New Habits Die Hard

There's an old myth about forming new habits, that you have to do something 21 times for it to become a habit, such as working out every day.

That's a load of baloney. For something to truly become a habit, it takes a lot longer than 21 repetitions. My doctor once told me it actually takes a full year of doing something before it starts to become a habit. (And let me add a quick disclaimer here for my family, many of whom immediately think there must be something seriously wrong with me every time I mention the world "doctor": she told me that a long time ago, not recently -- I haven't been to the doc since I last spoke with all of you!).

Having said all of that, I seem to have fallen into a bit of a habit since adding leg work to my routine a few weeks back, choosing Sunday's as the day to do legs. My thinking was that legs take a little longer to do, and Sunday afternoons would generally be days where I wouldn't be up against any time constraints.

Prior to adding the leg work to my exercise routine, I had begun doing my cardio in the mornings, usually every Monday, Tuesday, Thursday and Friday. The week immediately prior to starting legs I also did a Wednesday morning session.

However, that first week after doing legs, I managed a Monday morning cardio routine, but by Tuesday morning my legs were so sore and tired I slept an extra hour Tuesday and did my cardio for that day in the evening, after I got home from work. Of course, that meant no cardio on Wednesday -- there's no way I can climb on the stationary bike Wednesday morning, less than 12 hours after the Tuesday night session -- and I do a session of weight lifting on Wednesday nights.

Of course, the second week I did legs on Sunday, I fell into the same schedule, a Monday cardio session followed by some leg and knee stiffness, so I did cardio Tuesday night instead.

Last week, the same thing.

This week, however, was going to be different -- I was determined to be up early Tuesday morning, no matter what, so that all my cardio sessions were back to mornings.

Well, guess what? I was up too late last night, much later than I had planned, and just a couple of hours after going to bed I awoke again because of some pain in that knee, so I ended up skipping the morning cardio. By tonight, though, I was feeling okay, and with no weight training slated I ended up back at the gym for some cardio -- and it turned out to be a pretty good, hard-paced session.

So I don't know, have I now formed a new habit, always doing my Tuesday cardio at night for various reasons? I'd rather do the mornings -- fewer people crowded around at the gym, and that gets the work out of the way first thing, leaving my evenings free for writing.

But is just doesn't seem to work out for whatever reason. So maybe I've formed a new habit, after just three or four weeks. It certainly wouldn't be the worst one I've ever developed.

Anyway, enough of that...now for the details of the day!

Exercise
Cardio -- stationary bike
62 minutes (20 on level 6, 5 on level 4, the rest on level 5).
22 miles (or, on the gym's bike, 35.5 something or other -- I think kilometers)
805 calories

Food for the day

Breakfast
Coffee
Eggs -- 1 whole, 2 whites
Fresh cut pineapple -- 1/2 cup

Lunch
Roasted chicken breast (cooked in olive oil) -- 4 ounces
Brown Rice -- 2/3 cup cooked
Mixed veggies -- 1/2 cup

Snack
Fat Free Greek Yogurt

First Dinner
Roasted chicken breast in olive oil -- 4 ounces
Cheese -- 1/8 cup
Salsa
Salad mixture (lettuce, spinach, etc.)

Second Dinner
Sesame chicken and noodles (3/4 serving of whole wheat noodles, 5 ounces of chicken breast, 1/2 cup mixed veggies, all cooked in sesame oil)

Late snack
Real fruit, no-sugar added popsicle

Totals for the day
1,230 calories
33 grams fat
119 grams protein

Once again, I'm getting far too little protein, partly as a result of simply not eating enough, and partly from a result of not planning properly to have a higher protein-to-carb ratio.

Water -- 100 ounces
Diet soda -- 24 ounces