Thursday Thoughts

Dear James, Daniel and Emily,

Exercise

So last night, after I got home from my run Kim asked me what my plan was, what my goal weight was. My reply was I don't have one. I have been approaching this whole thing, since getting my appetite under control (more or less), has been about just an overall improvement in my quality of life. I am doing the Couch to 5K plan as a way to introduce that as an exercise option, and as a plan for consistent exercise. But it is not so I can run a 5K and then stop my exercise plan, or reach a goal weight and then settle down. If I have learned any one thing about fitness from having an incredibly fit father it is that it is something that more or less has to be on all of the time. If I want to be able to play soccer, football, tennis, basketball etc. with my kids I need to improve my fitness. That is my goal: to live a healthier life, which is a fluid thing, not some concrete goal weight or distance.

The upside of this is it does take some pressure off my weigh-ins. If I didn't lose weight one week it's not a bad thing, just means I mean to retain my focus. If I have a day where I don't eat well it doesn't mean my whole schedule is off. It's like my approach to my yard, life is not something you can change overnight. You can build a house or a car according to a set schedule. But you cannot improve your quality of life overnight, there are too many components to life to expect that to happen. But if you make good decisions, and do the right things then your life will improve, it just takes time.

Birthday season

Well Fall birthday season is upon us. 2 parties this weekend: Connie and Marcella. Then just a couple of weeks later we have me, then James, then Emily, then Kim. James is a lucky dog who gets 2 parties. First one he is sharing with me and is for family and family friends. Second one will be just for his friends. We decided that he has reached the age where that is the easier way to handle it. When you consider how many people and kids there were at James' party last year, it was pretty overwhelming and I think his friends might have felt squeezed out by family members and their presents. Which is also why I asked him if we could share the family party, otherwise we would have had to deal with 2 different family party's which is just too much. And being the youngest child I still refuse to not have a birthday party!