Motivation Monday
Our fourth and final week of the Fitness Challenge for September is over. Sleep deprivation is one of the things that has been proven to lead to obesity later in life.
I wish Beck and I would have known this when we were teenagers and decided to spend nearly every night awake, all night, before going to school the next day. If we knew then what we know now.
But hindsight is 20/20. We didn’t know. We set ourselves up with unhealthy habits and have paid the price. Now here we are nearing mid-life and struggling to get our weight under control. Mind you, sleep is not the only factor that led to our weight problems. But we’re taking baby steps to set healthier habits. Sleep was just the focus of our challenge for this month.
Ki’s Sleep – Week 4
I am super proud to report that I don’t need to make any excuses for this week. It was a fantastic week for reaching my goals.
So here’s how my sleep went for Week 4:
Tuesday – 9/27
I’m getting better at this! I went to bed at 11:51pm so I met my goal of getting to bed before midnight.
I was restless for a couple of minutes but once I fell asleep, I slept until morning without waking up. I was restless only 7 times for a total of 9 minutes. So my total sleep duration was 7 hours and 1 minute because I got up at 7:01am.
I felt pretty good, I wasn’t groggy or anything. I jumped in the shower and then got right to work. It was a pretty darn productive day compared to the last few weeks. I was pretty focused on what I needed to do throughout the day.
On a side note, I saw the Ortho doc and he cleared me to go back to normal activities and suggested only 3 more weeks of Physical Therapy. Super happy about that. Now I can get myself back in gear.
Wednesday – 9/28
I went to bed at 11:54pm. I pushed bedtime a little bit too late. I woke up at 7:02am. But I woke up once and I was restless 14 times during the night for a total of 18 minutes. My total sleep duration was only 6 hours and 50 minutes so I missed my goal by 10 measly minutes.
Despite missing my goal, I felt pretty good all day. It was another productive day and I didn’t struggle to stay focused. That being said, I have been drinking Mountain Dew this week. Not doing so well on the MD goal this week but I’ll work on that next week.
I started getting tired a little early which was good because it got me to bed earlier. Unfortunately, it didn’t get me to sleep very much earlier but still before bedtime.
Thursday – 9/29
I’m definitely setting healthier habits this week. Once again, I was in bed before midnight. I went to bed at 11:30pm and woke up at 7:14am.
I woke up twice during the night and I was restless 18 times for a total of 27 minutes. This caused me to hit the snooze button and stay in bed that extra 13 minutes. My total sleep duration was 7 hours and 17 minutes though so I met my sleep goal.
I felt pretty good and did very well keeping my focus and being productive throughout the day. However, it’s worth noting that I only drank Mountain Dew all day because I ran out of bottled water. I need to get my lazy behind to the store and restock before I completely sabotage my efforts and reverse my progress.
I’ve been steadily losing weight, it would be careless to slip up on it now.
Friday – 9/30
I went to bed at 12:10am. I know…my bedtime is midnight. I missed it even though it’s a weekend. I woke up at 8:26am though.
I didn’t wake up during the night but I was restless 13 times for a total of 16 minutes. My total sleep duration was exactly 8 hours. I met my sleep goal again.
I felt good all day. Physical Therapy didn’t wear me out and I didn’t come home as sore as usual. It wasn’t a work day for me as it was my off Friday but I stayed pretty focused all day.
This was the last week of the sleep challenge and I am happy to see that my last week has been my best week. There was only one day so far this week that I didn’t meet my sleep goal and I only missed it by 10 minutes.
I think I did very well setting healthier sleep habits for this challenge.
Saturday – 10/01
I went to bed at 1:08am. Oopsie! Time simply got away from me, but at least it’s the weekend. I didn’t wake up until 9am though.
I woke up once during the night and I was restless 13 times for a total of 23 minutes. My total sleep duration was 7 hours and 29 minutes.
While the sleep challenge is officially over, I intend to continue as if it isn’t. The goal was to set healthier sleep habits and I think I’ve done that. Now it’s time to stick with it.
Now it’s time to kick off October’s Fitness Challenge. I think Halloween month is a great month for working and focusing on our bat wings, what do you think?
Week 4 Stats
I did much better this week with meeting my sleep goal. I only missed one day and only by 10 minutes, which…I gotta tell ya…super disappointing! At any rate, I am going to continue trying to make sure I get my 7 hours each night because that just makes me feel better throughout the day.
Ki’s Weight & Measurements
My Weight
I didn’t lose much throughout this challenge but since I wasn’t really physically active, I didn’t expect to lose much. That being said, I did continuously show progress by losing just a little each week. I’m happy with that for now.
My Measurements
My Week 4 measurements are as follows:
- Weight: 203.6
- Chest: 45.5″
- Waist: 44″
- Hips: 45″
- Wrist: 6″
- Forearm: 10″
- BMI: 35.0
Now that my doctor has released me to normal activities, I intend to get active again so that I can start seeing much more progress.
Journal
I think I did very well with setting healthier sleep goals as I now meet my sleep goal more often than not. I’m feeling better each day and my productivity has finally returned, super happy about that!
Now I need to focus on keeping this a priority and continuing the healthy habits I’ve set.
How are you doing with your goals? Are you working on your own sleep habits?
Your friendly neighborhood road runner,
~Ki