Tools

I have decided that half of doing the right thing is having the right tools. I used to have a huge water bottle that held the amount of water you were supposed to drink in a day. It was great because I could see where I was at in my amount of water and I just carried it with me. Then one day the boys knocked it off the counter and it developed a fatal crack.
So now I can never keep track of how many glasses I have had. I decided that I am going to find another water bottle that holds the right amount. I also decided that I will always walk on campus and not use the bus system unless it is pouring down rain. I even decided that once I can walk from my current parking spot without being winded that I will start parking farther away.

Surprised

So I found out today that fruits/veggies are only 1/2 cup to be considered a serving. Which means I was better then usual and actually had 3+ servings of fruit (my weakest point). Of course veggies, which I usually do better at, was only 1 + servings. Ah well, at least I was better eating wise, and worked on restraint. In fact my usually non dessert motivated hubby ate the last brownie yesterday, and I managed to refrain. I didn't even noticed he'd eaten till today.

I'm hoping that's a start in the right direction for me. The exercise isn't a huge problem for me since I walk a lot, but I am thinking about adding Yoga for flexability. It's embarressing when I have women I know that are around 60 and they are more flexable then I am. I have had trouble putting my socks on in the morning if it's right after I get out of bed. Ugh

Now to just work on my liking more fruits and veggies... and less starch/carb items.

Success!

Well, a little, anyway. After I posted my comment on Julia's post, I changed my shoes, went downstairs, moved laundry, and then actually did walk on the treadmill for 20 minutes (plus 5min warmup, i was honest). Don't know that it made a huge difference in my energy level for the day, but did make me feel like I could do it again tomorrow.

And I posted a bunch of stuff on freecycle that will hopefully disappear over the next few days, and I'm sort of keeping up with the dishes, and I made all the phone calls I needed to today, so it's good! Small steps, but progress.

Off to move more laundry so I can walk more tomorrow.

Jump in where you are...

Not that I'm always good about it, but like the Nike commercial says, "Just Do It."

I did squats in the shower this morning. I did crunches waiting for the boys to fall asleep (in the dark with the dog nosing me because she decided she did want to go back upstairs). I justified skipping swimming this morning because I wanted to get a free latte at work.

There's no perfect time to start working out. There's no perfect workout. It takes about 30 days to form a pattern and 90 days to form a habit. I'd love to go swimming more, but I think I need to think smaller. Starting tomorrow (it's a little late for today), I'm going to try really really hard to move for 15 minutes. Whether it's walking or swimming or jumping up and down with the kids (have you noticed if they haven't gotten enough exercise, they start doing laps around the house just before dinner time?), I'm going to do it. Wish me luck.

The me in my mind Vs. the Actual me

I wanted to post something about who I think I am in my mind (and want to be) vs. who I've actually become. Sometimes I talk to people about the things I like; ice hockey, backpacking, hiking, rock climbing, triathlons; and I feel like such a poser because if you look at me it seems perfectly obvious that I can't actually do any of those things in my current condition. A while back I inquired about a backpacking trip run by a group called Wild Women Workshops in CA. (Check them out at: http://www.wildwomenworkshops.org/.) A little over a month ago they got back to me with at trip they were trying to run at the beginning of Nov. for women over 40 (yikes, I qualify!) if they could get enough participation. I was SERIOUSLY considering going on this trip. At some point I realized that the timing was horrible for me to be able to keep up an exercise routine every night so that I would have a chance of being about to manage it, and even if I could, I probably would not have been in good enough shape to carry a backpack, let alone do it up a steep switchback trail. But the point is, I WANT to be able to do these things! I want to be able to say to someone on a moment's notice, yes I'll go hiking, yes I'll play hockey, yes, yes yes! And I want to be a person who, maybe is not the best at that sport, but is certainly in good enough shape to not struggle and hold my own. In my mind, I imagine that I'm this person. In my mind I imagine I could even wear the appropriate clothing for these activities and not look like a pork sausage! But I'm not this person, and it's depressing. I'm a mother who's too tired every night to get any exercise, not a morning person (so don't even suggest morning exercise,) and the kids never let me get any exercise during the day. The kids snack, so I snack. I love watching TV at night to turn off my brain. And the sad thing is, I KNOW that if I can stick with the exercise routine long enough, I will eventually begin to crave it -- eventually it won't just be painful, but it will give me energy and make me feel more like the person I want to be and I will want more of that. And feeling more like that healthy person will make me crave better foods and less junk. I was watching video of Sierra's birthday party yesterday of me helping her open presents. Yuck! In my mind I just don't look like what I really look like....

Thanks for listening.

The End of Halloween Candy

So I decided to throw out the last of Timothy and Christopher's Halloween candy after putting the last "good" candy in Timothy's lunch for tomorrow. There's just no point in keeping it around for the boys to whine about and for me to munch on when I don't need it. I decided it was better in the garbage than on me. Then I opened the pantry to find that there's at least a dozen full sized candy bars leftover from what we were handing out. I give up.

Of course, I made peanut blossom cookies with the boys today forgetting that there's chocolate sandwich cookies, candied popcorn, and more sweets in the cupboard already. Good thing I don't have a big sweet tooth.

Exhausted but not in a healty way

I don't know if being on my feet for 2 1/2 hours at William's party counts as exercise but I'm exhausted. And yes, I had pizza and cake and junk, so really not such a healthy day.

I did step on the scale this morning and was down about 3-4 lbs from the last time a week or so ago. That was kind of exciting!

It's going to be just us for Thanksgiving, which is good and bad. No pressure about having certain foods, which is nice, or cleaning the house, but guests can be fun and make it feel like more of a special occasion. But I think it will be nice, kind of relaxed.