When I get ravenously hungry, it's usually because I've been doing nothing except watching TV or doing some other mindless task. Therefore, I usually try to keep myself preoccupied at all moments of the day. Seems like a relatively easy thing to do...but it's not for a lifetime lazy, procrastinating person like myself.
For example, I would try to keep busy by doing some homework for school, but then after an hour or two, I would tell myself that I deserve a break. That's normal...we all need breaks after intense studying. But my break would usually involve watching TV or surfing the Internet. I would dread going back to homework so badly that I would try to prolong the break as much as I could. Naturally, a classic stalling technique would be to make some sort of fatty meal that would taste super yummy. This cycle would occur on a regular basis and work for any kind of activity that I found boring: washing the dishes, cleaning the house, yard work, etc. Besides prolonging my breaks, I generally spent a lot of time doing the TV and Internet thing, which kept me sitting on my butt longer, which constantly kept my hunger levels elevated.
Now, I'm trying to be conscious of my activity levels. In addition to finding 30 minutes a day to do some sort of workout, I'm trying to find ways to keep myself busy each day. I'm still taking breaks, but I'm trying to limit them. If I feel myself getting hungry, I head back to the task I was doing or I find something else to do. I'm limiting my TV and Internet intake, and if I am doing something relatively boring, then I try to eat some sort of healthy snack. I'm trying not to suck all of the fun out of my life by being more conscious of these things, so relaxing activities like TV and the Internet are not completely eliminated from my life...there's no way I'm giving up Lost, Entourage, True Blood, How I Met Your Mother, Red Sox games, Celtics games, etc. But the buzz words are "lifestyle changes," so if I'm gonna succeed on this long journey, those types of changes need to happen.
As I'm writing this, I'm realizing that I've been on the Internet for too long. Time for me to mosey on...
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6 comments:
I'm really enjoying reading these posts, Scott. Keep up the good work!
I get myself to do my pilates workout every day by doing it in front of the TV - it takes me a half hour show to do the whole thing (at this point, I have a pavlovian response to the Simpsons theme song that makes me want to do leg lifts). If I watch more than one TV show a night, I try make myself get up during the commercial breaks and do something, whether it's doing some stretching or sorting a little bit of laundry.
Thank you Michelle!
Excellent idea about doing workouts during TV shows and commercial breaks. I'm usually a zombie when I'm tuned in to the TV, but there's no reason why I can't do some sort of activity while it is on.
Honestly, the only way I can make it through 45 minutes on a treadmill is to be watch King of Queens. It's good because the gym I go to has the TVs right on the treadmill, so I can enjoy the antics of Doug, Carrie, and Arthur while getting my sweat on.
That's a quality show right there.
Love the Blog Scott!!! I'm a TVacholic so started working out to TV shows too...I started bringing a portable DVD player to the gym and watched the entire series of Grays Anatomy that way...I wouldnt get off the elliptical till the show was over so it was an easy 45 minute work out without thinking of it!
=Mindy
See, I'm a read-aholic. It's really hard to read on a treadmill or elliptical. In fact it makes me kind of naseous. Sometimes I'll hold my book in my hands... that looks super cool. Check out the girl holding a book and jogging! WINNER!
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