Daily Steps Toward a Healthier Physique and Mentality
Episodes, CBT course, shopping, conversations and mediocre food.
Today I learned a lot about myself – I became more aware of some of my destructive thoughts. I discovered that I am lying to myself more than I initially expected – just to live into a fantasy where others should take care of me. I am grateful for the things I learned today, for increasing my awareness and for doing the hard work of analyzing myself objectively.
Have a mystical day!
Today I had coffee with my aunt in the morning, over Skype. I visited the medic to get a document I need for a course. I had lunch with my sister, then had a walk and a fight with my partner. I attended the ToastMasters meeting from today and got voted to be a member of the club. I held a speech about my motivation and felt very confused after it. The result of the voting was positive: I am now a member. After getting home, spending some time with my partner and playing with the dogs a bit, I continued the CBT course for 4 hours.
Today I learned that confidence is a state of mind and it just comes from within. Reminding myself of some positive facts (personal truths) I can’t argue with really helped me keep my calm longer. Today I realized that no matter how much value I expect from the outside, the void can never be filled externally – I have to appreciate myself to be fulfilled. I am grateful for what I achieved today, for the lessons I learned, for the courage I had and for the doors that I opened for my future self. ❤
You are valued! Have a great day!
Today I overslept – I needed to recover from yesterday. When I woke up, I felt as if my brain was rewiring itself – giving me a major headache in the process. I fed the cat and went back to sleep. I woke up eventually, stretched, had a cup of coffee, played the daily solitaire and started working – I worked for 4 hours and I realized the time I estimated ran out.. I spoke to the client about this and got an extension… but I still felt very stressed out and thought that I was totally lost.. I took a break and talked to my partner. I went in town and brought my sister home.. We spent some time together and actually had a lot of fun. I went back and worked a bit more, but things just don’t seem to want to work out right now. I decided to go to bed and try again tomorrow. Unfortunately, right now I feel upset that my brain doesn’t seem to work out as it normally does.. I decided to put in some extra unpaid hours – I take the responsibility over this as I can.. At least next time I know better how to estimate. Maybe today I shouldn’t have worked considering the state I was in yesterday.. I did some progress though and the app really moves in the right direction.
Today I learned how destructive I am and how edgy I feel when stressed – I haven’t felt like this in a while.. Now I realize how much I isolated and protected myself from stressful experiences. I have to do some work to reintegrate myself and change my beliefs so I react in a more productive way.. I am grateful for the connection I had with my sister and with my partner, for the abundance in my life and for conquering more ground into knowing myself.
Today I attended the psychology course I go to every 2 months (both me and my partner go to study there). I had many interesting experiences that made me get out of my comfort zone. I really learned a lot of new things about myself. Afterwards, we went to a literature event that is hosted in our town for this week. We met some interesting people, we had a chat and bought 2 books. It was a really nice experience that showed us how much it pays off to actually learn and apply all these psychological techniques. It showed us how much we evolved! This was obvious by the type of people we were attracted towards that were presenting a certain type of subject. Our mere presence there shows we are so much more open minded and curious about new experiences (we would never have done this in the past).
Today I learned that my skills are most obvious when I get out of the house, into ‘the real world’, where I meet other people and have the occasion to evaluate my progress through the shared experience. I learned that I can be confident in my abilities and feel guilty for it for far less time than I did before. I learned that there actually is a place for me in this world and I can make it absolutely anywhere I want (respecting all life, of course).
I am grateful for this great day, for the amazing experiences, for the joy I felt, for the ways I challenged myself and for the awareness that shines upon me.
Have a beautiful day!
I woke up from a troubling dream. I decided to continue reading the book and I fell back asleep after some time. I had a horrible dream that really got to me. I had trouble waking up from what felt like a nightmare, but fortunately, 2 messages from my partner did the trick! I read some more, I fell back asleep, I talked to my sister a bit and finished the book! I watched an episode with my partner and then I decided to do a little introspection and possible forgiveness..
I wrote about an old friend that I used to have. I have been upset on her for something for over 9 years now! Finally writing about it, after all this time, I realized she might have probably been as confused as I was. I finally saw that I placed the seed of the troubling situation that came months later.. I am still shocked to see this… I held a grudge for so much time for nothing and I let that experience dictate so many of my actions throughout the years.. Seeing it crumble before my eyes filled me up with regret and the feeling of helplessness..
Today I learned to write down all the events involving the people that upset you and then decide if holding a grudge feels right.
You are a beautiful human being! Be proud of yourself today!
It’s been a while since I wrote about my day.. It is nice to know and see that I got things back together and that I take care of myself again.
I spent the day reflecting on the last 2 weeks and understanding the impact of the events that happened in my life lately. It made me feel empowered to know that I have control over how I react in some stressful situations and that I don’t feel like a victim anymore. I had a lot of realizations lately that clearly changed my way of viewing life generally. I felt the need of changing my attire, to better fit my attitude towards life and to make me feel more confident towards the changes I allow into my life.
I am feeling positive towards the changes I am making. I want to ease back into healthy eating, by alternating meals, to avoid shocking my body. I weighed myself yesterday and I had 88.8 kg (195.7 lbs) – this is not the heaviest I’ve been since I had this break, which also increases my positiveness considering I already started changing.
I decided to change the format of the posts – write more about how I felt in a day rather than what I did. This would probably give me a better vision over my general mental health.
I hope you had a good day.
I have been on this path for 3 months and a half by now. I chose to eat a Whole Foods, Plant Based diet and I stick to it most of the days. My journey hasn’t been perfect, as I occasionally indulged and took breaks that damaged my progress. I have felt very energized throughout this period and I can see clear progress in different areas: my weight, my energy and how easy it became for me to choose plant based food instead of the alternatives. I am very proud of the progress I made and I am sure other people can do even better!
I will talk first about my weight. From my statistics, it turns out I am reducing constantly by 2.5 kg (5.5 lbs) each 30 days. I have reduced by a total of 7.6 kg (16.75 lbs or 2 average cats) – if I only account for the 30 day cycles I was monitoring, but I gained about 2 kg (4.4 lbs) in the two weeks between the cycles. This means I reduced by 5.6 kg (12.34 lbs) since the 9th of June. I don’t regret taking those breaks even though they stole from me 26% of my potential progress. They are part of the journey. I wasn’t ready to give everything up and I just felt the need to indulge in sweets, fried food, meat and dairy just for a little while. There were also some psychological issues that drove me towards this (see explanation here), but once I realized what was happening, it was easier for me to accept and just focus on my goals.
Throughout these months It got a lot easier for me to go shopping and not even think about what I am buying and see at the counter that everything is plant based, not processed and I don’t even feel tempted to grab those sweets they have laying around there. The first month was more difficult, as I occasionally got cravings, but I think I wasn’t really eating the right combination of foods and I wasn’t getting the correct ratio of protein/carbs/fats. I don’t really think about that now either, but when I cook my meals, I try to incorporate all of these. I am very satisfied with the food I eat and I have courage now to even integrate some home-made treats every now and then to satisfy that little sweet tooth.
My energy went up and I am very excited about working in general and doing something every day. I don’t feel the need to get a cup of coffee every day in order to get something done. I get more ideas now and I feel capable of taking on new hobbies and opportunities, that didn’t interest me before. I even am excited about exercising because we sometimes have to spend that extra energy into something – when we just had a lazy day. I stretch almost daily, but this is because I have massive back pains otherwise. My mood also improved and my sleep as well – I used to be relatively upset a lot of the time, but that went away – I thought it was because I socialized a lot, but it turns out that I just generally feel good anyway.
I hope you enjoyed this post and I am sorry for the small font size on the pictures. I hope they are visible on mobile.. You can see the original posts in more details here. Please tell me what you think, in the comment section. I would love to hear your feedback.
Have a wonderful weekend!
Today I looked around my old posts and also at the review of the old cycles. I created charts with the collected data, as I did the last time and the results were surprising.
On a weekly basis, my measurements in weight (kg)
I have reduced by exactly 2.6 kg (5.7 lbs) in the last 30 days; with 0.1 kg more than I did the previous cycles. I think I improved a lot from last month; I am especially proud that I managed to keep the ratio I wanted for my meals regarding the intake of rice, potatoes, pasta and bread. I focused more on “other” projects – which include the work I did for my websites and book.
The direction for the next cycle is clear enough for me; I would like to keep the same ratios for the food intake, create as much colorful content as possible and take daily small steps towards my goals. I would really like to start one of the websites by the end of the next cycle and I feel motivated enough to think that is possible.
Thanks for being here with me for another 30 days!
Have a great day!
Today I looked around my old posts and also at the review of the old cycle. I am amazed by the changes that were unconsciously made in these last 30 days. Check the old post here. I created charts with the collected data, as I did the last time and the results were surprising.
In reality, I had 8 days off and 22 days working on the apps & freelance, but I also included the spa and personal projects in the same day as working on the apps to have some time off the computer.
On a weekly basis, my measurements in weight (kg) , chest, waist, belly, hips, thighs (cm)
I have reduced by exactly 2.5 kg (5.5 lbs) in the last 30 days; exactly as I did the previous cycle. I improved the working schedule, as I actually kept myself busy all the days, doing work that matters. I still found the time to do some personal projects and create things around the house. I spent a lot of time talking to my sister and haven’t really had the occasion to feel down, because I socialized a lot and spoke about my issues.
I think I improved a lot from last month; especially on the general mood and on the working schedule. I had more sweets and take-out, but all that was consumed by working the long hours on the job. Food wise, I think I should eat more rice and potatoes and lower the pasta and bread – it was clearly an improvement from last month, but there is still work to do. I would like to have 33.3% on each category: rice, potatoes and have it split on the pasta and bread – if possible. It’s nice to see that I actually improved the things I said last time.
My focus for the next cycle would be to count the hours I spend on the freelancing job and separate them in my list. I would like to start working on my apps as well in parallel with the freelancing. I hope it will turn out right; or maybe spend at least one day on my own apps..
I haven’t checked the goals I set at the beginning of this cycle throughout the month as I thought I would, but after taking a look at them, it seems that I did half of the items on my list. I am glad I have them there and that I can see progress 30 days later, without really thinking about them. It seems that by simply writing them down, my mind focused on accomplishing the ones that were most important. That is a great thing!
Thanks for being here with me another 30 days. And I am sorry I haven’t posted as many colorful food photos as last time. I had my focus in another direction. I learned a lot of things that will help me in my working field and that will improve my future. Things are still going in a good direction and I am surprised to see how much this blog means to me. I find real joy reading all the things I’ve done and finding out that I actually did something in the last month. I have actual evidence on everything and I get reminded of small things and adventures I have already forgotten.
This cycle I managed to get the “50 followers” badge and I am very glad and thankful for earning that. I thank you deeply for embarking with me on this adventure and supporting me so far. You mean a lot to me. I get very excited every time I get a new email from WordPress.
Thank you again for being here with me!
Have a great week!
This is a review of the 30 day goals I set out more than a month ago (here). I decided to leave out the things that didn’t get completed over these past 30 days. A lot of things got done in these days and I am very proud of that.
I realized that I was very enthusiastic towards the goals in the first week, but then my enthusiasm slowly faded. I figured that the best way to improve this is to set weekly goals along with the monthly ones – this way I would know what I need/want to do and have a general direction.
I hope you also managed to accomplish some of your goals in the last month!
Have a great day!
Daily Oriented Transition 