Mornings

I've never been a morning person, but lately I've been thinking a lot about trying to become one. I don't mean the obnoxious, bounce-out-of-bed, full-of-energy kind. I could never be THAT person. But I do think there's something to be said for getting a head start on the day. And not only that, but mornings just might present an opportunity to grab a little peace and uninterrupted "me" time.

Things I could do if I just got myself out of bed 30-45 minutes earlier each morning:

• Drink my coffee while sitting and reading or watching a bit of the news
• Squeeze in a mini workout (a short walk or weights or stretching)
• Make and eat breakfast (that does not come in the shape of a granola bar)
• Pack my lunch for work
• Organize my day (to-do list for Paul, grocery list, dinner prep, errands to be run)
• BLOG!

Obviously I couldn't do all of these every morning, but currently I'm rarely, if ever, doing any of them in the morning. I drink my coffee while getting ready, my workout gets pushed until evening (when I'm often too tired to put much effort into it), I eat my granola bar in the car on the way to work (or buy something at work... bad for the budget), my lunch doesn't get packed (even when I have stuff on hand to pack for it), there's a hasty daily scramble to sort out what needs to be done, and my blog is often last on my priority list.

On the rare occasions when I've successfully gotten up early and been able to score some "me" time, I've really enjoyed it. I think back to when I was still getting up for an early morning nursing session, which often seemed to occur just a bit earlier than when I actually needed to be up. I always felt better, more relaxed, and more prepared for my day when I just stayed up afterwards rather than crawling back into bed and sleeping poorly for another 30 minutes or so.

And speaking of sleep, I've also been thinking more about getting back on a regular sleep schedule myself. I had one before (before pregnancy and then having a newborn threw it out the window), and now that Nathan is sleeping all night and getting up more or less around the same time each day, I think it's time I reinstated that schedule. There's been a lot of research about the impact of sleep on adults, and in particular not just about how much sleep you get but whether that sleep is always happening around the same time each night. There's a lot of evidence to suggest that going to bed and getting up at consistent times has a HUGE impact on a lot of other health factors, including weight loss.

All this to say, I have a couple of new mini-goals for the next month:

1. Implement a going-to-bed routine for me (turning off electronics and starting a wind-down period about 30 minutes before bedtime).
2. Actually GO to bed around the same time (+/- 15 minutes) each night. My target time to start with will be 10:00 p.m.
3. Make myself get up between 5-5:30 most mornings during the week. I don't always have to be up this early for work (particularly if it's a work-from-home day) but I want to aim for the same, consistent sleep interval each night. And getting up before I need to be up will allow me to accomplish some of the things I'd like to have time for in the morning.

I have some other ideas/mini-goals around this I'd like to try eventually, but for now I'll start with this and see how it goes. As for updates on my other mini-goals from last month and going forward, I'll try to write about those one morning this week when I actually get up early enough to BLOG for a bit before starting my day! :)

I'm Totally Obsessed With...

My Fitbit.

Yes, I know. I'm kind of late to the party on this. They've been around how long? I won't lie - up until about 6 months ago I had no idea what it was. I had maybe kinda sorta heard of it and knew generally what it did, but I never paid any attention.

And then I started on this whole goal-setting venture, which includes weight loss and living a more active lifestyle. So I got the MFP app to start tracking calories. And I started trying to find more ways to introduce "activity" into my days. After all, I work a desk-type job and spend at least 2 hours a day commuting 3 days a week. So I'd squeeze in a workout DVD here or a walk there. And the number on the scale started to (slowly) decrease. Suddenly my post-pregnancy clothes were fitting a bit loosely, so I dug out some pre-pregnancy stuff and some of it actually fit! And then more of it started to fit... And the number on the scale kept on creeping downward. Then I was tricked into wound up registering for a 5K with my best friend B and had to actually commit to training for it (I hate running). But somehow, I did the training and we ran the 5K (in 32 minutes) and I realized I didn't hate the pictures I posted of us on FB.

And then I got a Fitbit for my birthday. Well actually, I asked for one (several times) and eventually my hubby got the "hint" and ordered me one :) I had done my research and talked with several people who have one (or some similar device) and I was curious. I know what a good workout feels like, but I was having a hard time gauging my daily activity level. I also wasn't sure how much that varied depending on whether it was a work-from-home vs. commute-to-the-city day vs. the weekend.

I've been using it for just over a week now and I'm totally hooked. The competitor in me is eager to hit my goals for the day (the more goals I hit the better). I love the feedback it gives (now I know better what it feels like when I'm hitting the "very active" zone). It's also given me the extra push I need to make just a little more effort each day to be slightly more active (for instance, I'm now taking the stars in my parking garage at work). And even more importantly, it's so easy to use! I'm surprised actually. I'm not the most techy person, but I managed to get it set up and synced with both my home laptop AND my smartphone (including my MFP app). And lastly, the sleep tracking feature on it is pretty fun. I think sleep studies are fascinating and I like seeing what my "pattern" looks like each night. I also think I need to start using the sleep log part of it to get myself back on track with going to bed and getting up at a consistent time (you know, now that I'm done with middle-of-the-night nursing and other infant-related sleep issues!).

Anyway, I didn't exactly mean for this to sound like a commercial for Fitbit, but I really just had to share how much I'm loving it. I hope to see more positive results the longer I use it, so stay tuned...

For now, I will close with this:

Chasing this crazy kiddo around is a surefire way to make me hit my steps goal for the day! He never steps moving - I wonder how many steps he takes in a day?