With the recent growth of NGR and increasing demands on my schedule I've found it increasingly difficult to manage my lifestyle. Before I could neatly fit at least 1 hour of exercise into my day and it was effortless. It didn't require any thought. Now I'm off the wagon.

What does that mean? I think being of the wagon means that I have to think and motivate myself to exercise and eat right every time. It is hard. It has become "easy" to cheat or make excuses. Ring any bells? We've all been there.

The good news is that for the last two weeks I have been agressively pushing myself to do something - anything. So how am I getting out of my rutt?

• Day 1 to Day 3: started with pushups. First only in the morning, then in the morning and afternoon. 
• Day 3 to Day 5: I maintained the pushups but added in other things. Sometimes planks, sometimes lunges, sometimes dips using a sturdy chair. 
• Day 6: I know my body was responding because it wanted more. I took out some exercise bands and weights I had lying around the house and did a mini-workout. I also forced myself to leave the car behind and walk. I have to admit that it helped that the weather was just beautiful.
• Day 7 to Day 14: I add in increasing cardio before or after my routine. I force myself to do one or the other no matter the time. Sometimes that means pushups before going to bed!

Up to day 6, I focused on doing something but after day 6 I really wanted a routine. Change was starting! Now that I have added in jogs and random exercise (I did pushups while watching the hockey game at a friends house!), I find I am increasingly feeling obliged to do something. This is a good sign.

The GOOD NEWS is that I'm on the path towards getting my lifestyle back in order and it's taking a maximum of 1 hour per day. The BAD NEWS is that it takes 3 months to enact real change and habit. Since I am finishing week 2, that means I have 10 more weeks to go! I'm watching the countdown.

Wish me luck!

Laurence

Pushups I did until I couldn't do any more. From 1 set to 3 sets.

Planks were held from 30 seconds to 1 minute. 

Lunges, dips, bands and weights were done by 3 sets of 15 to 20.

Jogs started at 20 minutes and are heading towards 40 minutes as my motivation is coming back.