I’m now in week two of my Cenegenics directed hormone and supplement plan.  I have to say I’m now feeling pretty good.  I’m over my cold or allergies or whatever they were and, generally speaking, am feeling quite good.  Hard to know if it’s placebo effect or reality.  But does that really matter ultimately?  How you feel is the real measure.

Due the festivities around my mom’s 90th birthday this past weekend I’ve been pretty stressed and between that and the cold haven’t really worked out much.  My husband, daughter and I took a look walk in the canyon with lots of hills.  I felt strong (although a little cardio challenged occassionally) and enjoyed it.

I was planning on starting some interval training (as advised by Jen, my Cenegenics fitness trainer/nutritionist).  However, when I pulled into my driveway I felt so sleepy I thought “I’ll just close my eyes for a sec.”  Next thing I knew I was sound asleep and woke up (with my mouth hanging up…ick) about 15 minutes later.  That was a bit weird for me.  One of the things I hope to get from this program is increased energy but I’m not usually SO sleepy that I actually fall asleep.  Something similar happened the next day.  Late afternoon and I almost dropped off during a (boring) meeting.  Not like me.  I contacted my Cenegenics doctor and Jen.  The doctor advised that I stop taking my nighttime Melatonin (3 mg) and see if that’s what causing the sleepiness.  I’ll try that tonight although I will say I feel like I’ve been sleeping MUCH better but I’m taking so many things it’s hard to know what to attribute for that.

Also, I’ve been reading this really excellent book, The Power of Habits, about habits…how we get them and how to change them.  The book has some really interesting insights into how the brain forms habits and how one might influence that unconscious process to change one’s habits.  I definitely feel that’s what I need.  The book talks about the notion of “cues” that trigger an unconscious response.  For example, I noticed that as soon as I see food on a counter at home I feel an urge to have some.  I’m not hungry and, prior to seeing the thing, didn’t feel like eating.  As a result, I’ve resolved to keep things put away to avoid this “cue.”

I’m also thinking it’s important to take the notion of goals seriously.  In the past, I’ve made “committments” to doing things (exercise, eating better, etc.) but they were easily ignored.  The weren’t “real” commitments…more vague aspirations I suppose.  Realizing this here are my goals for the next two weeks:

• Interval training – minimum twice/week
• Strength training – 2/week
• Journal all food consumption
• Do some art thing every day (draw, paint, plan a project, sew something, practice quilting)

I don’t want to make too many commitments.  But these should be a good start.  I’ll try to post progress about them to help me keep them in the forefront of my mind and establish these things as routines.