Mmk people, I’m starting over. And when I mean starting over I mean that I basically have had to forgo working out for two whole months because of a daily 3 hour commute to my internship in Silver Spring, MD. Yes, it made me want to pull my hair out and no, I wasn’t waking up at 5 am every morning to hit the gym or go for a run. I realized that hour and a half of extra sleep was too precious [very early on] when I poured my orange juice into my bowl of bran flakes and my milk into a glass after an unsuccessful and extremely forced 5 am wake-up call when attempting to run before work.
What about after work you might ask? Well, that just wasn’t happening either. After a sticky ride on the metro and a 20 minute car ride home in clingy work pants, I was spent. All I wanted to do was crash on the couch and watch mindless shows like “Dance Moms,” “Bridezillas,” or subsequently anything on Bravo.
I got caught up in this endless cycle to the point where, even on weekends, I was finding excuses to workout less and less and even started to like not working out. My mouth is gaping at that last sentence because it is so not me to miss out on a refreshing run or jam out to my favorite songs in the weight room.
After thinking about it for a little while, I realized it wasn’t the fact that I was enjoying skipping the workouts per se, but that I was loving the fact that I wasn’t holding myself accountable to the workouts anymore, which I think is where I went wrong. The gym or the trails used to be my “me” time and lately my “me” time has been spent with the TV or my laptop or even, if my mom was lucky, the vacuum. Regardless, I’m spiraling down a steep slope of bad habits, and with a new school year comes fresh, new resolutions, and I can’t wait to start mine. Here are a few of my workout/ nutrition goals for when I get back to campus:
- Run somewhere different for 20 minutes. (I normally just run around campus, but my plan is to drag the boyfriend to Waller Mill Park. Instead of tracking my distance, I’m tracking my time so I don’t feel too overwhelmed. Distance will come later).
- Mix cardio and weight lifting to tone up quicker. (Stairmaster for 5 minutes, weights for 10, repeat).
- Cut out one diet coke per day. (I normally have 2-4 per day. I don’t drink coffee so I drink diet coke in its place. Sure there are no calories, but there’s a lot of sodium. It’ll make me feel less bloated).
- Download new music. (I’m really picky about the music I workout to. I only like rap and hip-hop and I’m dying to update my iPod with new songs).
- Check out some stores for new workout gear. (Lately, I’ve noticed that my workout clothes are getting tired and worn. I went to Target and picked up some new spandex cropped pants and a matching neon pink tee. I’ve found that feeling confident about my outfit always makes me work out harder… I wonder if that’s a weird, girl thing?)
I hope someone else can benefit from this list if you’ve been in a summer workout slump like me. All I know is that I’m feeling motivated to hit the ground running (literally) at the start of this new school year!