Putting My Money Where My Mouth Isn’t

I’m about ten days into my DietBet, and so far, I am really loving it. I have been tracking my food intake very closely on MyFitnessPal (PS – the Windows Phone app for it rocks), and I found that ever since Friday night, it’s been kind of like my game of Don’t Break the Chain: I’m mostly hitting my calorie targets (and choosing healthy foods to help me hit them), and I want to just keep the streak going as long as I can.

But honestly, the money involved in the bet has also been great motivation. Every time I’m about to make a poor decision as far as what to eat or drink, I’m instead thinking of how much I would (basically) get paid to make a better choice. If someone followed me around and told me they would pay me $100 to skip the cocktails and drink water, or to pick the salad with dressing on the side instead of the fried chicken, would I take their offer? You bet. I know that I am ignoring the fact that hopefully everyone in my DietBet will win (since that really is what I’d most like to happen), but I’m telling my brain that it’s possible for me to take the whole pot home myself, and that gives me lots of motivation to make the right choices.

(Side note: It probably says something really terrible about my values that I am eager to make these healthy choices for a mere $25/$100, instead of because it’s good for my body. Oops.)

On the exercise front, I totally overdid it at the gym on Monday, taking a back-to-back CitySurf class followed by Bodybar. Normally both are full body and I like doing one after the other, since CitySurf tends to be high impact cardio/bootcamp while Bodybar is slower and more of a deep muscle workout. But on Monday night, CitySurf hit the legs hard (literally 15 straight minutes of various lunges, with weights, plus some glute work after), and then Bodybar finished them off. It’s three days later and I’m still so sore that I have to use my hands to sit down or stand up from a chair, and I can only walk at a very slow pace… which is going to make running Sunday’s Colfax Marathon a bit challenging. However, I’ve been stupidly not foam rolling at all this week (even though I know that foam rolling is exactly what I need right now), so I’m planning on spending some QT with my foam roller as soon as I’m home tonight. I’m hoping that will help clear up all that damage by Sunday? Better exercise decisions coming next week!