Stars stars everywhere: a plan for staying on track

Over the multitude of years on this healthy lifestyle journey I have changed my operating procedure quite a few times.  I have tried all sorts of things.  I have counted points with weight watchers and calculated calories with a variety of different websites and apps on my phone.  I have monitored exercise with stickers in 

my day planner and kept track of my running in a running journal.  I have swung wildly through various different means of organization as I work on this lifestyle. 

 There is no right way.  Something that works for someone may not work for someone else.  One of my friends shuts down if it becomes competitive….yet I thrive on competition.  Just look at   me a few years ago when Jason and I had a competition going with running. I worked to match him mile for mile because I was NOT going to let him get ahead.  I didn’t want to lose and I DEFINITELY wanted to gloat!   So competition works for me!   Sometimes though, what worked for me last month or last year  might no longer work for me.  It really is a constant adjustment to match our tactics and efforts to stay the course on this healthy lifestyle with up to date and current ideas, plans and goals.

A while back I was using a streak tracker.  I liked it, but it was hard to ‘live’ because if I fell off track one day it messed up my streak.   I stopped using it because it didn’t allow me to live and be healthy....it was too restrictive. 

So that brings me to my current thought.  I don’t know how well it will work and it may be gone by the end of the month,  but I’m going to give it a go.  I have seen something similar over the years and I have done versions of the same thing over the years, usually just for one aspect of my healthy living.  It just seemed like it was the right thing to do at this point in my life.  I quickly decided that I wanted simplicity.  I didn’t want an extra notebook or extra anything, it had to fit into my life…and any tracking had to fit into my current day planner.  So without further ado, I announce my star plan.

This is a very simple plan.  Every day in my day planner I will be giving myself a star for certain activities.  I am giving myself some ‘freebie’ activities that are easy to earn the star and some stars require more work.   So what can I do to earn a star?

1.        Track my food every day. (an easy star)

2.       Weigh myself every day .  (another easy star)

3.       Exercise at least 20 minutes, 4 days a week. It doesn’t matter if it’s walking, running, crawling or whatnot….exercise 20 minutes!  (not so easy star……well it’s easy to do….hard to get going to do it!)

4.       Keep my food level in my appropriate predetermined range….for me this is between 1200 calories and 1530 calories.  (why those calories?   1530 is the amount that myfitnesspal says I can eat and still lose 1.5 pounds a week….which is still a respectable figure).  I figure that this needs to be done 6 days a week.  (Ok, it should be 7… and most weeks I can manage that just fine, but I need to account for ‘life’ happening and embrace the fact that there will be failures!)

5.       Stay on the low end of my calorie goal 2 days a week.  This is 1300 calories or under.  Realistically, I would like this to be lower also….but once again….I’m embracing life and saying “I would rather lose slowly but in a healthy sustainable manner”

So what does this mean?  35 stars per week would be an absolutely perfect week.  It would mean that I tracked and kept my food at 1200-1300 each day, I weighted every day AND I exercised each day for 20 minutes.   Absolutely perfect!  But I’m not aiming for perfect.  I am aiming for   living life and making this work for me and allowing myself to have days where I stumble.  SO to have a win?  I am aiming for 26 stars each week!

26 stars each week.  

For the month of February (28 days) I need to accumulate 104 stars

For a month with 30 days, I need 108 stars

For a month with 31 days I need 110 stars.

Easy peasy!  It is a silly mind game….it is a stilly method to keep myself on track.  But guess what…every time I open my day planner, I’ll see those stars and know what I need to do!   It may be silly, but if it works….that’s all that that matters. 

I must be demented!!!

Today my legs are dead!   This running competition with Jason is kicking my tail end.  (Basically the person that runs the most miles is the winner.....stupidly awesome prizes like kisses and hugs and whatnot...stuff we give anyway!). That boy ran 6.02 miles yesterday...so this morning in 50° weather (I don't mind running in 50°) and in a steady rain (I do mind running in the rain) I went out.  At 6AM!   6AM should be banned forever!  Who in their right mind wants to be up at that hour???  (Ok I like being awake at that hour...nestled in bed with a book!!!!).   My goal was to get outside and at least knock a few miles off.   You see if I'm going to lose I don't want to lose by a landslide!   I want a respectable loss!!!   I knew that if I skipped the run totally that I couldn't recover and make up 6 miles....but I thought to myself...if I run 4....I can maybe make up the two miles on an 'off day'.  So I went.   Once I was out there I wanted to quit after two miles!   (Which is the first natural bail out point in the route I took this morning). But I didn't.   I pushed it and told myself...two more miles then I could bail and go home!   But right around mile 3.5 (shortly after I stepped in a puddle and soaked my foot really bad) I decided to just be a 'bad ass' and go for 5.   I mentally planned an addition to my route and knew it would take me close to 5.5 by the time I got home.    Well once I got that close I added another block or so on...and it said 6.00 miles right as I arrived at my front door.    Now...a sane person would say job well done.   But have I ever been totally sane???    (Remember it's 50° and raining and I just ran 6 miles so I think we all know the answer to that question!).   Yesterday Jason ran and you probably forgot what I said he ran....I will refresh your memory.   6.02.    A flat 6 mile run would leave me still lagging behind!   So I passed my house and ran about 50 feet down the road and then back to the door....making my total mileage 6.05!     Yes I am ahead by 3/100's of a mile!!!   Yeah.   I'm a bit competitive!!!   (Jason is just as much. So this is going to be a hoot)

Exercise I seem to be doing well on....now to just continue to focus on getting the food back in line and then nothing will stop me!!

It's too dark!!!!

The alarm went off at 5 AM.  I opened my eyes and groaned.   It was super dark outside!    Seriously, way dark!!!   I reset the alarm for 5:30.

I slept the thirty minutes.   The alarm went off at 5:30.     Dang....it was still way dark out there!  But I knew I had to do it.  I want change in my life.....and that means I need to enact the change!

    I drug myself out of bed......I put on my running clothes and shoes and I was out the door.  To be continued further on in this post......

So why in the world was I contemplating running at 5 o'crazy clock in the morning???? 

Jason and I have talked about running.   He has known that I run from almost the first day that we talked.   He had known I struggle with consistency in my runs.   He has from that very first day expressed interest in running.   He actually was dabbling in starting to run again after many years of not running.     We met...and obviously things went well....and well running took a back seat in his life and due to a sprained ankle and some blisters and some cold weather it took a back burner in my life as well.  

A month or so ago we discussed running and he actually challenged me to attempt the JFK 50 miler in a year or so (properly trained of course). I told him yeah sure....but let's get a half marathon and a full marathon under our belts before we head for some crazy 50 mile dealio.   We agreed but neither of us started to run.  Running came up in the conversation a few times but we still didn't start running.   

Until......

About two weeks ago one of us came up with the running challenge.   Basically right now the person that puts in the most miles each week is the winner.   Plain and simple!   There will be rewards...nothing big.  Hahaha. Simply things that we already give each other.  (Come on now...use your imagination!!)

The smack talk started almost immediately!  Oh yeah.. Big time smack talk!  

Last week we started....I planned to run my first run on Tuesday. (I actually did a run or two the week before to get myself limbered up for this challenge!!).  I wasn't worried though.  He hadn't run in years!!!   The first couple weeks should be a breeze for me!   (I also know as a guy he would soon be faster and able to run further and I would really struggle to hang with him in terms of miles and speed!). 

 On Monday mapmyfitness dinged to notify me of Jason's first run.   I eagerly looked at my phone and immediately dropped the phone in shock!   What????  He ran 2.46 miles on his first run??????   At a pace of 11:26?    The pace blew me away.  He was ALREADY faster than me! !!!!   And what was worse?  He was 2.46 miles ahead of me in this challenge!!!!A good sport, I told him how impressed I was! (Ok and maybe I encouraged him because I love the guy too!)

No worries I woke up on Tuesday and I ran.  I ran 4.17 miles.  Take that!!!!  Yeah baby!  I had this in the bag!!!!  No way was 'the newbie' gonna steal my glory on this first week!!!!   

And then on Wednesday I figured out exactly how competitive he really is.  (I only had an inkling before!).  That boy ran 5.22 miles at average pace of 11:02!   My jaw dropped!  

Now in case you can't do the math...that put him up....way up on me!!  3.51 miles up!    

Yup....on Thursday I knocked out a 6.19 miler!   And yes...that was enough for the win.   He had to take a wee little break because he came on too much too soon!   I collected my prize and I didn't gloat too much, he was sore ya know!!!   Plus, I know he is gonna wipe the floor with me SOON!!

So the new week started.   He has backed off his miles a bit for his health and safety.   So yesterday he knocked out 2.02 miles (average pace of 10:51).....

And that brings me to 5:30 this morning. I had to leave the house by 7 to go to work....(Monday through Wednesday of this week) and I have things going on in the evening.....when does a person run????    5 apparently is a bit too dark.   5:45 works!   (I had my clothes for work laid or and my lunch packed so that I would be able to push the run as late as possible!). 

It wasn't bad.....my running path was empty!    There were less cars.  If I can drag myself out of bed his may work!

2.29 miles on my legs by 6:15!   Weeee!

It was a rough slow run for me....I ran faster last week....hmmmmmmm

Probably Not enough for the win this week (since it's so early). but at least I'm hanging and not falling horribly behind!!!!    And right now I'm a quarter mile ahead!  Ahh yes, I will bask in that moment of being ahead for just a few minutes, hours, or days until he knocks me back off my pedestal!

So competitive running....might help with the consistency!!!

Even with the running we are still hiking and walking.   We still went out and got a three mile walk in on the canal last night!!!   And if the weather holds we will probably knock off a few miles tonight also!!!   (I'm very lucky in that many of our dates and hours together involve physical activity in the form of hikes and walks and hopefully soon bike riding also!!!).