Okay. Now that that's out of the way, I can write what I really wanted to write about today.
I've been talking to some of my friends about "The Perfect Month" and it got me thinking. Losing weight or "getting in shape" is a big motivator for exercise. (Duh, right?) I have to admit that my leftover preggie-belly influenced my decision to choose running as my first "perfect month."
Realistically, though, despite what the media would have me believe, even a PERFECT month of running for ten or so minutes every day is not likely to make me lose weight. Certainly not a noticeable amount, anyway. I'm afraid it would take a few perfect months, at least, before I would see a difference in the numbers. Is that extremely discouraging? Only if my sole motivation is to lose weight. Luckily it hasn't been. Though my belly was the impetus for this goal, I made a conscious decision to not plan the outcome of the perfect month. All I planned was the part I would do, then I watched and observed the outcome. I assumed, of course, that the outcome would be good and make me happy but I didn't try to predict it.
As I thought about this, I decided that predicting the impact of your goal is possibly one of the greatest pitfalls in achieving your goal. If your motivation is coming from your prediction that you will have lost weight, what happens if you don't? If you're hoping to gain energy from your exercise, what happens when instead you find yourself more tired than ever? You stop. It's not doing anything for you, right? So why keep killing yourself?
Tomorrow I'll wrap up the perfect month of running by describing what this month did for me. I'll tell you if I lost weight (ooh!) and if I look hotter (ay!) and if I have more energy (orale!).
I can tell you now, though, that I've learned that when it comes to results from your goals, it's better to take what you get instead of demanding that you get what you ordered.
And speaking of what you ordered...I love french fries. (There. A picture.)
7 comments:
Hahaha. Love it. Congrats, Cam, I can't believe you're already wrapping up the first month! Are you gonna stop running?
Orale, po!
Thanks, Teen. I'm trying to decide what I'm going to do after tomorrow. I don't want to stress myself out by stacking up perfect months, but I also don't want to lose the great momentum I've got. I'll keep you posted, though.
Wall sits?
Wall sits?
Is that a suggestion for how to keep up my exercise? Yikes...I haven't done those in a long time.
Wow, what a great description of peace in goal setting.
I can't believe you're already at the end of your month, and I'm so excited to hear your final thoughts on it!
Like Jaime, I am also very excited to hear your wrap up about this month of PERFECT RUNNING! You totally rock. I agree that you should find the balance between maintaining the momentum you have built up but leaving yourself free to focus on perfectly doing something else for next month. Let us know where you draw the line.
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