Finding a routine... and sticking to it

After trying a variety of plans and facilities, it seems I've found a way to integrate exercise into my daily life. I've been doing it more or less every day for a couple of months now, which is an incredible achievement, considering my history of giving up after just a day or two of a new routine. There have been two keys to my success, and I can easily generalize and say these things are key to me adopting any new behavior:

1. The new behavior must be rewarding.

2. The new behavior must be easy to accomplish.

Here's what seems to work for me. The first thought that I let myself have in the mornings is it's time to go for a walk. I have a bin at the bedside that has tennis shoes, socks, shorts and a t-shirt, and nearby I keep my iPod and a house key- the bare essentials that I need for a walk. That way, I can grope around in the pre-dawn murk and get ready easily. I put clothes on, grab my iPod and key, and immediately leave the house. It's not easy some mornings, and in fact I flat out don't have time on Mondays, but it's gotten to the point that the default is to go. I manage to do it on average, five mornings a week, at least 30 minutes.

I also have the good fortune to have the flexibility to take a morning and afternoon break at work- and, to work in the same building as my workout partner, Abbey. During the morning break, we walk outside around the neighborhood. That makes for a really pleasant diversion from the mind-numbing sameness of a whole day of office work. During the afternoon break, we lift weights in the building's makeshift weight room. It's primitive, but does the job very nicely.

The other part of the equation is watching what I eat. I've been pretty religious about logging what I eat in MyFitnessPal. There is a portable app and a website, and I tend to use both to enter my totals. Regardless of the effect of calorie counting itself (which is apparently a matter of debate), the benefit to me, mainly, is seeing my eating patterns and identifying pitfalls. For instance, I now realize that I consumed an incredible number of calories just in the snacks I took to work. Comparing different foods in their rather large database has given me the ability to easily plan what I'm going to eat for the day without over-doing it.

The last component of my plan is something that's still a work in progress, and that is some extra activity on the weekend for everyone in the family. Recently we walked/biked on the local fitness trail; then there was the recent trip to a zoo which involved a lot of walking. I'll post more about this in the future when it's had time to mature a bit.

I am already reaping rewards from this new plan. I have lost 20 lbs since starting two months ago, and my stamina, energy and strength are all on the increase. One surprise consequence is my blood pressure, which was considered elevated, is now back to normal. I'm already planning a trip to the doc's to have triglyceride and cholesterol levels checked as well, and I'm expecting at least some improvement. And I believe I am down a waist size or two. I still have a belly, but it actually looks smaller. So, progress is being made.

I do think sticking to a plan is very important. It doesn't have to be perfect, it really just has to be something. What I do is not very extreme at all, though in a way I had to go to extremes to get myself to   go for it. Whatever route you decide to take, don't be discouraged if you can't seem to stick to it. All that means is you need to keep tweaking it until you come up with the plan that is easy for you to stay with it. I think there is probably something for everyone.