junk food friday

I am a person who needs her routines! In my work hard/play hard mentality I have to know what each of those things look like. This is why I make a good teacher. I am good at breaking things down into easily recognizable steps. But sometimes I forget that I need to do that for myself!

So...... here are some new FUN routines (or ways to play) that are rewards for working hard. And the rationale behind them.

As a reprise, here is what I consider the hard work (although, truth be told there is a LOT of fun to it!): the five or so hours I am currently in the gym (or working out) per week! This week it has been the boxing gym for an hour on Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday nights; an interval workout on the treadmill Thursday morning at 6am; there will be a workout at Bressler's tomorrow morning for an hour; there is possibly a workout on Sunday, as well. On workout days I would say I eat decently. There is room for more veggies and fruits and I could cut out more sweets, but from a "calories in" standpoint I don't think I am breaking the bank. I definitely get all my water in. The more I work out, the more I tend to naturally watch more of what I'm eating so that I can keep my body going for my workouts.

That's a lot of work!

So here's the play:

• Early bedtime Thursdays. My husband doesn't work on Fridays, so it's not so critical that he get to bed earlier, so he can be in charge of getting the boys to bed. He is already in charge of dinner that night since I have ESL class. So I can come home from class, get into my pjs and then just chilax and go to bed early. I am usually really ready for it by Thursdays, too. Like last night - out cold by 9. And we all know that SLEEP is an important element of training!
  
• Junk food Fridays. Fridays are already my "off" day from working out. It's also the day I have a more relaxed morning (again, since my husband is off on Fridays) and just love to do things like donuts for breakfast that I would NEVER do on a day I need to pull off a workout. Back in the day when "Body for Life" was big, people were always talking about taking a day off each week. There are other people (e.g. Jillian Michaels and my friend Kim Mitchell) who talk about taking days off or having "re-feeding" days. I think sometimes you just need to break it up. You need to know when the "deprivation" is going to end (well maybe you don't, but I do). Friday is also the day we usually do pizza dinner or I go out with friends. By just allowing it as a "fun food" day there is no guilt. It just is part of the program.
• Therapy Thursdays? This one has a question mark because I am still trying to work out the scheduling and financial details. I would love for Thursday to be the day I either get a chiropractic adjustment or a massage. Then I can have a full 24 hours for it to "take" before my next workout.

So, there you have it! What do you think?