The next goal

I have just re-read my last post. I want to post an update on how the no soda rule has been coming along.

Yesterday (Halloween) marked exactly 5 weeks since I've had a soda of any kind, or about a month. Each day I went without soda, the depression beast I always complained about kept getting smaller and smaller, or quieter and quieter. After about 3 weeks of no soda, right out of the blue, I realized that I wasn't at all depressed anymore.

Considering the fact that Fall is usually about the time of year I fall (ha-ha) into a deep depression, what with the colder weather (or rainier weather out here) and shorter daylight hours. It hits me during Thanksgiving weekend and usually lasts until the end of the year. But this year was different. Thanksgiving came and went, no soda, and it was all good. I don't feel at all depressed anymore.

I'm not going to pretend that I have been eating healthier though. That will be another month's goal. My weight is still hovering around the 220-222 range, and having had Halloween last night, I have been eating quite a lot of candy lately. I haven't quite been binging on it as much as I normally do, though, and find myself reaching a limit where I have to stop, and do stop for the rest of the day. But as I already said, that will be another month's goal to attack, and I'm not quite ready for it yet.

I have decided rather than cutting something out this month as I did last month, I will add in something instead. I've been noticing on Saturdays when I venture downtown Vancouver to attend my weekly Emotions Anonymous meetings, it's been harder and harder for me to walk there and back. My legs get sore at the shin area, and thighs, and my breathing is getting more and more difficult when I do that walk. It's 15 minutes uphill going there and 15 minutes downhill coming back. Clearly I am badly out of shape. So I will take the month of November as being a return to daily exercising month.

Starting tonight, at around 7:00 I will start exercising for 30 minutes per day. I will alternate between 30 minutes on the exercise bike for day 1, then 30 minutes upper weight routine for day 2, and finally lower body weight routine for day 3, and use that cycle for the whole month. Saturdays and Sundays I want to add an additional 30 minutes of exercise, as I have loads of time on the weekends and there should be no excuses. Saturdays I usually walk downtown to the EA meetings, so that will continue. Sundays might be trickier though. Either I will go for a 30 minute walk outside (if the weather is nice enough) or go for an additional 30 minutes on the bike if the weather is not so nice (or if I just don't feel like leaving the house, which happens quite often on Sundays). I'm going to do this exact thing for the entire month of November.

My only concern is during my period. I get really bad PMS cramping and just feel gross that exercise tends to be out of the question. I've been that way my entire adult life. I don't know how I managed to exercise during it when I had gym class. I can't even remember how I did that.

November is also going to be a somewhat nerve-wrecking month, as I have to figure out if I am going to be staying where I am living now or if I will be moving out as of the end of December. Not only because the landlords are increasing my rent incrementally, but also because I'm still struggling and living paycheque to paycheque. The rent I am paying now is high enough as it is. The idea might be to downsize, within reason.

It does anger me being a renter. I have a confession to make here. I hate Scott McGillivray's Income Property show so much as a renter. It shows how homeowners can pay off their mortgages by renting out unused portions of their homes, either cutting down on the mortgage payments or eliminating them entirely. This pisses me off to no end because A. I am paying for them to either pay off their mortgage or go on 4 weeks worth of vacations every summer to various places, while I struggle to make ends meet, and B. I'd rather be paying off my own mortgage, but the housing prices out here are freaking ridiculous.

Foreign investment is creating an unfair and money laundering scheme in Metro Vancouver's real estate market. It seems like the only hope for people these days seems to be buying used shipping containers and making very small dwellings out of them. They say it's cheap, but they also said condos would be cheaper, and most of them in Richmond go for around half a million dollars.

I have started to look into the possibility of getting into Co-operative Housing. My psychologist recommends it. I've noticed there are quite a lot of them here in Richmond. It might be a better solution. Most places are way cheaper than I am paying now, though will be requiring a rather sizeable down payment (which is refundable after moving out). I have sent away for applications and sent in one application already. I've heard that the process can take awhile. I hope I can figure it all out by November 30th, as that is the date I told my landlords I would be making the decision about moving or not.

Anyways, I should probably wind this blog entry up. Thanks for reading, for those who do.