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| "It's the little things that matter." |
The month of May has believe it or not come to a close. Amid the pressures of finals, responsibilities of work, and impulses to party I have managed to keep track of my diet and exercise progress. Above is a picture of my gigantic sticky post-it where I wrote down what I ate throughout the day and the type/duration of my workout. Most importantly, I used smiley faces to indicate how I felt that day according to how I ate and exercised.
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| Day One |
Here is an example of what I wrote in each box. I broke up the day according to breakfast, lunch, snack, and dinner. Lastly, I logged the time of each workout and what type it was. In the picture of "Day One" I had some great balanced meals and did a full workout. The big smiley face shows that I felt great that day; the tummy felt flat and I didn't feel sleepy. Win!
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| Day Seven |
But I need to remind you all that I'm not perfect. There were plenty of times that I fell off the healthy bandwagon! Consider "Day Seven", in which I went on a sugar spree...a chia muffin, red velvet cake slice, and a debbie cake! Oh gosh. That day received a huge frowning face. However, at least I did 15 minutes of toning exercises and had a decent breakfast and lunch.
Tracking my daily habits was such a valuable tool for several reasons. One, it was motivating because I wanted to fill up the boxes with great choices and accomplishments. My best week was May 12-18 because I worked out for six whole days in a row! I don't think I've ever done that before. The point is that I became used to it and wanted to feel accomplished. I felt great that week :) Second, because I tracked my mood in correlation with diet and exercise it encouraged a consciousness mindset, in which I could ask; was that sugar rampage was worth it?
Going forward into the month of June while I want to continue tracking my diet and exercise, I would also like to add a checklist of questions such as:
- Did I eat to optimize digestion today?
- Did I make thoughtful decisions about my meal choices?
- Did I challenge my body physically?
I believe that these questions reflect my core philosophies about a balanced healthy lifestyle, which include respecting our natural digestion processes, thinking before eating, and training my body to love movement.
