Thanksgiving

I don't understand why I feel obligated to eat more just because it is there. Not just picking, but a second helping when I really am comfortably full. I guess it was foods I don't usually make, but not even that really. Because you're supposed to eat too much at Thanksgiving?

Except for stuffing and gravy, I actually did ok on Thursday. And nobody in our house wanted Pumpkin Pie, so I only made Apple, so I only had one slice, not two. Ok, yes, ice cream.

But we've been pretty active this weekend, not with "exercise", but cleaning around the house, I've been painting a set at church for the youth group, and I walked around a flea market all morning on Friday. Didn't get on the scale yet, so we'll see if I at least broke even...

Children's books

I have been trying to be good with my kids and help them establish healthy habits. I do try to not be a hypocrite though. If mommy can eat in the car then they can eat in the car, if mommy can have a cookie for an afternoon snack then they should be able to have a cookie also. Perhaps I need to start making them eat super healthy snacks and then I will have to also.

Anyway, I noticed when we were reading an alphabet book we have that in the picture where "V is for Vegetable" that of the 5 items shown, 3 of them are actually fruits.

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.