Sometimes I have a bad habit of putting out dramatic proclamations in writing, and then promising to ‘report back’ — but then never doing so. Sorry about that. I’m definitely more of a starter than a finisher, and often I just find that if something didn’t work, I’m onto the next thing already.
But follow-through is nice for readers (I get annoyed when it is lacking on other blogs!), and the closure is probably useful for me to see what is working and what doesn’t.
So, here are a few updates . . .
Paleo: Yep, still doing it. I definitely have a totally off-the-map non-Paleo meal every once in a while, but it’s every few weeks, not every week. I’ll do another ‘meals-in-the-life’ post at some point in case anyone is curious. Benefits for me have included better energy, feeling more satisfied/fewer cravings, less bloating/post-meal fatigue, and being able to go longer between meals/snacks without feeling like I’m going to pass out out. I’m a fan.
Kon-Mari decluttering: Still a work in progress, and we (Josh is an active participant) are not moving quickly — but we are getting there. Our wardrobes have been very well-purged, as have our books. Next up is papers. I absolutely love the philosophy and yes — I still fold my clothes the specified way 🙂
Barre: I have been to a grand total of 3 live classes at flybarre, and I like it BUT find it incredibly hard. My goal is to get through a whole studio class without having to modify! I do online barre3 workouts 1-2x/ week. They are good ‘training’ for the live classes but definitely much easier. I would like to ramp it up to one live class and 2 barre3 sessions/week.
Time: Um, I still don’t feel like I have any. But I think starting this week I am going to try to do a Thursday evening yoga or barre class, in part so that I get a break from doing the nightly routine (which I usually do on my own). We still flounder a bit on weekends, but one thing I am trying to do is make sure that both Josh and I get some time just for ourselves.
Media Cleanse: This one is multi-pronged. I wanted to do a more drastic media cleanse/unplugged challenge for February, but it’s Feb 5th today and that hasn’t started! Here’s where I stand now:
— I remain 100% free of the addictive site I mentioned previously (yay!)
— I am really good about staying off of email in the mornings, but my resolve wanes after lunch and then I end up with my gmail open, distracting me pretty frequently (and annoyingly — why can’t I just keep it closed?)
— I have my feedly pretty cleared out so I don’t read too much ‘noise’ anymore, mostly things that really feel beneficial/interesting.
— I enjoy Instagram and don’t tend to abuse it too much — probably also because I don’t follow very many people so there’s not much to spend time on. (I’m going to keep it that way!)
— I still get sucked into Facebook sometimes and am such a sucker for click-bait (aside: so, so tired of reading anti-vax comments. I need to just turn away.)
— I would give myself a B- in terms of phone use at home. I am better about just leaving my phone on the shelf until both kids are in bed — yay! But I still scroll through Instagram before bed sometimes when I’d rather not, and I look at it more on weekends than I would like.
Reading: For January, I had a goal of reading every night and came fairly close. I am struggling a little bit as my current selection (Flow) is going slowly. I’m 33% through, though, and it IS interesting at times, so I’m going to keep on chugging along.
Fitbit: For anyone who missed it, I lost my Fitbit and therefore stopped tracking steps several months ago. I might get another one some day (the new devices that measure heart rate seem cool!) but I’m in no hurry.
YNAB: LOVE YNAB – it’s budgeting software and an accompanying app. I had never tracked expenditures before, and it has been eye opening and really freeing in many ways. I love having an allowance that I can spend frivolously if I so choose (and often I don’t choose to, but just knowing I could feels luxurious enough).
Running: My next race is going to be a 5K in April or May — just not sure which one yet. I’d like to run under 24 minutes (pre-kid PR is 22:53, but I haven’t run sub-24 since A).
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Random: I’m wearing a CGM (continuous glucose monitor) right now! (A lot of my type 1 diabetes patients have them, so I wanted to try it out for myself). Totally cool piece of equipment, even if it did wake me for ‘high’ (it’s set at 130) blood sugars x2 last night.
5 Comments
Regarding Time…not looking to open a can of worms AT ALL, but is there a way that your husband can implement a bit more flexibility into his work schedule? The answer may be no…However, one thing that I have found with myself (I have a pretty hard charging career) and with my working mom friends is that we often seem to jump to the assumption – tacitly or openly supported by our husbands – that they don’t have much flexibility in their own big careers. And that’s simply not always true. I think that, culturally, it’s still much more acceptable for a woman to say at work that she has to go take her kids to an appointment or ask to work flextime or whatever, but it doesn’t HAVE to be that way. And the more that fathers start doing that sort of thing, the more acceptable it will become overall. Anyway, I don’t know enough about your husband or his job to have any concrete suggestions. All I will gently suggest is that you may want to talk together and calmly reconsider the division of labor in the house. I personally had to the same with my husband years ago – and we still have "tune ups" – and it does help. Good luck!
Also 100% free of that site! Not doing so well with staying off social media (i.e. right now…I’m supposed to be reading a paper for journal club while I eat breakfast but instead I’m catching up on blogs). I’ve been intrigued by barre but its really expensive at the one studio I know of here. I’m considering taking a break from my HIIT workouts once this 6-week session is over, and checking out some other things (I’ve learned, maybe a bit late, that switching it up improves my fitness way more than doing the same thing for months/years at a time!)
I really feel for you on the time thing. I can’t imagine how hard it would be to do the pick up and bedtime routine EVERY WEEKNIGHT after a long day of work. I really liked that point that LV made, about outsourcing your husband vs outsourcing your own mothering. It makes a lot of sense to think about it that way for those whose spouses work long hours. I think once a week AT MINIMUM you should get a break!!
I’d be curious to hear more about sticking to a Paleo diet while running. I don’t see myself ever trying it out but I’m also constantly on a mission to eat less sugar.
I bought The Life Changing Magic of Tidying Up before New Years (such a cliche, I know) and it definitely helped me organize my closet more. I really like the folding method but we could definitely stand to get rid of more stuff (especially paper). Slowly but surely…
My mom has had continuous glucose monitoring for a few years now – she loves it since it gives her better control and she can catch the highs and the lows in time to correct them. I’d be interested to wear one myself, as a non-diabetic!
yes, it was really fun! Maybe next time you visit her you could just borrow your mom’s for a couple of days if she doesn’t mind being off of it 🙂