Breakthrough

                                                        Update for March

Loyal readers (thank you!) are aware that I have made a resolution to make 2012 a year in which I actually confront some of the areas in my life which have been evading long term success.

Sure, I’ve made many attempts on them before, and some minor progress, but they still stymied me.  Progress has always been slight or when progress was great in these areas, an almost immediate downward spiral would follow.

My three areas of long term concern are technology phobia, much needed significant weight loss,  and a regular exercise regimen.  These are three VERY challenging issues for me.  Many days I think I was nuts to try and tackle all three at the same time.

What was even more reckless?  I decided to make this battle public (well at least to my blog world).  What was I thinking when I made this decision?  A confession.  Lots of times I have wished I had kept my big mouth shut and my fingers off the keyboard.  BUT now a second confession.  Putting these goals “out there” into cyberland has forced me to make better choices for myself in some of my darker moments.  In other words, I’ve behaved better because I knew I would have to confess my setbacks to people who are listening in and hopefully cheering me on.

 March Progress Report

Exercise

This has been consistently the area in which I believe I have made the greatest progress.  Yay me!

•  I’m working out 5 to 6 days a week.
•  I love going to my local Curves work out facility.  I enjoy the people there.  I don’t dread it.
• I’m a morning person and I go first thing in the morning.  When they open I am there.
•  When they open later in the mid-morning, I’m generally already doing something else.

I have more energy and stamina.  Muscles are slowly appearing.  My body is gradually changing.  My breathing and stamina are much improved.  I feel better all day long every time I exercise.

Weight Loss

This is consistently my most challenging area.

• Last month I had hit a plateau and since I wasn’t losing I felt myself eating a little more using the thought rationale, “I’m not losing anyway.  What the heck!”
• Only ten days ago I was still stuck in the same spot.  Because I knew my ‘report date’ loomed, I stopped eating.
• I’ve cut too far back and I know it.
• The good news is, I’ve broken through the plateau.
• The bad news is I know that will shut my metabolism down and I will cease to lose weight.
• I know that is not optimum.  However, for right now if feels like a relief to breakthrough a plateau.
• I think I admitted early in my confessions that it is easier for me to not eat, than to eat reasonably. Many overeaters won’t understand that, but that has always been the case with me.
•  That is a sad commentary, but is probably true of anyone fighting an addiction.
• I haven’t talk actual pounds, because I don’t want to share that yet.  But someday I will.  The number of pounds I want to lose seems overwhelming to me.
• One more thing.  Yesterday was my birthday.  I was under control food wise all day.  Then at about 8:00 pm I started feeling sorry for myself that I hadn’t had birthday cake.  Cake is not something I crave.  Even when I have cake it is all about the icing for me.  I wasn’t hungry but I was pretty crazed about cake until after 11:00 pm.  Kept thinking I would go out and buy myself something sweet.  But I resisted it.  It took more effort than I care to admit to not go for a late night run to the store.

Technology Progress

This is an area in which I continue to feel weak.  But I am definitely making strides.

•  I have completed an ebook with a writing partner.  Every step of the way I have been forced to step up to technology challenges that frightened me.
• Just this weekend I had to download and edit an epub file.  I had to call for help.  But I was able to mauever through the explanation and complete the task.
• My internet server also went down yesterday.  I spent hours on the phone trying to get it fixed.  But I did it all by myself.
• I will soon publish my second ebook.  It will be a valuable book for teachers and future teachers.  I’ve had parts of it in my computer for years, but was frightened of stepping up to the publishing process. My improved (but still limited) understanding of the technology process has helped give me the courage to take that step.
• My writing partner is encouraging me to understand each step I take using technology instead of just memorizing the steps of the process.  She has me “teach’ my understanding of the steps back to her.  That helps.  We can’t teach something unless we understand it somewhat.
• We have written this entire ebook living two thousand miles apart.  We’ve used email, conference calls, webinars,dropbox, ebook publishers and much more.
• Here’s a confession.  In November, when I started writing a blog, I had never even read a single blog post.
• Now I’m on facebook, write two blogs and am finishing the writing on my second ebook.
• I give myself a gold star in this category.

Sorry I didn’t post my progress on the last day of the month.  My internet break down was preventing my breakthrough update.  😉