Keeping Track

A few weeks ago someone at work told me that it just takes 21 days to form a habit. We weren't talking about smoking or drinking or anything that you'd later have to enter a twelve-step program to kick.
In my case I wondered if it was true for the gym. Did I really just have to go to the gym for three weeks and then magically it would no longer be a dreaded chore? Would comfy red couch no longer win out consistently over crowded sweaty gym? I started going. I went on weeknights. I even started going on weeknights right after work when I thought for sure it'd be insanely crowded and I'd be stuck on the oldest bike in the place.
At the same time my Real Simple magazine made another tempting promise, that it held in its pages the secret to successful weight loss. This was one of those fake-outs where you think it's going to be something new and amazing but it's just the same old advice as before: keep track of what you eat. So I started another habit on The Daily Plate online. Even better than the traditional journal Daily Plate looks after your calories and even allows you to calculate how many calories you should actually have everday. After this I felt very differently about the 800 calories Hawaiian Lua Ham Sandwich at the cafeteria. That's nearly half of my daily calories! Are you kidding??! No slice pineapple and bacon is worth that!
The results are that within the first week I was sleeping so deliciously soundly that it was remarkable. And I didn't need a nap on the morning train, I could stay awake and read my Theodore Roosevelt biography. At week three I feel like the day wasn't over until I done some kind of exercise. I've lost 6 pounds, too.*

*That's still not the miraculous weight drop that Jason gets whenever he just thinks about losing weight. It's ridiculous, one week without Coke and he's down crazy amounts. I gave him the back-handed compliment that he'd be the best contestant on 'The Biggest Loser' because he does so little yet loses so much. He didn't really get the flattery in that compliment. But it's still not fair.