End of week 1 – 13 Virtues Program

Today will be the end of week one for my trial run of the 13 virtues, self improvement project. This was inspired by Benjamin Franklin’s 13 virtues, and I have replaced virtues with one’s of my own. Ones that I can always improve upon, every 13 weeks. That means four times a year.

I wanted to start this project early, before the new year. The new year is usually when I start my resolutions. And usually I only have one resolution to stick to, it’s usually to watch what I eat so I can lose weight. Well now that I’ve lost the weight and I’m happy with my body weight, I’m just shifting focus to body composition to have more lean body mass, there’s really not much I need to do there. So I am working on my virtues, early and seeing how these virtues work for me, and judging myself on how I am doing as I go along.

Last Tuesday, I started the trial run of my project, Forgetting that I would be getting a booster shot the next day, Wednesday. as you can see in my previous blog posts, the booster shot threw me for a loop. It knocked me out about a day and a half, and I forgot to do any planning, nor did I really need to do any planning rather than resting.

With the umbrella topic of “planning”, I have nutrition at the top, followed by fitness followed by life’s needs for planning at the time.. Fitness and nutrition are pretty high on my priority list garbage in garbage out, and I need to fill myself right for the new year. I have never felt so clean and don’t really have times where I wake up with my eyes are sealed tightly shut, and it’s hard to open them. This would be when I would have a sugary dessert before I would go to sleep, well after dinner, really, but pretty late. Since I have moved my dinners back to 530, 6 o’clock, and avoiding sugary suites anytime of day, I never wake up that way anymore. I also have a lot of energy at the gym and after.

I am super lucky now to include a nutritionist in my planning for not just my caloric intake, but what is actually going into those calories. She peels apart every label of what goes in my mouth, and make sure that they are super clean. I am not using C-4 pre-workout drink any longer, and stick to just water with a lemon squeezed in it. I also eat, homemade Matcha bites for my pre-workout food, and drink my protein shake at 3:30 in the morning when I wake up. She handles what goes in and I plan my energy expenditure at the gym.

This weekend, for the first time I was able to do 40 minutes on the Cybex machine. This was unheard of before my ankle surgery, and it feels so good to be back on my feet again. Because I want to lift more during the week, I will save more cardio for the weekend. I am also not doing any hand bike, which is what I was restricted to because I couldn’t walk right on my feet.

I also planned my lifting on the weekend to just be three sets instead of four. I would control the volume of sets so that I could squeeze in more cardio. So since this weekend’s trial, run of doing only three sets of four exercises instead of four sets of four exercises, +40 minutes of cardio on legs, only, I will continue. I couldn’t have done this without planning.

I have a problem getting into a closet behind my bedroom door. It’s a large closet, with good hanging space, but what’s the point if it’s difficult for me to get into. I have to close my bedroom door, open the closet door, hold onto the dresser outside of the door for dear life as I change position and move on in the closet. Forget, putting things away in there, I just throw it in on the floor And then close the door. Then I have to open my bedroom door to get out and go on my way. This is after I grab my crutches. There’s a lot involved in using this space, and, although I am thankful to have an extra space to store myself, it is not optimal for me. I spoke with my husband about it, and he suggested switching dressers with him, he has an armoire with shelves on the side, and drawers up he middle, and I have a tall dresser.

Now the only way I am going to get my stuff out, is if I move it into plastic storage boxes, and then move the furniture with moving men furniture movers. It Hass to be done and steps, the way I usually do it. Next week is the organization virtue. Planning has to be involved, so it comes first on my list. I’m glad that I chose planning to be my top virtue I am happiest when I am planning my world. It helps me feel in control when I have a chronic illness like a ms. It’s the only way that I keep from getting knocked down. It’s by smart planning.