It would’ve been nicer if I’d been a little quicker on the “idea train” this morning, but oh well. There’s always tomorrow.

I had a good thing going with my exercise and eating schedule. Had a few missteps and some tweaks I needed to make, but nothing terrible. I was going along pretty well the past few weeks, and could even anticipate getting up at 5 a.m. to go work out.

Well, the kiddo next door couldn’t keep his nose out of trouble (backing up a friend, from what I understand) and he’s been kicked off the bus for a couple of weeks. Which means I’ve been asked to take him to school in the mornings. Again.

At least I’ll get some gas money out of this, but it’s the time-suck that’s pissing me off a little. At least at school he does better behaviorally, but the bus is always some weird traveling DMZ with it’s own odd rules and commandments, and the driver is a god, so yeah. The only other option to take him was his older sister, but her car broke down recently and she can’t go anywhere, let alone take him to school herself til they get the parts they need (and the parents have crazy early shifts, so they can’t stick around or take him).

Enter the Former Babysitter, low-rent superhero! I know he isn’t my kid, but dammit, what else were they gonna be able to do? I get why they asked me: my morning schedule’s a helluva lot more flexible and they trust me.

Yeah, there’s a reason I don’t run with form-fitting clothes on. Thanks, guys.

While a small part of me is flattered at their trust, I’m super annoyed about how this cuts into my schedule and how the hell I will deal with it. I’ve lost a few pounds the past few weeks and the last thing I wanna do (especially since I’ve nicely curbed the appetite, too) is ruin my improvements.

My initial routine has my alarm go off at 5 a.m., I get dressed, check the weather, do 5 or 10 minutes of campaigning with my gaming group (instead of having them wait hours for me to hit a location, I just do the two spots I’m assigned in the war and come back for more later). Then I get my water bottles, iPod, and exercise journal and go to my gym. I do strength training and then cardio, and wipe it all down (sweep at the end of the week), and go in to take care of the animals. Usually, this leaves me getting back into the house by 7-ish (ideally), which is the perfect time to take the dogs out and let them do their thing while I go inside and take care of the birds and the fish. Then I let them in around 8 a.m., give ’em a treat, and I shower and eat my breakfast, and start the rest of my day around 8:30.

At least, that’s the plan, and has been effective for the most part. Sometimes I accidentally sleep in a bit, or I have connection issues with the internet and have to fix ’em before I go out there to the building, but whatever.

So, I was having the hardest time getting to sleep last night, trying to figure this out (only learned about this driving thing late afternoon yesterday). I wondered how the hell I was gonna manage my exercise, my meals, and especially job searches to get my schedule on track. My INITIAL idea would’ve had me do all the computer stuff while waiting for him to show up, drive him to school, get back home by 7 a.m., take the dogs out and feed the pets, and by 8 a.m. I’d be in the gym, ready to go. It could’ve been 9:30 by the time I was done (or 10ish, if I had a long elliptical program). Then getting in to shower, eating breakfast and trying to start my day by 10:30 or 11 a.m. And on several days, I’d be having to leave at 2 p.m. to get to work.

That would be three hours at best to get things going, most of which would be spent looking at the clock or cleaning, trying to make sure I don’t end up late for work. And I can already foresee the “last minute panic” of getting fast food because my hunger cues have totally been screwed.

Not for me, dear. Divorced it for a reason, dammit.

So, shortly before the kiddo showed up, I had a somewhat dreadful but possibly far more manageable alternative come to mind (far too late to implement today, but I’ll try for tomorrow).

My REAL plan for the next two weeks is to get up at 4 a.m. instead. By 4:15 I should be dressed, have my stuff, and get out into the building to do my workouts. If I keep to shorter elliptical programs, I should be able to get back in the house and let the kid in around 5:45. After that, I can do my gaming and weather checking for the day, drive him to school, get home around 7ish and take care of the animals and do the rest of the morning like my initial plan.

This one would definitely give me more time to do what needs doing before my evening job, but there are four main issues that I’m gonna have to figure out how to work around to ensure it doesn’t become an unmanageable mess (or I don’t become a zombie at the end):

1. I’d have to have very precise timing and get my ass out there by 4:15. I’m generally excited to exercise, but I haven’t tried forcing myself to go that early before, either (because I haven’t had to).
2. Would be a longer time between working out and showering than usual. Okay, maybe not so much of an issue (unless I got particularly sweaty that day). Kiddo would have to smell eau de moi for a little while in the car. I guess that would be a form of payback for me having to get my ass up so early to accommodate him, so sucks for him. Towel behind my back on the seat and I’ll be good to go.
3. Getting home from work, & there’d better not be traffic! In order to get as close to 7 hours of sleep as possible, I’d have to get home and automatically take the dogs out, get the pets ready for bed, and have the lights shut out by 9-ish. Right now, with all these little worries, I’m lucky to get to bed before 10:30 p.m. lately (which is why I’ve slept in a few mornings this past weekend). Yeah, it would be straight home to bed, essentially, which is gonna make my pups quite sad. I’ll REALLY have to make it up for ’em in the daylight hours.
4. Changes in my eating habits. I don’t have a set schedule for these sorts of things: I’m gonna eat when genuinely hungry (and water will take care of the rest of the “cravings times.”). I’m not sure when I will be hungry. I’ve done okay once I’ve eaten that first meal and had little trouble waiting for the next these days. I just don’t eat as much. That said, I don’t wanna be halfway through my shift and getting stomach pains because I’m crazy hungry. I could probably do an apple right after working out to curb the hunger and eat the oats at closer to my usual time later so I’m not crazy hungry and dizzy.

I’d just gotten used to a 5 a.m. wakeup, and now I’m gonna have to change it to 4 a.m. for a while. Good thing I don’t have much of a social life or it’d be toast anyway with such an early bedtime. But I’m focusing mostly on myself, my health and well-being after not doing so for decades. I have so much that needs doing, and even if it feels ludicrous to spend so much time trying to get exercise in and whatnot, it’s something I need to do. I ended up skipping working out today because of trying to figure this out (I’ve put Sundays down as “make up” days in my workout calendar, so I won’t miss it entirely), but I already know my hunger cues are gonna be messed up and I’ll be cranky because I didn’t work out.

And if I don’t get enough sleep these weeks, despite my best efforts? Combined with minimal to no exercise?…

…uh, yeah.

What little time I have left before work today will be spent looking for online work and finishing laundry. I’ve got a pile of work to do and a little 3 hour bit between shifts isn’t gonna do much for me the next few weeks. No way. I just gotta eat a big enough meal for lunch that it can sustain me til the end of shift where I can eat an apple or something small before bed. I don’t want to eat at night anymore, and have to make myself have something so I’m not absolutely famished. The overnight oats I’d made (and put into salsa jars I’d saved because I don’t have good sized mason jars like everyone else seems to have) will keep a few days so I’ll just save ’em up for tomorrow morning. I have some gala apples and some sandwich stuff that needs to be eaten soon, anyway.

So yeah, a huge monkey wrench thrown into the works. Perhaps I can work around it and find out some good stuff.

Yeah… no more wrenches, please. I’m already trying to fix enough stuff.