The long and winding road to fitness, day 7

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It’s so hard to believe that I’ve now put in a full week of eating mostly healthy, exercising every day and making an effort to get enough sleep and deal with stress in a positive manner.  I’m not sure if I really feel better or if I just think I do…lol…I guess it doesn’t matter, does it?  If I feel better or only think I do, it amounts to pretty much the same thing!!  Every day that I have to work. I’ve been getting up at 4:30 so I can get some exercise in before work and do a little writing.  I know myself well enough to know that I will find excuses not to exercise at night after work, so hitting it first thing works for me.  Do I like getting up that early?  Heck, no!!  I liked the days of sleeping late and going to bed late, but that doesn’t work with my job, so I’ve learned to adapt.

Today was a good day…I had 1637 calories for the day, rode the exercise bike for 12 minutes, walked for 15 minutes, did upper body strength training (7 exercises, 2 sets of each), managed to get almost 7 hours of sleep and was in a good mood (most of the time).   I ended up eating 5 1/2 servings of fruit/veggies today…so getting better in that regard.  Even had spinach on my turkey sandwich…yum!

One thing I’ve realized over the years is that exercise improves my mood…why in the world would I ever stop exercising when I know this to be true?  I know we all think we’re too tired to exercise, or too busy, or too something else…but when you look at the benefits, why not give it a try if only for 10 minutes?  Usually, after 10 minutes, you keep going.  Funny how it’s almost never as bad as we think it’ll be.  On the days when I tell myself to do at least 10 minutes, that I can quit after 10 minutes if I still feel like I have to, I usually manage to keep moving.  Rarely will I be in so much pain that I give myself a break, but it does happen occasionally.  And that’s okay too.  We have to learn to listen to our bodies, give them the nutrition they need to perform, move them to keep them strong and healthy, but also rest them when they need it.  I guess the key is learning when it’s our bodies talking and when it’s our minds trying to convince our bodies to quit.  Our minds can be pretty tricky…we just have to learn how to be trickier….

So, how was your Saturday?  Did you fit in some exercise?  Spend the day with family or friends?  Did you have a cookout or a picnic, go for a walk, sit outside and enjoy the nice weather?  I worked all day, but it was a pretty good day anyhow…worked with good people, the customers were nice and cheery, we managed to get a lot done, and little Spooky girl was right there at the front door as soon as I opened it.  How nice to know that someone appreciates it when you come back home…although, in Spooky’s case, it may just have been that she was wanting some food…

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