A brief history of the blog
...not just any blog, this one!
Late in April of 2005, my husband, Tom, and I began the fitness program Body for Life. A key (optional) motivator to keep people on track with this program is The Challenge: Take before pictures and statistics, follow the program for 12 weeks, take after pictures and statistics, write a one-page essay about your experience, send it all in, and have a chance to win (based partly on the essay and partly on results), get this, A MILLION DOLLARS!! (And a few other piddly things, like a cool car and maybe a great vacation.) Of course, you are competing with a lot of other people, but at least it isn't a random thing...your results (and essay) are what matter, and they are under your control. (If you want more info on Body for Life (aka BFL), go to the official website, http://www.bodyforlife.com/ )
Tom was more involved in this whole thing from the beginning than I was, although I thought it was a good idea, which is why I decided to do it with him. He did tons of research, started a blog about the experience (http://www.actortommydbfl.blogspot.com/; check it out!), and spent enough time thinking about it to nudge the "obsessive" meter. Of course, he had more to gain than I did...or perhaps you might say more to lose, since he wanted to lose something like 15 pounds of fat, while building muscle, whereas I was already more or less at what I consider my "ideal" weight when we started the program.
So we're working out every day, eating BFL-type meals (well, mostly :) ), and Tom is posting to his blog every couple of days, and we get to about the halfway point (6 weeks), and he suggests that I might like to start a blog, since he finds that it helps him think through things to write his, and he thought I might enjoy this and other benefits from writing my own.
Well!! I had mixed feelings about this prospect. I can talk the ears off a donkey when writing (excuse the mixed metaphors!), so that wasn't the problem. There was the "will anyone find the mopped-up-and-spread-out-to-dry dregs of my thinking worth reading?" fear. (If they don't care for it, they won't read it, but it's not primarily for other people anyway.) Then there was our old enemy, "I don't have time." (You only do it when you have time, and if you find it helpful in clarifying your thoughts about things, it will be time well spent. Besides, it may actually cut down on time you waste!) And on and on. But I weighed everything, pros and cons, and decided to do it. But not that week, because the timing was seriously bad. You see, I was reacting poorly to a medication change, and I was miserable and definitely NOT a fun person to talk to at the time. I knew it was only temporary, so I decided to wait. And so, a couple of weeks later...here we are!
Whether this is a good thing remains to be seen....
Late in April of 2005, my husband, Tom, and I began the fitness program Body for Life. A key (optional) motivator to keep people on track with this program is The Challenge: Take before pictures and statistics, follow the program for 12 weeks, take after pictures and statistics, write a one-page essay about your experience, send it all in, and have a chance to win (based partly on the essay and partly on results), get this, A MILLION DOLLARS!! (And a few other piddly things, like a cool car and maybe a great vacation.) Of course, you are competing with a lot of other people, but at least it isn't a random thing...your results (and essay) are what matter, and they are under your control. (If you want more info on Body for Life (aka BFL), go to the official website, http://www.bodyforlife.com/ )
Tom was more involved in this whole thing from the beginning than I was, although I thought it was a good idea, which is why I decided to do it with him. He did tons of research, started a blog about the experience (http://www.actortommydbfl.blogspot.com/; check it out!), and spent enough time thinking about it to nudge the "obsessive" meter. Of course, he had more to gain than I did...or perhaps you might say more to lose, since he wanted to lose something like 15 pounds of fat, while building muscle, whereas I was already more or less at what I consider my "ideal" weight when we started the program.
So we're working out every day, eating BFL-type meals (well, mostly :) ), and Tom is posting to his blog every couple of days, and we get to about the halfway point (6 weeks), and he suggests that I might like to start a blog, since he finds that it helps him think through things to write his, and he thought I might enjoy this and other benefits from writing my own.
Well!! I had mixed feelings about this prospect. I can talk the ears off a donkey when writing (excuse the mixed metaphors!), so that wasn't the problem. There was the "will anyone find the mopped-up-and-spread-out-to-dry dregs of my thinking worth reading?" fear. (If they don't care for it, they won't read it, but it's not primarily for other people anyway.) Then there was our old enemy, "I don't have time." (You only do it when you have time, and if you find it helpful in clarifying your thoughts about things, it will be time well spent. Besides, it may actually cut down on time you waste!) And on and on. But I weighed everything, pros and cons, and decided to do it. But not that week, because the timing was seriously bad. You see, I was reacting poorly to a medication change, and I was miserable and definitely NOT a fun person to talk to at the time. I knew it was only temporary, so I decided to wait. And so, a couple of weeks later...here we are!
Whether this is a good thing remains to be seen....
posted by Cheryl | 9:15 PM
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