Heat Wave!!

While most of the central and lower eastern part of the US are now getting a deep freeze, we're actually getting a break from the one we've been going through up in Aroostook County, in Maine.  We welcomed in the new year with temperatures of -20º F with wind chills in the -40s, the lowest I noticed was -47º F.  Brrr... We've been in the teens for most of the day today, and it was nice!

As I'm sitting here writing this, reflecting on the day, I'm kicking myself because I never considered going outside to walk, rather than on the treadmill in my dark and dusty basement.

I'm pretty proud of myself, because I've done 3 straight days in a row.  It will be a challenge starting tomorrow, because school vacation is over and it's back to school.  And....to get things going I have a meeting after school and my oldest has a home game.  Somewhere in between I have to also cook supper and make sure homework is done.

I like to do leg and arm exercises then do at least 15 minutes on the treadmill.  I may have to consider doing this in smaller portions and do the squats and arm lifts tomorrow morning, then jump on the treadmill after the game.

I wonder how any of you who have to balance work and a family manage to get a meaningful workout in on a regular basis?  I would love to read what you do.

A Brand New Year!

As I've mentioned in my previous blog posts, I've tried to get back to where I was a couple of years ago when I was fit, physically active, and healthy.  

With the coming of a new year, like many others, I reflect on the past year and try to come up with goals for the new one.  One of my biggest issues is that I take the time to start back exercising during school breaks, which makes it hard to keep a routine once school's back in session.

Earlier this week, my husband and I were talking about our resolutions.  He was saying how he wanted to lose weight and get healthier, and was cautiously hinting the same for me.  Of course I got defensive, and told him to say what he really wanted to say.  So he stated what I already knew and had been obsessing about.  I need to lose weight.  My jeans size has increased and I don't feel that well.  Yes, the truth is painful.

In the past I had used a website geared for helping people through their weight loss journey.  I am by no means putting it down, because it was a huge motivator for me, 3 years ago.  But when I tried to get back on it recently, I found it was too much work, and that I needed something simpler.

I found a simple app for my smartphone that helps me track my calorie intake, how many calories I burn with various workouts, and how I'm progressing toward my goal.  It has the same bells and whistles that the website had, but no teams to join, or challenges to achieve when you have a busy life and don't have time to manage it.  It's simple.

I was home alone today (yes!), basically because my stepsons had school and my district wasn't starting back until Monday, and my husband was at work.  With temperatures way below zero (-14ºF and -38ºF with the windchill), going for a walk outside wasn't an option.  And because I hadn't been physically active for such a long time, I figured some squats, arm workouts, then walking was a good place to start.  So I planned to start on the treadmill.

In order for me to use the treadmill, I had to make room to open it up.  My oldest plays the drums and had moved his drumset closer to the light so he could read his music, but that put it in my way for the treadmill.  The thing is, he rarely uses the drums, so I moved it back to where it had been, and set up the treadmill.

In the past I had been a huge pinner on Pinterest, which accumulated tons of pins in my "working out" board.  So I spent yesterday weeding through them all, and found some workouts I wanted to start with.  For example, squats that started on day 1 with 6 reps and eventually progresses as the month does.  Also, I found some arm exercises that does the same.  I also added a couple of core exercises as well.  So, I figured if I do this daily all month, then I'll begin seeing results, which is a motivator in itself.

So, after pondering over what to do and where to start for most of the morning, which is part of my problem....I think too much....and solved my treadmill space issue, I did my squats, arm exercises, and walked on the treadmill for 15 minutes.  I did a couple of minutes of jogging, but my knees and ankles were objecting due to lack of practice, so I mostly walked.

Now that I've done my first day, my challenge is to keep doing it.  That's not easy.  

I don't own a scale, but I'm sure that my weight is not a number I would be happy with.  So, in order to track my progress, I decided to take measurements of key places on my body.  My butt, waist, and thighs.  I don't like those numbers either, but it's a way I can track my progress.  I couldn't find an app to track them with, so I decided to use my calendar instead.  That means, every Friday morning I'll take measurements of these same problem areas and track them on my phone's calendar.  

It's been said that it takes 21 days to start a habit, and this photo shows one way to track that.  I'm not planning on advertizing this, mainly because I prefer keeping things private to some extent.  I've done the "announcing my workouts" thing on Facebook and Twitter before, and it didn't help me stay motivated.  Perhaps keeping a blog about it will work.

What kind of challenges have you faced?  I would love to hear about how you have dealt with them and have overcome them, if you have.

Jinxed myself....

I tend to jinx myself a lot.  In my last post I talked about how I was on a streak of several days without stopping.  I was either walking or running.  Well, needless to say, I broke my streak after that.  My family and I did things that weekend, the weekend before school started back, and then life got busy.

I work about 25 minutes from home, and my youngest stepson has football practice in the town on the other side of the town where I live, so that means I leave school at 3:15, drive directly to his practice and make it for 4.  I hang around and can't seem to leave because I want to be there in case he gets hurt.  It's a full-contact sport, and the danger of someone getting hurt is pretty good.  His practice ends at 6, then it's another 15 minutes to get home, then it's supper.  I've been pretty good at being prepared ahead of time and using my slow cooker to have supper prepared.  After all is said and done, it's past 7:30 and I usually have papers to correct or plans to finalize, or laundry to do before I can have some "me" time.  By then I'm usually calling it a night.  We go through this on Mondays and Wednesdays.

Those days are the only ones that I can say I have a legitimate excuse.  Tuesdays and Thursdays, and even Fridays?  I know I can always come up with an excuse, but I really don't have one.

Then there's the weekends.  This weekend was a sleepover for our youngest, and now Hubby and the oldest have gone golfing, with the youngest hanging with his friend playing video games.  Sorry, I'm not leaving these two unattended.

Feeling pretty low about lack of motivation.....

Starting over....

This is me, two years ago, at my healthiest.  I don't look completely toned or ripped even, but I had no qualms wearing that top and shorts at the last 5K I participated in at our local college, my alma-matter.  There's a hint of muscle on my arms, and my tummy was something I wasn't ashamed of.  My face looked slimmer than it does now, and although my legs still seem like there's some rippling of fat, they didn't touch like they do now.  I felt good.  I was happy with myself and comfortable.

On October 3rd, 2011, almost two months after this race, I was participating in a walk to raise money for Alzheimer's.  The next day I starting coughing and within 24 hours, learned I had pneumonia.  I was sick for 3 weeks and was still feeling the after effects all the way to that February.  Although a breathing test and XRay declared that I was back to normal, the damage was done.  My mojo, my motivation, my energy was gone.

I would occasionally go for walks, but that would last about a week.  It was so much easier to just sit on the couch or chair and flip through Facebook and Twitter, lamenting on how I was getting fat and sluggish.  It was easier to get snacks and meals that were processed and not very healthy, than it was to prepare my own meals and buy fresher foods.  My clothes stopped fitting me.  Pants that used to hang on me were now tight.  I didn't get depressed, but I wasn't happy with myself either.

Up until this past week life was busy for me for the past 2 years.  I was finishing my masters, I prepared 2 new classrooms and planned 2 new curriculums.  I taught summer school for some extra pay to help make up for what I lost leaving my old district.

This week I spent this past week staying home.  I didn't even go to my classroom once!  I was busy with family things instead.  Life seems to be slowing down.  Not that having a busy life is a good excuse, or should be one at all but I feel that I can now have a handle on my time, my life.

I went through some old running magazines that I hadn't read, and as I hoped, I started to get motivated.  I read the articles of the experiences other runners had.  Those coming back from injuries or illness, and still getting back on track.  What was my excuse?  I had none.

I read the tips on preventing injuries, staying motivated, and nutrition.  I took snapshots with my phone of my favorite articles so I can refer back to it when I'm having second thoughts.  I'm trying to set myself up to succeed, rather than fail.

My runs vary.  There were some that lasted 15 minutes, some 25.  My runs include some walking breaks of no more than 30-40 seconds, but I have to be patient with myself.

Most of my runs have been on the treadmill, but that's because I feel self conscious and don't want to look silly running in my compression shorts or capris so everyone can see how much I've gained.  I can hide in the basement instead.

I think about how soon it will be dark after supper and running on our road won't be a good idea.  It will be dark soon right after school before long, so I should just enjoy running outside while I can.  But I can't bring myself to do it.  I know.  These are just more excuses.

Mini goals.  I've done a streak so far of 5 days. I mostly ran, but there was one day I just walked because it was late in the evening and I wanted to get it in.  Still....5 DAYS!  I have to celebrate my little triumphs.

Motivation and obsession updates

Yeah, well, my plans to create a compost bin hasn't been going very well.  I opened up the lid yesterday after nearly a week of rain (which meant that I wasn't going outside to do anything other than going to the car or store), and found little flies flying around.  Perhaps I'm wrong, but I don't think my compost bin is doing very well.  

I did go up to the hill where our garden has been and where are strawberry plants are now to check on them.  I've got berries!  They're still greenish-white, but they are a nice size!  We're expecting a possible stretch of warm, sunny weather, so they may ripen nicely!  Strawberry jam, pie or shortcakes in the future?

As for my motivation for working out....let's just say that hasn't existed while we've had a long stretch of rain.  I know it's not an excuse, especially since I have a treadmill in the basement I can use.  But having the sun shining makes a lot of difference.  

I'm writing this blog post while waiting for my supper to digest.  It's a beautiful, sunny evening, not too hot and not too cold, and not even humid, so I'm planning on going for a nice walk in a few.  I've been listening to audiobooks that I borrowed from our elibrary, so I can listen to them as I drive to wherever I'm going, walk/run, or clean around the house.  I just need to remind myself that I have a limited time to listen to the book.  Perhaps that can be my motivation to at least go walk.  Time to get my sneakers on and head on out....

She was once motivated, but lost it.....

Three and a half years ago I was motivated to become healthier.  I chronicled part of my journey, and spoke about my losses, too: a friend who died at age 40 and my cousin who never made it to 40.  This was the year I turned 40 and I wanted to do something for myself that was good and healthy.

It began one fall evening when I cleaned up an area in the basement, set up our treadmill, and from there a workout area where I could do my Jillian Michaels' workouts, and run on the treadmill.  It continued on from there.  I got involved in running, and did my first 5K ever that spring.  This was the start of a healthy year-and-a-half.  I was healthy, fit, and happy.  I had clothes that were actually too big for me, and I was running regularly.

One school break I caught pneumonia.  My oldest stepson had it, then my youngest stepson and me.  We were eating lunch waiting for him to be able to get his X-Ray done for his lungs when I began shivering uncontrollably.  I can't remember ever being so sick in my life!  It truly debilitated me to the point that I went a long time without working out.  I was sent for a breathing test and was happy to find out that there was no damage done to my lungs.  The thing is the real issue wasn't my breathing like I thought.  I lost my motivation.  

I've tried periodically to get back to the workouts, but it's just not there.  I've tried just walking, like I've done before, but even though I have the desire to run, I can't get myself to commit to it.  

I've wanted to do a workout in the morning, but lately the morning is when I hurt the most.  At 43, I guess my body has caught up with my age.....or something like that.  I've developed Morton's Neuroma under my right foot, so finding the footwear and treatment to allow me to even walk normal without pain is a challenge.  

No matter how true my pain and discomfort may be, I can't help but feel like they're only excuses, and it frustrates me.  I hate having a spare tire, my once "too big" pants too tight, and not having clothes that fit me well.  At all.  I only have one pair of shorts I can wear, and it's because I just bought them this spring.  Let's just say that I'm not feeling so much like my best, and I know I need to do something about it.  I just wish I knew where to find my motivation again. 

It's almost like reinventing myself, I just don't know how to do it or into what.

Progress is being made...

with my running. Since last year, I've run 3 5k's and have another one tomorrow. Having been a person who didn't enjoy running as a kid, I've grown to really enjoy it in my 40's. I'm even feeling. Calm and excited about the run tomorrow. I don't want to call it a race because I'm not trying for a personal best in my time, but I am enjoying the community that I'm becoming part of. My husband will join me, and the boys will be cheering is on with my parents. My sister-in-law also plans to run too. I will also get to run with my former professor and two former students. It's pretty special to be part of something that can tie us all together like that. I wouldn't get an opportunity like this otherwise.

Long time no see!!

Hello good folks!!  It's been a long time since I've been on, and I apologize for that.  Life has been busy and I've made some life changes of my own. 

In November I turned 40 and had a wonderful surprise by a friend of mine at work.  My wall was plastered with lots of "over the hill" signs.  It was a great day and ended up being a day I enjoyed rather than one I dreaded.  I decided that week to give myself a special gift, of an active lifestyle.  I bought myself a DVD and set up the basement so I have a little spot of my own to do my workouts.  I got back on the treadmill and we got a exercise bike too.  Now I have a variety to use.  The Saturday after my birthday, a friend who was my age passed away suddenly, leaving behind his wife and four children.  He was he sole provider of the family.  His passing was hard to accept, for my own reasons, and I decided that from this point on I was going to keep myself active and healthy.

Since I've started, I've lost over 10 pounds and signed up for my first 5K ever!

I had never been a runner before, but I became one and have learned to enjoy it.  That's me in the middle wearing pink.  The ladies on either side are my friends from school who decided to do the run with me.  What fun!!

Yes...this is a REAL smile on my face, not a fake one! 

My wonderful hubby (on the left) also ran with me, but not with me.  I told him to run ahead.  I didn't want to hold him back and knew I would.  He did his 3.1 miles in about 22 minutes!!  Hopefully my time will be posted soon so I know what I did, but I'm figuring about 35-40 minutes!  I don't think that's too bad considering it's my first race ever.

Well, I've done enough for now, and I want to get ready to do my run tonight.  I'll try to be better at keeping up with my blog.