Cheryl Katz

I’m sure Ben will read this and have commentary to share, but in any case this post is dedicated to Ben and the motivational tidbit he shared with me yesterday.

Jerry Seinfeld has been reported (by Ben) to say that the idea of “don’t break the chain” is a powerful and effective tool for a) productivity and b) habit forming. My real life example is running – I’m resuming my running habit after six months off, and my focus inland performance yet – it’s simply logging miles. I will tick off every day that I’ve run, and try not to miss a day.

(Obviously when incinerate to focus on performance I won’t run every day, but I will work in some kind of low impact fitness on the running rest days. Recovery exercise. This messes with my example, so don’t focus on this.)

Day two, so far so good. I know it’s working because I thought about not working out tomorrow and then immediately rewrote my day so that a run is feasible. I WILL NOT BREAK THE CHAIN!

How many days does it have to be before I can consider the habit formed? I think even time alone cannot tell. Time and my inclinations will tell. However, I’ll add a photography chain after the running chain is built. One task at a time.

Update:
Benjamin Katz: Lifehacker article about it is here: http://lifehacker.com/281626/jerry-seinfelds-productivity-secret

Cheryl Brummer Katz: Oh and here, Lifehacker says it’ll take 21 days. Reiterating some of my habit forming thoughts! http://lifehacker.com/5724234/how-to-form-good-habits-this-year?skyline=true&s=i

I’ve returned to running – not just for fitness, but as some may know, I am training for the San Francisco (Half) Marathon.

I stopped running last fall, discouraged by a complete stall in my weight loss and then encouraged by the better weight loss results AFTER I reduced the amount of workout in my regimen. Recently, for reasons unrelated to anything but circumstance and emotion, I put back on a few pounds, and only just before deciding to run the SF Half had regained my focus and motivation.

It’s been more than a month now, running according to a training plan, and I am stunned to report that while I haven’t lost any substantial weight, the physical results are not only visible but pretty impressive. (Did you know I had abdominal muscles in there?)

As previously noted, the numbers on the scale crept upward. However, it was a momentary thing, for a period of adjustment.  My body can do some pretty awesome stuff, things I never would have expected of it a few weeks ago, but that doesn’t change that on the inside I am still someone who is looking to get healthier and lose weight, and I’m accustomed to progress as charted by decreasing scale-weight.

I’m starting to see those results again, which is bracing; making it through the early weeks where I was receiving feedback that made me feel uncomfortable with myself, to arrive at the results that science, medicine and running-training conventional wisdom told me I should see with time is a worthwhile lesson for me to have learned.

The half-marathon is on July 26 – two months from now.  That means regular training for the next two months.  When I’m pushing out 14 mile training runs, I imagine that I will finish those days feeling quite accomplished.  (I did a 7.75 mile run a few weekends ago on accident – made a wrong turn in an unfamiliar neighborhood – and was rather chuffed with myself.)   However, when I put on my jeans and they are snugger than expected the next day, this sort of conflicting information is confusing and disappointing.

How do I resolve pride in my body’s functionality with dissatisfaction in its image?

Right now I’m resolving it with the knowledge that, with time, I will achieve my goals.  With proper nutrition and an healthy willingness to rest as necessary, my body will perform the way I want it to.  However, since I’ve prioritized my health and performance above my appearance for the purposes of this marathon, I have to accept that it may take me longer to get back into the clothes I really want to be wearing.  That’s ok, because when I get there, I plan to stay a good long time.