Along with a new year comes the inevitable new year resolutions that more than likely are broken by the end of the first week! I myself decided to wait until the end of the month to set a goal for 2025. As with many people my goals are generally the same, lose weight, workout more, spend less and save more. Trying to look deep into these issues and why I keep coming up short, I have come to the conclusion it is my lack of self-discipline.
What ever you call it, self-discipline, or willpower, I have always gone with what I feel will do me the best good in the moment. Unfortunately, that generally means that I will have the soda, or I will eat that fast food, or I can miss that workout, or I can afford that frivolous trinket or whatever.
This year the word I am focusing on and trying hard to improve is my self-discipline. I need to tell myself, I need to go workout, or don’t spend the money on this or that and see the benefits that improving my self-discipline will bring about.
30 Day Treadmill Workout
You no doubt have seen on social media, one way being promoted to lose weight is to begin a program of walking on a treadmill for at least 30 minutes for 30 days. I am going to try to complete this and see if this helps in my quest to lose some weight. Here are my numbers from this morning, Sunday, January 19th:
If I lose weight at the end of this 30 day period, walking on the treadmill will not be the only factor. I do plan to lift at least 2 times each week, and I also am watching my portions at each meal, along with cutting out fast food.
The goal for me with this 30 day treadmill workout, is to work on my self-discipline. I know their will be days when I don’t feel like it, or days when work and life seem to get in the way, but if I can’t commit to 30 minutes a day, then I have more to work on then just walking on a treadmill.
First Day Success
Today here in Bismarck, ND, it was sunny, but the temperature was 0! I don’t have a treadmill at home so I need to go to my gym to get my workout in. The thoughts did creep into my mind that it is cold out, the NFL playoffs are on TV, why don’t I just stay in and start tomorrow! My motivation for getting out was that tonight the temperature is supposed to dip to somewhere around 15 below. Living up in the frigid north, I have always felt that if you get your car running for a little while during the day, it has a better chance of starting the next morning. I have no scientific evidence to back this up, I just know for me, it seems to work. So, I did go out, went to the gym and got a walk in. I did 15 minutes, keeping the pace at 3 mph and after a 5 minute warm-up at a 1% grade, increased the grade by 1% every two minutes so that at the 13th minute I was walking at a grade of 6%. It wasn’t difficult but it was a good workout for the first day.
Program Increases
My plan is to increase my time to 20 minutes for Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday, and go up to 25 minutes for Thursday, Friday and Saturday. I will continue to increase the grade, but I think I will keep it at 8% when I get to that level.
By next Sunday, I will be up to 30 minutes and I will continue with that time for the rest of the 30 days, with the final day being Monday, February 17th.
Final Thoughts
Will there be days I miss? I am going to try to beat back all my negative thoughts and get the treadmill workout in every day for 30 days. I will post at least once each week to share my progress, my thoughts, and how if in anyway it is changing me. Let’s Go!!