The Heavy Man's Diary: Day #26 - Becoming a Creature of Habit

5 days ago (Day #21) I realized that I wasn't pushing myself to my full potential and I was making up excuses to get out of going to the gym. Since that day, I have really stepped up my game. I have been working out on the road (traveling for work) as well as going to the gym when I am at home. I managed to dig down deep inside and I found that will power I was looking for. I am proud of myself for building a healthy nutritional habit that has lasted for 26 Days so far. And now I have gotten into the stages of developing a workout routine that I believe will turn into a very productive and healthy habit as well.

However, the workout routine that I am starting to grow accustom to is not one that I want to develop into a full time habit. It is great that I am starting to work out everyday but the problem I see starting is that I am working out late at night. I am starting to fall into the habit of coming home from work between 7:30pm - 8pm, cooking dinner between 8pm - 9pm, eating dinner between 9pm - 9:30pm, waiting to digest, and then going to workout between 10:30pm-11:30pm. By the time I get home from the gym, it is already 12am. I then write my blog and go to bed around 1o'clock in the morning. By the time I am in bed trying to sleep, I am so full of energy, from my workout, that I don't really fall asleep until 2am. I usually end up sleeping past my morning workout alarm and then I wake up and head into work. I see this developing habit as a problem because it keeps me up at night and it is causing me to feel more tired during the day.

I want to start working out in the morning because it builds up your metabolism for the day. By boosting my metabolism, I am able to burn more calories and as a result, I burn more fat. It will also help to shock my body into losing more weight because I have been stuck at a plateau for the last week. Not to mention, by getting my workout done first thing in the morning, I will be able to get my blog posts up earlier at night thus making it easier for me to get to sleep at a decent hour. Sleep is also very important when it comes to weight loss as well.

If anyone has any suggestions on how to make it easier for me to wake up in the morning and to develop a better workout routine, please feel free to comment and share some advice.

With that being said, let's get to the details of the day:

Meals of the day (The Heavy Man = 41 Points)
(For everyone who is new to the blog, I am following the Weight Watchers Point System)

Breakfast - 2 rice cake, scrambled egg whites on whole wheat toast with a slice of american cheese = Points 9
Lunch - Apple Chicken Pecan Salad with Fat Free French Dressing (Wendy's) = Points 12
Snack - 3 rice cakes and a cheese sandwich (Weight Watcher's multi grain bread and fat free cheese) = Points 6
Dinner - 2 Pieces of Chicken Pot Pie (Weight Watcher's Recipe) = Points 10
Dessert - Peanut Butter Ice Cream Bar (Weight Watcher's) = Points 3

Total Points Eaten Today = 40 Points (1 point below my limit)

Exercise

Tonight I ran for 20 mins on the elliptical machine and then I executed my lower body workout (4 sets of leg press, 4 sets of leg extensions, 4 sets of leg curls, and 4 sets of calve raises). Tomorrow I will doing cardio and a core body workout.

Day #26 - Weigh-In = 283.8 lbs