Montag, 31. Oktober 2011

People who don't have a life

There is one thing that drives me nuts: people who don't have a life but think they do and judge others who do a lot more because these people think that's "tooooo-tally competitive". But what kind of life is it where you can't keep a job, even though the jobs aren't that fancy to begin with. What kind of life is it, where you spend all of your free time spread out on the couch watching TV without really watching, and spend the rest of the time sleeping?! How can you have a life without a hobby, or ambitions, or aspirations?! And I don't mean the kind of aspirations where you think you'll be a manager of a big firm one day and get the fat pay check just because you say that you should get a job like that. Be realistic! How can you ever make a professional career, let alone be a manager, if you're not used to work hard, not used to having a hectic schedule, and are not "tooooo-tally competitive". You cannot have a career if you never pick up a book just for the sake of educating yourself, no matter what topic. You cannot have a career, if even organizing your "life" that consists of sleep, a not too challenging job, watching TV without really watching TV, and more sleep. If you want a career, a full life, you have to get out of bed. Because the day only has so many hours, a week only so many days. Yes, it's hard sometimes. But do you want to look back and think: Let's see, what did I do with my life? I slept, watched some TV - but I can't remember what-, and I did a job I hated but never tried realistically to change it, to push myself to the next level.
To me, that is sad. And I would pity these people, if it were not for their ignorance: these people think something is wrong with me because I read all texts and books and essays I need for university. They think I'm weird because I get up a couple of hours earlier to work out, or do homework, or write stuff for the pleasure of writing. These people don't understand that after a long day of class, I stay up, work out more, do more homework, read more, write more, and look for a side job, to earn more. I know I'm gonna get something in return for my efforts at one point or another in my life, because I work my butt off in different areas of life. I know that effort and hard work create the kinds of opportunities these other people call luck and think are heaven-sent and unfair. I know better. (But these people bug me anyway ;P)

Donnerstag, 27. Oktober 2011

Motivation and procrastinating

I feel a little schizophrenic at the moment. In one part of my life, I'm super motivated and stick to my plans and schedules: I'm still on the 7-Day Slim Down and things are going great, even though I substitute stuff every now and then because I just don't like some of the veggies etc. they want you to eat. And I'm also really into working out at the moment. I hardly do any running because it's cold and dark outside, but I take at least one fitness or yoga or dance class a day (except for Tuesday; I've got classes all day then). I'm also planning to increase the numbers of classes once I'm done with this very strict diet on Sunday.
But when it comes to the work I need to get done for university, I'm not motivated at all. I spend too much time online, or watching TV, instead of getting this stupid stuff done. It's not even that difficult or challenging. So starting tomorrow, I will have to really kick my butt to get this stuff done, too, and at the same time keep up the good work when it comes to nutrition and working out. I also have to start working on my fiction writing again. I've got a million ideas and some stories already fairly worked out, but now I have to write it down. I'm really pissed at myself right now, and starting tonight after my very first Zumba class, I will make myself do stuff that just needs to be done!

Montag, 24. Oktober 2011

First Day of Slim Down - and not much more

Today was the first day of the 7-Day Slim Down. Got up really early for my "bootycall" 30 minute run, and it wasn't as horrible as I'd expected. Then things got real: I had to cook breakfast. I have never cooked breakfast before... but it went okay. Cooking and planning healthy meals takes up a lot of time though. Thank God this strict program is seven days only, after that I'll be more flexible. My favorite thing so far is the protein shake. It's the first time I've tried protein powder (I got whey powder with vanilla flavor and it's really delicious). Tofu, on the other hand, makes me gag. Which sucks, because as a vegetarian, I have limited options for that kind of protein as it is. But when I'm through with the pack of tofu in my fridge, I'm not gonna buy it again. I'm thinking about getting some sort of veggie burger stuff instead. I also substituted some of the "green" vegetables with carrots because I've still got some left in the fridge and I don't want them to go bad.

Altogether, I was hardly ever hungry all day, which is nice because if the starving part of a diet starts on day one, it's that much harder to stick to it. In the afternoon, I did a "Cardio Fit" class at university, which turned out to be 30 minutes of intense aerobic like jumping and hopping and running. After that, we did 20 minutes of strength training for all major muscle groups, and finished off with 10 minutes of stretching. It was exhausting and hurt like hell, but I'm not sore now. Tired. I am tired. The change in my nutrition, combined with a new workout routine, wore me out a bit. I am able to read stuff online and write this little entry, but I am not able to read any scientific stuff I need for uni, so I postponed it to tomorrow. If I tried reading it now, I wouldn't remember a thing tomorrow, so I might as well do it then.

I am positive that things will be even easier tomorrow, even though it's my marathon day at uni and I don't have time for a real workout except for the bootycall run and abs and stretching exercises at night after classes. Hopefully, I will get more reading done and maybe even work on my screenplay's plot some more.

Sonntag, 23. Oktober 2011

3...2...1...

Today is the last day before I start the Tone It Up 7-Day Slim Down, to kick off my "lifestyle change" with the Tone It Up Diet Plan. The 7-Day Slim Down is very strict, but I think I will not be too hungry because you eat 5 meals a day, and it's lots of salads, veggies, and even some fruit. I still need to get one of those kitchen tools, I think it's called a hand blender or something of the sort. ;) I'll get one after my Grammar Theories class tomorrow. This class, by the way, is the most horrible thing I've ever had to do :(

The only thing that might make this diet a little harder is my workout program, which is more intense than the one they want you to do along with the Slim Down Plan. But I've set my mind on getting through this week, even if it's going to be a lot of work and exhausting, because after a week this tough, the following six week Fat Burning System will feel like a piece of cake (without the calories).

The rest of the evening is devoted to homework and preparation for next week's classes. If I hurry, I might even have time left to keep working on the plot for my screenplay, which I definitely want to finish THIS YEAR!!! Tomorrow I'll take more time and write a longer post, because hopefully I'll have more and more exciting things to write about: it's the first day of the slim down and I'm going to try a new fitness class.