(Weeks 1 through 4)
The first quarter of Season 2 has been a big success. Week 1 gets a gold star because everything was completed, and the other three weeks get silver stars because a huge majority of tasks were completed. It’s easy to see where my struggles are by concentrating on the red blocks and seeing where I lapsed. The media “Stop” (meaning not consuming any media or entertainment past the hours permitted) can be difficult on some days when reading or spending my time in other areas doesn’t seem as appealing so that needs improvement. The other red areas are eating a high-nutrient diet for 80% of my calories and stretching, both areas I wrestled with during Season 1.
Although I allow myself a cheat day each Saturday, Friday also tends to morph into an additional cheat day (I blame T.G.I.F energy). I’m allowing myself some grace with this, but I am accurately counting it as a missed/red task. The flip side is that my diet has greatly improved as I’ve been consuming a minimum of three servings of fruit and four servings of vegetables a day via my green smoothie recipe (link) and making smart choices with my lunches. I concentrate on homemade soups where I can control the ingredients and add beneficial spices such as black cumin and turmeric or easily-prepared beans and rice with veggies on other days. I am trying to pack the healthy stuff in and push the nutrient-poor food out.
There was only one day last month where I skipped consuming a smoothie. I’m annoyed at myself that I can’t award it a perfect attendance score simply because I was feeling overworked on that day. I feel fantastic drinking my smoothie and find it to be the easiest and simplest way to pack a bunch of fruits and veggies into my day (especially since many of the veggies are not enjoyable for me to eat in large quantities), but it does still take a minimal amount of effort to create. The smoothie recipe is my own creation but I used the book “How Not to Age” as a blueprint for what and how much I should add to my recipe. Knowing that I’m providing my body with so much healthy stuff is helpful for keeping my workouts and meals on track (for the most part). Unfortunately, I can still out-eat the good percent of calories from the smoothie with pizza and whatnot when I desire.
My other struggle is with stretching and splits. I don’t mind the stretching and consider it a part of my overall health to stay limper and agile, but I still do dislike practicing the splits. Part of the problem is I don’t want to push my muscles too far and end up with damage. It wouldn’t be worth it and would definitely be counter-productive to healthy aging. I’m going to just take it slow and maybe millimeter by millimeter I’ll get there. As an aside though, stretching my hips feels amazing.
First quarter of Season 2 has come to a close and it’s been a good one. Thus far, this SoC seems to be easier on me then the last one. I’m not sure if my body and mental load is adjusting to the added tasks or if I’m more motivated to succeed, but whatever it is it’s working and I hope the momentum continues to grow.
GREEN= COMPLETED
BLUE= COMPLETED ON A DIFFERENT DAY
RED= NOT COMPLETED
