Your fun is my punishment

Met with the trainer again today. We did about 30 minutes of cardio on the elliptical and then she destroyed my arms and legs with weight training. I was proud of myself for hanging in there the way I did. The worst was the pull-ups, I loathe them. The best was the push-ups with weights...I felt like I've improved my strength.

Ever since high school, exercise always felt like punishment. Miss the cut-off man? Run foul poles. Didn't carry out the fake very well on a read-option? 100-yard-sprints. Three seconds in the lane for the third time this week in practice? Let's do some killers.

As an adult, exercise isn't really punishment anymore, but it is still really hard to find a lot of joy in the pain. I like how I feel afterward and I sometimes even like how I feel during the actual act of lifting weights. But for the most part, exercise is still just  hard. Cardio is the worst. I hate how my legs and body ache and somehow my brain and my body don't really work well during difficult cardio sessions. I want to push more and my body says..."um, wait. what is going on here? we don't move this fast. ever"

I love the MaxTrainer at home because its 15 minutes and it feels like you've actually done something in that short amount of time. I don't hate the weight training with a personal trainer as much as I used to and that is saying a lot. All in all, even though it doesn't feel like punishment anymore, it still feels hard. The people who love to workout are obviously wired differently than I am - but I would rather be uncomfortable and healthy than super comfortable and lazy. Especially now that I have kids and they notice everything. I want to be an example in a good way for them - not a warning about how not to live your life. So...I am trying. But thank God I don't have to run killers anymore. 

Measures 1 Week Update

Okay, it's Jan. 6. Almost a week since starting with YNAB. I really am liking this software, but this is the first real week that I'm categorizing transactions. The budget piece that needs to be setup first, was a little tricky for me, because honestly this is a different way of thinking about budgeting that took some getting used to. I'm sure I'll be tweaking it as I go for the first few months. I already have a chunk of uncategorized items glaring at me at the top that I haven't evaluated yet because I'm afraid they were expenses not budgeted for and I don't want to fail this quickly out of the gate. Here we go.

Read Harder - Task 2: Non-fiction Science

A non-fiction science book...I picked The Power of Neuroplasticity. I gave it 3/5 stars because he mentions research a lot, but nothing is cited. Not sure if it was because I was reading the Kindle version, but I would've like to have seen the research that he cited. Also, there are a number of mentions about other products he sells to help you achieve this brain rewiring that he refers to which I thought was kind of dodgy. The overall message I am quite excited about and plan to implement in some respects, but I would like to read more actual scientific research to understand the formula and results.

Read Harder Challenge - Task 1: Horror

Well I chose The Girl on a Train for my horror book. I don't read horror very often but this book came highly recommended by hubz. I loved it. I scare easily, but this was so interesting it really pulled me in and I couldn't stop reading it. I loved Rachel's obsession with making up stories in her head of what she observes on the train. Love it. I definitely did not see the twist coming at all. Loved it!

Weights Mission

I have a couple of goals with this mission - to both lift weights and lose weight. Getting in better shape is the goal. I don't care for running and I don't like fish, so I will have to figure this out without either of those options. Less food, more moving and willpower will be needed. I have to stay on task for my health and so my clothes fit better. Like any good adventure, it will include crying, whining, happiness, joy and general soreness and/or malaise. Prepare yourself.

Measures Mission

Budgeting. . .total love-hate relationship. I love believing that I can control the inflow and outflow of our money and plan plan plan, but I HATE sticking to a budget. I'm much more aligned with instant gratification. My biggest motivation is to be a better model for the kids, second to that would be to put us in a position to purchase a house sooner rather than later.

Today I logged into You Need a Budget (YNAB) to take a new approach to budgeting as my previous attempts have helped build the budget, but haven't helped me stick to it. My hope is that this tool will be different. Here's to 2016!