January Resolution Evaluation

So it's the last day of January which means I have finished with my January resolutions. They were to exercise every day and to give up chips of all kinds. Half way through I also tried to give up fries, but that did not work at all.

So how did I do?

I exercised 28 days out of 31. I missed January 1, 10, and 20. This last stretch of 11 days is the longest I have gone exercising every day. Not every day was a full out super hardcore workout. Some days I only did 15 minutes, but I did it. Last sunday the 27th, my workout was totally half-assed and I knew it, but I did it.

On the chips I did great. I had no potato chips, pretzel chips, tortilla chips, any kind of chip. There was one moment early on when I was out to dinner with the BF and a couple of our friends that I ordered a salad that came with tortilla chip strips on it that I could have said F- it and eaten them and made an excuse about it (because honestly, a few of those things vs. a basket of chips and salsa, which is more in keeping with the spirit of keeping my resolution?), but I didn't I pushed them off and ate everything else. I think saying no to all the chips also helped me this week say no to some other fast food temptations.

How about my reward? So, I was going to buy some new running shoes since I really do need them, but they are all way to expensive. So I am putting that on hold until I can find a cheap enough pair at DSW. Instead I spent $33 on a pair of cold weather outdoor running pants from REI. Because as of Saturday I started training for a St. Patrick's Day 5K.  And I want to be able to run outside as often as I can.

Today it was too cold to run outside so I went to my work's "fitness center." I don't know if I have talked about it before or not. But it is the most pathetic thing I have ever seen. I have seen nicer, bigger gyms at hotels than this one. They have 4 treadmills, 6 ellipticals, 2 stairclimbers, and a rowing machine. Then they have a little corner of old-school weight machines I'd say maybe 6-8 (I don't use them so I am not sure), then a weight area with a dumbell rack, a couple of benches, a chin up bar thingy, and a couple of stability ball things (those ones that are just half a ball). They have a few mats you can pull out if you want to stretch but there is no room to actually do that unless you want to be in everyone's way. There's not even room to walk between machines with out turning sideways and even then you are in danger of being hit by the elliptical trainers if someone is on one.

The lockers are pathetic too. They have about 40 cubby hole sized lockers, great if you only have a pair of shoes and a wallet or just your purse. Then they have about 20 half sized lockers which might fit your clothes and a purse, but certainly not a winter jacket, a work bag, and clothes to change into. There is only the 1 bank with one bench too. I noticed two older ladies go into the shower area today in order to change because there is no room. The guys at the front don't pay attention to which locker key they give you, so people coming in at the same (near the same) time all get lockers next to, or on top of each other. Today I had to ask for two locker keys to hold all my stuff.

The super sad thing is that some people have to pay to use it! It's not much, less than a regular gym I am sure, but even so.  The treadmills are the most popular thing and I've had to wait for one every time I have gone. At least I don't have to pay to use it, but if I had paid before ever seeing the place I'd be so extremely pissed.

Now that the month is over I can stop exercising every day right? Nope! I recently read somewhere that it takes 66 repetitions of something in order to make it a habit. So I am going to try to do February as a workout everyday month too. Then I feel like I'll be able to stick to a 5 day a week habit.

Next moth's resolutions start tomorrow. My positive habit focuses on my external environment and is courtesy of Unfuck Your Habitat. I plan on making my bed everyday in February. This will include the BFs bed when I stay over there. I rarely if ever make my own bed, though I generally do try to at least pull the covers up at the BFs place.  My negative habit this month is Fries. Originally I was going to make it pastries, but I really haven't been doing too bad on that front. Sure I still want cookies and stuff, but the fries have been harder to resist this month than anything else. And I kid myself that its okay because I always get sweet potato fries, but it's still fried food. So they are out this month!