This June I Will...

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Replies

  • beabria
    beabria Posts: 541 Member
    beabria wrote: »
    I'm new, and I know the month is almost over, but I'll jump in for the last third!
    This June I will:
    1) plan my meals at least 24 hrs in advance
    2) meditate 5+ minutes/day
    3) walk at least 5 minutes daily (yes, a measly amount, but I'm recovering from a leg injury and am just off crutches)

    Yay - I made it! I found myself almost forgetting to do the meditation, so I need to start prioritizing that. Although it may not seem directly related to weight loss and fitness, I've actually been finding myself falling back on techniques and "brain patterns" I've learned through meditation. I find myself sometimes worrying about the future: will I be able to stick to this long term? what if I hit a stall? this is going to take such a long time! etc... But, so far, I've been able to use meditation experience to let go of (or at least loosen my hold on) those worrisome thoughts and focus on the present - what I can do today. And doing today typically seems achievable.
  • jamcnewman
    jamcnewman Posts: 3,977 Member
    Well that was June… I knew it would be a challenging month for a number of personal reasons, and it was. But, as I had hoped, working on my habits helped keep me steady. Each day I remind myself that I am doing these small healthy things for me — to help me. And this is becoming so much more important and I believe is a key to help me get stronger in managing all that comes my way.

    Morning mindfulness habit (to do it consistently) was initiated at the outset of the month and the bedtime routine habit was added mid-month.

    The mindfulness practice feels anchored now and I am up to eight minutes each morning. I am also now able to use it to de-escalate myself when frustrated while driving. I will continue with the morning mindfulness (capping it at 8 minutes now) in July.

    The sleep habit needs some tweaking as I am still struggling to be successful and this sleep deficit is having some health impacts. I think I need to set myself up better, and I can do that.

    Hope everyone had a good month — and looking forward to July!
  • beabria
    beabria Posts: 541 Member
    edited July 2022
    @jamcnewman I did a double take when I saw your profile pic. This is my Hazel, one of my two poodles!
    gmrtfrwjwrao.jpg

    Congrats on the improved mindfulness routine, and I hear you re:sleep habits. As a reformed life-long insomniac, I can attest to the effects of sleep deficit (and to the impacts of sufficient sleep)!
    EDIT: P.S. Can anyone tell me how to post smaller pictures??? I've tried a bunch of things, but my pictures always show up enormous!
  • jamcnewman
    jamcnewman Posts: 3,977 Member
    edited July 2022
    @beabria — they could be twins! But, I bet Hazel is better behaved! Despite all our many efforts at training with this ragamuffin, he remains a wee bit of a terrorist at times. 😬 How old is Hazel? Beauregard turns 2 on August 31, and he is our first male Standard (we’ve had three females previously). He is also the first dog we’ve had in a long time who is a “solo” pup in the house. I think he may have put us off having a second until he settles more, which we’ve been told he will 🤔 I’ll believe it when I see it.

    Share your sleep secrets? I am on my fourth month consistently trying different habits to improve my sleep experience and making such minimal progress. Summer is harder — I have always experienced this, so perhaps I should just keep trying what I have been doing (but do share if you have tips).

    I tried some coding that I believe should work to resize, but none of my three attempts worked. Will be watching in case someone else has this figured out on MFP bb coding.
  • beabria
    beabria Posts: 541 Member
    jamcnewman wrote: »
    @beabria — they could be twins! But, I bet Hazel is better behaved! Despite all our many efforts at training with this ragamuffin, he remains a wee bit of a terrorist at times. 😬 How old is Hazel? Beauregard turns 2 on August 31, and he is our first male Standard (we’ve had three females previously). He is also the first dog we’ve had in a long time who is a “solo” pup in the house. I think he may have put us off having a second until he settles more, which we’ve been told he will 🤔 I’ll believe it when I see it.

    Hazel was pretty naughty until she hit 2 years, but the last year (she just turned 3) she's been super chill. Her little "brother" on the other hand, is still quite a handful!
    Share your sleep secrets? I am on my fourth month consistently trying different habits to improve my sleep experience and making such minimal progress. Summer is harder — I have always experienced this, so perhaps I should just keep trying what I have been doing (but do share if you have tips).

    I do think it's a very individual process, and if something is working, I say keep doing it! For me, I'd tried all the sleep hygiene and regular bedtimes for years without much benefit. And there would be weeks at a time where I couldn't get more than a couple hours no matter what I did. (Yeah - I've been in a doctor's office woozy and crying because I was so sleep deprived!) But, what eventually helped was two-fold. Primarily, I started going to bed ridiculously early (to my night owl mind); 9 o'clock every night, no exceptions. For the first year, I still laid awake in bed as long as ever, but there was less pressure since I had more wiggle room. And, although it took me as long as ever to fall asleep, I ended up getting enough because I was starting earlier. More recently, though, I've noticed that I'm often able to fall asleep a little sooner - though I'll probably never be someone who falls asleep when my head hits the pillow. Secondarily, I started taking melatonin every night. It doesn't act like a sleeping pill to make me drowsy, but taking it daily does seem to help regulate my sleep pattern, which was so out of whack for years. In any case, I now average ~7.5 hrs of actual sleep as tracked by my fitness tracker.

  • jamcnewman
    jamcnewman Posts: 3,977 Member
    @beabria Thank you — for the hope that sometime in the next year we may see Mr Handsome settle down from this puppy energy, and for the sleep insights. I tried melatonin once and it had no effect. I am going to try it again. ✅
  • themedalist
    themedalist Posts: 3,209 Member
    quote="jamcnewman;c-46885832"]@donna25trinity You have terrific insights about yourself and what triggers you — and that is three quarters of the battle won. ♥️ You have been doing GREAT with your habits all month and a few days is but a blip. Work drama is the worst — is there someone there that you can talk to in order to get some support? The stress and loss of sleep won’t be helping any aspect of your lovely life. Sending you encouragement and my support. ✨✨✨[/quote]

    I couldn’t agree more!