The ABCs of Life Style Change= Always Be Conscious

I am starting to see some pretty decent benefits of having been "on" for the past month, give or take. Now I say that to say this. One of those benefits does not happen to be any scale victory, nor have I managed to get into my next goal shirt as of this writing. That COULD lead me to some moments of frustration and possibly to a "why bother?" attitude. But it hasn't. And that is because I have a talent for seeing little improvements and recognizing them for the blessings they are. That is because I am practice the Always Be Conscious method of Life Style Change. It applies to all sorts of things, but the most useful one to me is recognizing that there is more to this than what the scale says or the tag of my shirt says.

Take for example my exploits at the gym. I have been doing three different forms of cardio, rotating them each visit. I do the arc trainer (think eliptical but a little harder), the stationary bike, and then I have taken to jogging in interval training on the treadmill. I run 3 minutes, walk 2 minutes for 1/2 hour. Since I started working out and eating better, I have gone from jogging at 4 mph on the treadmill to 4.7 mph on the jogging intervals. On the arc trainer, I moved up a level on the program I am using, and I can do the whole half hour at speed, rather than slowing down for a little bit on occasions. And on the bike, I am up 2 levels on the program I have been using. Add to that that I have gone up in weight on every single strength training exercise I do and I am having a heck of a lot of stuff to be thankful for! But I have to be conscious of those things as being just as good as lbs or XLs, and they are all sign posts on the road to my goals.

I also have been conscious of my success in the eating realm. And I credit that to my return to the legal pad! I am once again logging my calories on a legal pad. This helps me stay conscious of how much I have eaten today, and more importantly, I can look back at the days prior to today and see how well I have been doing!

The last thing I use to keep my conscious on track is my whiteboard. It is in the entry way of my bedroom, and it is immediately across from the restroom door. I see it first thing when I wake up each morning, and it reminds me that I am on this journey first thing in the morning, helping me get the right mindset before i have a chance to start thinking about what all I have to do today.