Taking 'Five'

I savored the ability to sleep in a little this morning and I've got myself running behind the schedule I had set out for myself today.

When I did get out of bed, I thought I should start the day with exercise. Getting motivated to move is a funny thing. When you take too long to think about it, it is very easy to talk yourself out of it. It's best just to start and see where things go from there.

I've gone downstairs several mornings thinking that I'll just weigh in and leave it at that. But I feel so good when I stretch a little in the morning, so 99% of the time I will at least do some yoga before I head back upstairs and face the day. It doesn't even feel like work. Maybe I'm doing something wrong or not challenging myself enough, but I figure to move a little is better than not to move at all.

This morning I was a little bit more motivated than that and I had set aside 2 hours for exercise. I slept in an hour, so some days I would use that as an excuse to shave an hour off of my exercise commitment. But once I get moving (as long as I have the time), momentum and a little bit of the competitive spirit (as I track my time, calories burned and try to beat my best scores on the 'Wii Fit') keeps me going.

I spent just over 2 1/2 hours exercising this morning. After going on a food binge late last night (I have taken food to bed with me on one occasion last week and the urge to do the same was so strong last night that it took all of my will power to restrain myself), I had the mindset that I must exercise harder today.

The good thing about my binges (late night snacking is my worst enemy) is that I've been eating sunflower seeds instead of my usual favorite foods (chips, popcorn, ice cream, chocolate and anything in sugar form). It takes just over 45 minutes to eat 1/2 cup of shelled sunflower seeds (I know this because that is how long a 1 hour show is, when you fast forward through the commercials and I usually have some sunflower seeds left over after I watch one taped show).

Last night, I wanted to stay awake to watch a movie. Thank goodness the movie was only 90 minutes long - that equated to 1 cup of sunflower seeds (340 calories). It is the 3 Fruit Roll Ups (240 calories) that I consumed in quick succession after the movie and the sunflower seeds were gone that concerns me. I seem to have the need to end my day on a sugar high lately. What's with that?

As the hours of my day become more committed, I refuse to lose out on that wind-down that I take for myself at the end of every day. I sit down and watch whatever TV program that I may have taped. In order to stay awake to watch it, I must eat. This seems very obvious to me. Go to sleep instead of watching that TV show. But that is 'my time' that I relish. It is my reward for getting through the day. It is my 'prize'. But when I must eat in order to stay awake and receive that prize ... is that a good thing?

That is why I'm 'Taking 5' this morning. I'm grabbing my reward while I'm wide awake and able to receive it without consuming 1/2 a days worth of calories. I shall grab a second cup of coffee and find some poor soul to send an email to instead ...