Camp Cupcake: Starting over

First of all, I just have to say how grateful I am for Ami (Pie Are Squared). Without her contributions, I probably would have abandoned this blog before now. I love this blog, so I would have hated that.

Forgive me if I wax philosophical, and dare I say it, ramble for a moment:

Over the last few weeks, I've been thinking about goals, and what you do when you have accomplished your goals.

In my lifetime, I have set many, many goals. Some of them have been big goals that have taken years like, "Get a Ph.D." Some of them are small goals like, "Go to bed before 1 a.m. tonight" And some are goals that you could argue have no lasting benefits to me or to society, like "Bake all of the cupcakes in Martha Stewart's cupcake cookbook over the course of a year." For me, goals get accomplished because I can see an end in sight.

But, as I think about my life, and who I am, and who I still want to be, I am beginning to recognize how important and overlooked the principle of consistency is. Let's say, for example, that I completed a marathon. The euphoria of finishing it, and the shiny medal they give you at the end last beyond that day, but the health effects of daily training only last if you continue to train. If you are constantly looking toward the end goal, rather than the process, it is hard to maintain consistency. Further, it is hard to get any better at what you are doing if you are only focused on the end.

My job, I am quickly discovering, is highly sedentary. I have a lovely desk, and a nice desk chair, and, if I didn't get up to go to the bathroom or microwave my Hot Pockets in the break room, I could, conceivably, stay in this chair for a whole day. In fact, sometimes I try to see if I can get all the way around my office without having to get up out of my chair. My coworkers are all significantly older than I am (somewhere between 10 and 35 years older), and I can see the effects such a lifestyle can have on a person who is not regularly exercising and dieting over a period of years.

To be fair, they are all busy people. They all have spouses, children, classes, research, students to advise, and clients to see. Not to mention, they are all active in their respective church congregations, which can also be rather time-intensive. And, I am sure, there are other things in their lives that are keeping them busy that I don't know about. My point is, exercise, in my profession, is not something that just happens. In order to stay healthy and fit, it requires a great deal of action, and, unfortunately, consistency.

So, this time around, I do not have some big end goal that I can check off. I mean, my end goals are to maintain a healthy weight, good cholesterol levels, not to have a heart attack, diabetes, or bone and joint problems, and to avoid getting sick as much as possible for as much of my life as possible.

So, how am I going to accomplish this? I'm not sure. But, for now, I think it will go something like this:

• Give up sugary cereal for breakfast in favor of oatmeal (which, as far as I can tell, is replacing cupcakes, smoothies, or frozen yogurt as the new trendy food)
• Cook two healthy dinners a week. As far as I can tell, this one will probably require the use of my Crock-Pot, so I appreciate all of Sarah's recipes.
• Exercise four times a week. I predict this one will be the hardest for me. I prefer exercise to be something that just happens in my life. Like, some mornings, I just wake up and feel like running. That's pretty rare, though. I think the biggest barrier to this will be time management. If I manage my time better at night, I get to bed at a decent hour, and I can wake up early enough to exercise. If I don't, it all goes downhill.

I realize that these goals are pretty boring compared to cupcakes, and, to be honest, I haven't figured out a way to blog about them that has a chance of being interesting. Also, because I don't have a time table for this that is more finite than, "the rest of my life," I could be blogging for a long time. However, it seems to me like another way in which goals can work is if they are reported, which was why I started this blog in the first place. So, hopefully, I can make that work.

Also, I plan to keep the handle Camp Cupcake, until I can come up with a different one. Or, possibly forever. Martha might have been able to shake it, but I'm not sure I want to.