Summer of Self Care
May. 31st, 2014 07:42 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
miss_lucy21I've been reading the tumblr of a woman who has been doing a 100 day experiment (actually, she's on her second 100 days now) in eating above her basal metabolism rate. She's heavier than I am, but she discovered that eating between her basal metabolism rate and her total daily energy expenditure made her feel so much better. She slept better, she had way more energy, less pain, and just some pretty amazing results. She did other things, as well, such as exercising more, and some other things. After ruminating on this for a few weeks, I've decided that this is going to be the Summer of Self Care for me. From June 1 to September 30th, I'm going to concentrate on a few things to see if I can build some better habits and just feel better because I'm kind of tired of treading water.
Goal 1: Eat the Food
Using Cron-o-Meter and some other calculators, I've determined that my basal metabolism calorie rate is roughly 1900 calories. I'm rounding up to 2000 because I like round numbers. During the week, I am going to track my food (loosely- I'm not measuring anything because that way lies madness) and make it a goal to eat at least 2000 calories per day. That is the minimum, not the maximum. If I go over, then that's fine. So far in the time I've been tracking (over the past month or so), I generally average around 1600 calories, so I need to concentrate a little more on getting enough food. On the weekend, I'm going to try to do more [a href="http://www.intuitiveeating.com/content/10-principles-intuitive-eating"]intuitive eating[/a], because I have more leeway schedule wise and I can eat a little less on a schedule. I'd like to ultimately eat intuitively all the time, but I think that's probably going to take years. So start small.
Goal 2: Sleep Better
I'm already working on this- see earlier post about the sleep study. This will be something I work on a bit later in the summer, since I'm not going to get the results of the sleep study until the end of June. I will go from there when I have data. I will continue, however, to do lights out at 9:30 most days (occasionally on the weekend, I stay up a bit longer) and at least get out of bed by 6 every day (I totally reserve the right to get up, eat breakfast and go back to bed on the weekends).
Goal 3: Move the Body
I know I feel better when I move more. And I know that I get derailed because I get sick, I get tired, etc. But, I'm trying to adopt something is better than nothing. And also some external goals, because that usually helps me do better. So, to that end, I signed up for the adult swimming group at the pool, which will be twice a week for 10 weeks starting on June 3. I'll miss a couple sessions because I'll be travelling, but otherwise, my goal is to make at least 90% of the sessions.
I also need to amp up my walk/run program, because I just signed up for a 4 mile walk/run in September. I signed up for this one because it ends on the 50 yard line of Ohio Stadium, which is where the Ohio State Buckeyes play football (yes, I am a big sports fan. Always have been). I mean, how can I resist a race where part of it is on a football field of one of my favorite teams in a historic stadium? My goal is to finish in less than an hour and 15 minutes and run at least 15 minutes total of it (perhaps not consecutively).
And to support both of these goals, I am setting a goal of doing PT work a minimum of 3 times a week. It really only takes about 15 minutes to run through most of the exercises, and it will help. And I'm also going to stretch for 10 minutes a day, probably before bed. I'm hoping that might help with some of the sleep issues.
Goal 4: Meditation and Prayer
In addition to taking care of my body, I need to take care of the rest of me too. I'm not terribly worried about taking care of myself intellectually. I already read for at least 30 minutes a day and I'm currently on a 54 day streak of practicing my Spanish every day on Duolingo (I do at least one lesson a day and extra practice on the weekend). But I need to take care of other needs. I don't talk about it much here (and probably I won't start), but I'm a very committed Episcopalian. My faith is very important to me and I've lost some of my connection to it over the past couple of years. I want that connection back. Also, I'm told meditation would be helpful for a number of my issues (insomnia, ADHD, depression). I'm not setting any huge goals for meditation, because meditating with ADHD seems to be kind of an exercise in futility, but apparently it's possible. I'm going to aim for 5 minutes a day.
So, that's what I'm going to do with my summer. I'm doing it now, because things are starting to almost slow down slightly at work (it's been a really rough winter/spring at work) and because I tend to do better in the summer with starting things than in the winter. I'm going to track progress and things both here and on my tumblr![[tumblr.com profile]](https://www.tumblr.com/favicon.ico)
misslucy21. Could get interesting.
Goal 1: Eat the Food
Using Cron-o-Meter and some other calculators, I've determined that my basal metabolism calorie rate is roughly 1900 calories. I'm rounding up to 2000 because I like round numbers. During the week, I am going to track my food (loosely- I'm not measuring anything because that way lies madness) and make it a goal to eat at least 2000 calories per day. That is the minimum, not the maximum. If I go over, then that's fine. So far in the time I've been tracking (over the past month or so), I generally average around 1600 calories, so I need to concentrate a little more on getting enough food. On the weekend, I'm going to try to do more [a href="http://www.intuitiveeating.com/content/10-principles-intuitive-eating"]intuitive eating[/a], because I have more leeway schedule wise and I can eat a little less on a schedule. I'd like to ultimately eat intuitively all the time, but I think that's probably going to take years. So start small.
Goal 2: Sleep Better
I'm already working on this- see earlier post about the sleep study. This will be something I work on a bit later in the summer, since I'm not going to get the results of the sleep study until the end of June. I will go from there when I have data. I will continue, however, to do lights out at 9:30 most days (occasionally on the weekend, I stay up a bit longer) and at least get out of bed by 6 every day (I totally reserve the right to get up, eat breakfast and go back to bed on the weekends).
Goal 3: Move the Body
I know I feel better when I move more. And I know that I get derailed because I get sick, I get tired, etc. But, I'm trying to adopt something is better than nothing. And also some external goals, because that usually helps me do better. So, to that end, I signed up for the adult swimming group at the pool, which will be twice a week for 10 weeks starting on June 3. I'll miss a couple sessions because I'll be travelling, but otherwise, my goal is to make at least 90% of the sessions.
I also need to amp up my walk/run program, because I just signed up for a 4 mile walk/run in September. I signed up for this one because it ends on the 50 yard line of Ohio Stadium, which is where the Ohio State Buckeyes play football (yes, I am a big sports fan. Always have been). I mean, how can I resist a race where part of it is on a football field of one of my favorite teams in a historic stadium? My goal is to finish in less than an hour and 15 minutes and run at least 15 minutes total of it (perhaps not consecutively).
And to support both of these goals, I am setting a goal of doing PT work a minimum of 3 times a week. It really only takes about 15 minutes to run through most of the exercises, and it will help. And I'm also going to stretch for 10 minutes a day, probably before bed. I'm hoping that might help with some of the sleep issues.
Goal 4: Meditation and Prayer
In addition to taking care of my body, I need to take care of the rest of me too. I'm not terribly worried about taking care of myself intellectually. I already read for at least 30 minutes a day and I'm currently on a 54 day streak of practicing my Spanish every day on Duolingo (I do at least one lesson a day and extra practice on the weekend). But I need to take care of other needs. I don't talk about it much here (and probably I won't start), but I'm a very committed Episcopalian. My faith is very important to me and I've lost some of my connection to it over the past couple of years. I want that connection back. Also, I'm told meditation would be helpful for a number of my issues (insomnia, ADHD, depression). I'm not setting any huge goals for meditation, because meditating with ADHD seems to be kind of an exercise in futility, but apparently it's possible. I'm going to aim for 5 minutes a day.
So, that's what I'm going to do with my summer. I'm doing it now, because things are starting to almost slow down slightly at work (it's been a really rough winter/spring at work) and because I tend to do better in the summer with starting things than in the winter. I'm going to track progress and things both here and on my tumblr