Synchronized

Synchronized - adjective : happening, existing, or arising at precisely the same time.

I've always loved to watch synchronized movements. Dancing, cheerleading, swimming - it doesn't even matter. I admire the way the many moving parts come together as a whole picture in perfect timing. As a child, I watched the synchonized swimming in the Olympics. Later, I developed a deep appreciation for old Fred Astaire movies and the like. I don't know why I find it fascinating.

Now, as an adult, I'm coming to admire other kinds of synchonization that I never stopped to think about (or even notice) before. Such as all elements of a Thanksgiving meal coming out of the oven hot at precisely the same moment. All rooms of an apartmenting being clean at exactly the same time. And today, all aspects of a health and fitness plan working together seamlessly.

My life is not synchronized. Perhaps that's why I'm mesmorized when I see others achieve it.

My fitness plan is comprised of two major elements: Diet and Exercise. Rocket science, right? But it seems - at least to me - to be harder than it looks to get these two elements to synchonize perfectly.

For example, I've been really good about my exercise this fall. I've been running a lot, both distance and frequency. But my calorie intake has been anything but stellar. Almost inversely with the rate at which I increased my exercise, I seemed to be increasing my calories. Also not rocket science... I'm hungrier because I'm working out more. But that is not how it is supposed to work. I'm not supposed to get up every morning and run my butt off and still not lose weight. At least not in my ideal world. So I sat down the weekend of Thanksgiving to make a plan to get my calories back on track.

The plan worked. Last week I had five days (the weekdays) of exactly 1200 calories and two weekend days of not exceeding 1800 - the calories I burn in a day without exercising. But...

There's always a but.

I was unable to drag myself out of bed a single morning all week to go running. Not a single one. It was the longest I've gone without exercising since July. So this morning I said enough is enough, and I was up and out the door by 6:30am.

Miles 1 and 2 were hard. I hadn't been running in 14 days, and the cold morning air was making it difficult to breathe properly. I paused to wait for a stoplight at almost exactly the 2 mile mark, and almost vomited. My stomach had the worst cramp. I pushed on, and by mile 4.5 my leg muscles were starting to complain. And I actually walked the last 1/8 of my 5.25 mile run, which I've never done before.

Can I really lose all my stamina in 14 days? I was shocked that I couldn't just slot back in where I left off. And now I feel slightly like I was run over by a truck as I go about the rest of my low-calorie day. Ugg.

But I'm determined to get it right. To maintain the exercise while sticking to a low cal diet. It can be done... I just need to get in sync.