as I would have liked to because I decided my exercise for the day would be yard work under the broiling sun at 90-plus degrees. I almost ended up with heat exhaustion. (On a side note, I did decide, however, that a once-a-month skip day might be a good idea. I know that the next one I take will be my birthday — Aug. 7, if you wanted to know.)
So, I have decided that, for the time being, I am going to stick with exercising indoors. Today, I did crunches, leg lifts, running in place, weight lifting and wall push-ups. For the running in place, it’s kind of difficult to time it — I can use the timer on my phone, but I like knowing how much time I have left, and I can’t look at my phone and run at the same time. So, I sang “American Pie.” That got me probably 7-8 minutes of running in place. I need to figure out other exercises to do that won’t hurt my knees. I tried jumping jacks — or a jumping jack, really, because my knee went “NOPE.”
I need to get myself some exercise equipment. I really need a mat of some kind. I had to do the crunches and leg lifts on my bed because the floor in my room is hard as a rock and murders my back if I lie on it. I have some weights, but I would like to get some more. I have done this before, though: Bought exercise stuff and never used it. Yes, at one time I had a treadmill. I didn’t see instant results and gave up. But this time around, I have been exercising for an entire month, and I really feel like I will stick with it.
On a related note, as you know if you’ve read my blog, I have some bad anxiety. Well, I do have bouts of mild depression as well. I’ve been feeling it a bit lately because it’s been a month since I made the decision to change my life one “petal” at a time, and I feel like I haven’t done much. I know I started this blog, I’m exercising, I’ve lost weight and I’ve changed some other habits, and just writing that out helps. But, there are SO MANY things I want to do. I feel like such a lazy piece of crap sometimes, and I hate it.
But someone said something to me yesterday that I didn’t even think about: Three things can help with depression and anxiety, and those are getting enough sleep (I already do that, thankfully), eating healthy and exercising. So, hey, I didn’t even think of that at all. And honestly, while I have been a bit depressed lately, I haven’t had as much anxiety. But it’s been a battle of wills regarding depression for sure. “Why even bother?” vs. “Keep trying, you’ll get there!” I have to add up all the small steps and realize that everything isn’t going to change in an instant — unless I win the lottery tonight! Hahaha
The thing that is bumming me out the most is that I have made no progress in choosing a different career path. I was heavily considering graphic design, but I do not even know where to start. I have read a ton of articles on what to do, but they are all different. I have taken skill assessments and all kinds of career quizzes, but pretty much all of them look at what you’re good at now, and I want to find something that I can learn to do. I did read one article yesterday that seemed to give some good advice and offered a different approach. I am thinking about taking this advice: https://www.careershifters.org/expert-advice/how-to-change-career-when-you-have-no-idea-what-youre-doing
I mean, maybe it’s bad advice, I have no idea. But it makes sense to me. I just wish that I could get out there and meet people, but this pandemic is just making things so much more difficult. I am hoping to make more progress on this, but it’s so daunting. One step at a time, one step at a time. But it’s difficult, because I’m not sure what steps to take. And what if I take the wrong steps? What if I fail? It’s all very overwhelming. Deep breaths!
Oh, and in case you missed it, my birthday is Aug. 7. My mom’s birthday is this Friday (July 24) if anyone would like to offer happy birthday wishes to her!
Until next time.
Frazzled Daisy 