100 Days Challenge - Day 45 - The Importance of Food, and Setting New Exercise Goals

"Achievement seems to be connected
with action. Successful men and
women keep moving. They make
mistakes, but they don't quit." - Conrad Hilton 

 I am thrilled to say that I did not just meet my fitness goals this past week, but surpassed my goal  - and did so by exercising  205 minutes rather than the 165 minutes I had set as a goal for myself!  At the beginning of last week, I had set 165 minutes as my goal as I had decided to add ten minutes to the 155 minutes I had exercised the week before last.  This means that I actually exercised FIFTY minutes more than I did the previous week!  What a reversal that is from my usual  - as so often I end up NOT making my goal!    Since exercise has always been my biggest "nemesis", surpassing my exercise goal is truly a significant accomplishment for me.   Yay, me!!!  : )

The "downside" is can I match this during the coming week?  I will temper this by saying that originally, I said I would add ten minutes to my exercise goals each week - so I will set my goal for the coming week at between 150 to 175 minutes.   One reason I feel a need to be a bit "conservative" with my goal for this week is because I am at a "crossroads" with my lap swimming routine.   As of this week, the Y pool is temporarily closed until January of next year - which means I have to make a decision about where I'll be swimming during that time period.  I must choose between our local community center indoor pool or consider going to another Y across town.   The local community center pool is considerably closer but I need to try it out and see if it will work out for lap swimming.  

I'm also picking up where I left off on the "100 Days Challenge" as I would like to complete at least the first 50 "days" before leaving for our rather long trip this month.   The topic for Day 45 is "Food - Is it Important or Not".    This is the introduction to the topic:

Designate specific times to let food be important, then other times, treat it as being unimportant. Since you can’t make food special all the time, be selective with when you call it important. When you spend time with others, you can still choose to let food be unimportant, and instead, focus on giving love and attention to the people around you.

I had two luncheons this past week with friends.  I can honestly say that I have very little recollection of how the food I ate tasted as my focus was on connecting with friends I had not seen for a while.   On the other hand, I indulged in a piece of chocolate today - and definitely paid attention to the wonderful taste of the velvety chocolate on my palate!   So I can say quite readily that I agree with the premises of "food sometimes being important and sometimes being completely irrelevant" which is a summary of the above statement.  I believe the message this translates to is food does not need to be the center of attention in our lives.  In fact, the less we make it the "center of attention", the better! Since we are going to be on a ten day cruise in a few weeks,  this is something I truly need to remember - as it is too easy to become too wrapped up in the food events on the ship.   I will need to get involved in the other ship's events and activities so that meals become less important.  That will be my challenge!

Update:  Well, I've tried out the community pool - and it will not work!   It's not heated and simply doesn't have the conveniences of the Y pool.  No locker room, just a very small dressing room with showers.   This means I'll be trekking across the mountain to the Y pool on the Westside - since that's the side of town where I visit my Mom in her foster care home.    I plan to go twice this week and alternate with walking/treadmill.