What's Working For Me Right Now

Three and a half months ago, I set out my goals and committed to getting healthy. And damn if I haven't kept to most of those goals. Still exercising, still eating (mostly) well, and still working on convincing myself I'm good enough, I'm smart enough, and dog gone it, people like me. (That last one is proving to be the biggest challenge, really.)

But I'm not doing the same things that I was back then. It's way too easy to get bored with a single routine, and as this challenge has progressed, my strategy has evolved as well.

So what's working for me right now?

I've joined in with the Shredheads to start training to run a 5K. There's going to be a 5K on Friday morning at BlogHer, and I've decided that will be my first chance to try it. At the moment I'm running three days a week, doing a five minute warm-up walk, then intervals of two minutes of running, one or two minutes walking for 25 minutes, and then a five minute cool-down walk. Next week I'm going to try going up to two and a half minute running intervals. I don't expect to run the entire time of the 5K, but I hope to run at least half and walk the rest.

Along with running, I'm still doing the 30 Day Shred once a week or so. I also realized I needed a day that gave me a better upper body workout (sundresses, people! I want good looking arms!), so I looked through my dusty old workout DVD collection and came up with Kathy Smith's Lift Weights to Lose Weight. As much as I hate listening to her shrill "wooo!", I do like her 20 minute upper body workout with weights. It's targeted, gets me what I need in as little time as possible, and I'm still sore the next day.

I'm not using My Fitness Coach for Wii as much anymore. After three months of every other day, I finally got a little bored. But it's still waiting for me whenever I want to use it again.

My diet is one area that hasn't changed. I'm absolutely LOVING Weight Watchers. The Points system is so easy for me, and I've been taking a closer look at the idea of "filling foods" lately. In other words, foods that fill you up for fewer calories. I've tried incorporating more filling foods into meals lately, and not only are they helping me avoid feeling hungry as often, they're also mostly foods with a lot of nutritional gain versus other foods. I'm also experimenting with the recipes found on the Weight Watchers website - there are some very tasty foods there!

Just losing weight and inches has helped with my self-esteem, but I'll admit it's still pretty low. I'm fighting life-long issues here, so obviously it'll take more than a three month challenge to convince me I'm someone that people actually want to be around and talk to. I'm very good at listing my faults, and I know precisely what I need to change, but coming up with positive traits about myself is difficult. Will have to keep working hard on this one.

So what's working well for you right now?