Paradigm Shift

Over the past week or so, I’ve been noticing that my sleep patterns have adjusted, and I’m going to bed/waking up earlier than I used to be….I like it. As far as why this is happening, I have no idea, but whatever it is, it’s great.For one thing, I know I don’t have any “commitments” to honor on World of Warcraft so I don’t need to be up super late…. I haven’t played in about a month now, maybe even longer, and it’s refreshing. I’m trying to stop thinking about that game so I can get it out of my mind entirely, and not be distracted by it.The other benefit to being up this early, besides the additional hours of sunlight I get to enjoy, is it gives me some more time to do things before going to work, even on a day like today where I’m due in at 9am. It’s 8:09 right now, and I’ve already had breakfast, showered, and am just about ready to walk out the door. If one were to go back a month, I’d just be getting into the shower right now, having woken up only a few minutes before, and my breakfast options would be somewhat limited due to time.I’ve also gotten back into tracking my food, thanks to a handy app on my iPhone. If you’re looking for an app to serve this purpose, I highly reccomend the Livestrong app, I think it’s a few bucks but well worth it. It’s a very intuitive interface for quickly adding foods, it also will track exercise and tell you how many calories you may have burned off for it, so you can track your daily caloric intake. I’ve done this once before, awhile back (tracking food), and it helped but for whatever reason I fell off the wagon. I’m back on now and going to keep at it, since I recall hearing positive feedback from those who noticed changes in my appearance.The other really nice thing about being up this early, is it will give me gym time. Once I’m used to waking up this early, I can get into a daily workout routine in the mornings and get ready for the day. I want to switch my focus from changing my sleep times based on my work schedule. I’d like to be consistent (or close to consistent) with when I go to bed, and wake up, etc, so that way I can’t use my work schedule as an excuse not to work out. I went to the gym the other day and, while I didn’t do anything crazy, I still feel the effects of it and it’s not a “bad” soreness per se, but it’s a reminder not to give it up. Today’s schedule is a bit packed, so I wouldn’t be able to hit the gym til about 8 tonight, hence if I’d gone in the morning before work I’d have gotten it in before the busyness of the day had started.I apologize for not having posted a blog recently, I definitely need to keep on this as well, I’ll post my thoughts and results on how my workout stuff is doing.I found my source of motivation from stepping on the scale the other day. I’d fallen off the wagon for too long since I’d had my surgery, and I hadn’t put on nearly as much weight as I thought I did. At my worst, the day of the surgery, I was 392 lbs. Today, I’m still under 300, I plan never to eclipse the big 3 ever again. Keep your fingers crossed for me!