EXPERIMENT UPDATES

Having been working on my first 4 experiments for a week I figure it was time for an update. Although, not much has really happened.

Experiment 1:  Daily Affirmations
I have managed to croak out my affirmation both morning and night without fail. Sadly, no change in my attitude. I am starting to wonder if I chose the wrong affirmation for me. It just doesn't sound like me and isn't really forceful - "I choose to make positive, healthy choices for myself." Maybe I should have gone with something like "I'm going to kick life's butt today!"

Experiment 2: Drinking Water for Complexion
Drinking the water has actually been easy. It helped with the walking even as it made frequent bathroom trips necessary especially in the beginning. Oddly that has tapered off even though I'm still drinking the water. I don't want to give that much thought. No complexion change though.

Experiment 3:  10,000 Steps
This has been a pain - literally. After the first day, I suffered through several days of soreness. Every step made my leg muscles scream at me (although after a bit they would stop until I rested and then tried to move again). I was barely getting to my 10,000 steps despite the fact my day seemed to be all about the steps. They were my obsession.

Sadly, towards the end of the week my right ankle decided it would no longer be participating in this death march. It began to hurt. Even when I tried to do 2 smaller walker days it let me know that any walking was going to be met with resistance. So I've decided to temporarily shelf this experiment. I'll give my ankle a bit off then I'll redesign this experiment so I don't just jump from 1,000 steps a day to 10,000. That way my ankle will never figure what is going on. It's not that bright as far as ankles go.

Experiment 4:  Reading
The only experiment I have enjoyed. Don't know why I wasn't doing this before. Probably because I was too lazy to even figure out which books to read. I'll give more details in a later Reading post.

AND SO IT BEGINS

Ouch. That is the word of the day, the day after the first day of my experiments. Mostly it went smoothly, as expected. Drinking water, reading and the affirmations were all easy to do and not really a bother. I read Snatched by Karin Slaughter, which is a novella (didn't seem that long) about a possible child kidnapping at an airport. It was entertaining enough and just the perfect length to read start to finish before bed.

But the 10,000 steps is another story. I got off to what I thought was a decent start on the steps but by about halfway through my day I was only a quarter of the way through my steps. I knew that would be a problem. Then I soon started to feel a tightness in my calves. Another problem. I spent a large portion of my day trying to do or thinking about doing those terrible, terrible steps. They became my enemy. I even considered somehow attaching my pedometer to the dog so he could share my burden.

Eventually, as the day's end drew close, I buckled down and did some stepping. And by 11:30 p.m. I had actually finished. Yeah!!! But if I thought yesterday was hard, today is going to be a bigger test. I'm off to a very slow start (only 474 steps so far) and my calves are so very, very sore. As soon as I post this, I'm going to try and do one of the Leslie Sansone walking videos. I'm torn. I should do the 3 miles one, but I'm unsure I can do that before my calves figure out how to kill me. I should probably try it anyway. Don't tell my calves.

EXPERIMENT 1: Daily Affirmations

Start Date:  December 1, 2012

End Date:  December 30, 2012

Experiment Duration:  30 days

Daily Activity:  Every morning and every evening I must stare into mirror, take several deep relaxing breaths, then repeat affirmation out loud 3 times.

Beginning Measurement:  None

Ending Measurement:  None

Tools Needed for Experiment:  1 written affirmation - I choose to make positive healthy choices for myself.

Notes: