November Is For New Starts

So…Halloween.

Yeah.

Have I mentioned I have a weakness for candy?

As I write this, a small stash of Halloween candy is calling to me from a desk drawer. It’s next to impossible for me to resist this stuff. And so I often take the attitude of “eat it all quickly so it’ll be gone,” which sometimes has the added benefit of making me so ill from eating so much candy that I don’t want to look at anything with sugar in it for a month.

Still, not a healthy relationship with food.

So it’s now a new month, and I’m trying to climb back out of the hole I dug for myself during the past month and a half. Stress and long hours at work meant that I didn’t get in any exercise during that time, and my nutrition was mostly of the fast food variety, aside from the Healthy Choice meals I ate at work. Thankfully, I didn’t gain any weight, but if I keep this pattern up much longer the weight will creep back on.

Turns out, a month and a half of no exercise can really kill your endurance. Yesterday I made the decision to get back into working out by doing a 30 minute session on the Wii game My Fitness Coach. I generally consider it an easy workout, for those days when I want to do something but not submit myself to the torture of Jillian.

This computer-generated video game trainer kicked my ass. I’m not kidding, I had a hard time keeping up, I occasionally had to stop for a breath, and I found myself struggling through some of the strength training exercises. Some of my best swear words – normally reserved for Jillian – were unleashed on this virtual trainer. Today I’m completely stiff and sore from the punishment.

How did I go from running a 5K to being a puddle of goo after a 30 minute Wii exercise game?

So this month, I’m back in the game and ready to make it hurt. I can’t guarantee that the candy will sit untouched, but you can bet I’m ready to work hard to counter the effects of that demonic sugary treat. My plan is to find some cold weather gear so I can keep running outdoors, do workout videos on other days, and try to watch my intake of junk food while drinking more water.

What about you? What are your goals/plans for November?