The Plan

We're one week into Carlos Whittaker's sexy back challenge. Progress? I'm not sure I haven't weighed myself in yet today.

But I do have a three part plan.

1. More walking. My boss runs (swims/bikes) Ironman. He's easily the most athletic person I know. And he speaks sql. So he's both mentally and physically challenging to keep up with. A coworker of ours expressed interest in running - that they wanted to get into a regular running/exercise routine - and they asked my boss how to get started. He told them to start walking. The way I see it, if that is good advice to get in shape to run, it should be a great starting point to trim away some extra fluff.

Status: mildly successful. This is my favorite part of summer - when it first starts to get warm during the day but is still crisp and cool at night. These mild evenings are great for walking which I started this week. There is also a good mile (ish) loop from my office to the hospital and back that is an easy way to fill up my lunch break.

2. Drink more water/less soda. People get why cigarettes are unhealthy. The signs are obvious. The same is true for meth. However, the negative side effects of soda aren't as obvious. All that sugar and the carbonation... I love it yet it is so bad for me. I had a candy bar and a can of soda for breakfast every day through my senior year of high school and I gained 40 pounds that year.

Status: meh. I've been weening myself off for a couple of weeks. But my colleague has been out of town for the past two days so I've been bearing both of our workloads. Monday, I caved. It's normally the busiest day of my work week, then adding on the additional duties and some crazy juggling due to some extra business that we've been managing the past couple of weeks - I knew that Monday was going to be a long day. A 44 ounce Mountain Dew was my coping mechanism. While I drank less soda than normal, I still imbibed. But I am drinking more water.

3. More sleep. Studies have shown that people who do not get enough sleep often have bigger waistlines. Unfortunately, I'm a statistic here. I stay up too late and get up far too soon. It doesn't help that I'm more of a night owl and my daughter is an early riser. It doesn't help that I start my job fairly early in the morning. And it doesn't help that the best alone time I can get with my wife happens after all the kids are in their own beds and sleeping.

Status: utter failure. Up late talking. Up late writing. Up late listening to music. And in one night of insomnia - up all night watching movies. I tried to go to bed earlier last night but woke up to the sound of thunder at 4:30 this morning.