Day 13 & 14 - Willpower

One of the things that Dr Junger promises with this cleanse is a more clear head.  In other words the ability to gain perspective.  He also recommends cleansing your lifestyle as well. He contends that we need to get rid of things in our life that are toxic, from thoughts to bad habits or clutter.  Dr Junger recommends clearing our mind for 5 minutes per day and just thinking about nothing.

  While I do not consider my thoughts "clutter" as if I am awake, I am always thinking about something, I do recognized that there are distractions that can cause thought to get...... sort of jumbled.

With that in mind, I have been utilizing my commute time more effectively this fall by listening to a number of unabridged audio books, dealing with subjects that I feel will improve me as a coach, sales person and just in general.  Shortly before I started this 21 day program I came across this book simply titled Willpower by Dr Roy F Baumeister. I started listening thinking that I might need to know a little more about willpower in order to be successful with this cleanse. Dr Baumeister put forth some ideas that resonated with me and I decided to give them a try.  One thing was that we only have so much will power available to us at any given time and if we have to use it to much we will deplete us and it will cause what could be a simple thing to be difficult.  Something that he stressed (and I don't remember what the reason is that this depletes our willpower) is that a neat workplace or living area is very helpful in maintaining our willpower reserves.  I think that the idea is that if we are not constantly having to make decisions as to what to do with our stuff, we have more energy to resist temptation, perservere in our endeavors (like sticking with a meal plan)  So I started by cleaning up my workplace.  I only regret that I do not have a before for the above picture, but trust me when I say, that it is night and day.  I have spent 51 years being messy with my room, desk, shop etc...    One tip that I took to heart is not to move a piece of paper without a purpose and not to move it more than once.  It works, I am doing the same think with dishes, dirty laundry, basicaly everything and I am loving the clarity of thought and peace of mind that it is giving me. I truly believe that this is a factor in why this program seems so easy to me!

Speaking of the program.  I got up this morning and spent an hour on the stationary bike while Melissa fixed a wonderful pineapple coconut smoothie this morning.  For lunch everyone at work got Texas Roadhouse (one of my favorites) but I had my big Green Salad and some azuki beans.  It was not a huge challenge for me to resist the Rum Balls, Christmas Cookies, Fudge, BBQ, what ever all else was available.  My sales manager gave me a Ham, Cinnamon Cake and candy, I have not had even a small urge to cheat.

For supper tonight we had a squash and kale soup, which while not the best recipe that we have tried was certainly adequate and filling.  So now Day 14 is in the bag and only 1 week to go.

I started weighing myself last Thursday morning and the rounded numbers look like this.  I weighed 171 last week and have steadily dropped all week.  This morning I weighed in just south of 168, likey I will not see 160 which was my original target by this time next week, but I think that 165 certainly looks likely.  I know once I get the weight off, it will not be difficult to keep off, so I may take another run at this in a few months if I come up a little short this time arround.  All in all, if I had not shed a single pound on this cleanse (which is really only a side benefit anyway) It has been totally worth it.

Oh yeah, and Melissa and I just celebrated our 3rd anniversary today!  What a great wife I have to want to do this with me and put off our night out until next week! 

That's it for today, tomorrow I have to get up and jump on my road bike for a little ride that I have planned.

Michael