The long and winding road to fitness, day 195

Welcome to the new year!  How exciting to have another opportunity to make our lives better, to live healthier.  Today has been a good day with both nutrition and exercise.  I stayed within my calorie range (under 1650) and got in upper body strength training and some time on the exercise bike.  I also did some stretching.  I’m not sure if I’ll be sore tomorrow or not, but it felt good to get back to my exercise routine.

I even cooked a good lunch today.  I had tilapia, half of a baked sweet potato, and cooked cabbage (hey, you can’t overlook that luck thing that just might result from eating cabbage on New Year’s Day).  I have enough prepared that I can eat the same meal again tomorrow, except I’m going to make cole slaw instead of cooked cabbage.

I spent a little time on SparkPeople.com tracking my nutrition and fitness, visiting a couple of teams, leaving some replies to some posts, and doing a little reading.  I haven’t started the private spark team for our work livewell challenge yet, but I’m going to do that sometime this week.

I have to admit I had a couple of times throughout the day when I thought about getting something to eat that I hadn’t planned on…those pesky old habits are sure difficult to overcome, aren’t they?  One of my ingrained habits is eating snack food while I read.  I think, years ago, that’s how I learned to cope with things I didn’t want to think about and emotions I didn’t want to feel.    And it worked…while I was doing it.  But the funny thing about all of that is that those emotions and thoughts come right back as soon as I stop the combined eating/reading.  I’ve decided I’ll substitute a cup of hot tea with stevia for the snack foods while I’m reading.  At least that’s one way to break that habit.  Of course, there comes a time when I’ll have to deal with the other stuff…feeling the things I’ve spent a lifetime running from and allowing myself to think about and deal with everything else.  I know that works, I’ve done it before.  Unfortunately I allowed myself to slip right back into those long-established bad habits.  Now to become more aware and vigilant with myself.

A pretty successful day 195 on this road, wouldn’t you say? (Sorry no pictures today…for some crazy reason, I couldn’t upload any today…)

I’m dedicating the year 2012 to my health and fitness

It’s hard to believe that 2011 is coming to an end.  I didn’t manage to make the strides I’d hoped to make concerning my health and fitness this year.  Overall I gained weight and lost fitness.  Not quite the way I wanted to go.  I’ve spent the past few weeks planning how to make permanent changes in my life that will allow me to lose weight and regain my fitness.

The first week of the year, I’ll alternate walking on the treadmill and riding the exercise bike for my cardio.  I’ll do strength training, alternating upper body, lower body, and core.  I’m going to have to start with lighter weights than what I was using before, but you start where you are and go from there.

I’ve got a chart listing minutes for cardio and reps, weight and sets for strength training.  I’ll slowly increase the time for cardio and the reps and weight for strength training.  I want to get to a place where I’m regularly doing at least 30 minutes of cardio five days a week.  Once I’m there, I’ll begin increasing intensity.  I’ve got the plan in place.  I’m determined to follow through.

At some point in time, once I’ve got the exercise habit firmly in place again, I’m going to have to examine my reaction to stress and work on a better way to deal with it.  That’s a little ways down the road, but the thought is in my mind.   I’ll let it kind of percolate there while I’m working on my diet and exercise routines.

I stopped at Kroger today and bought some produce, low-fat dairy, fish and whole grain sandwich thins.  I’ve got my meal plan set for the next few days.  I find I’m really looking forward to eating good, home cooked food again.  Planning and preparation will be key.

And you can bet I’ll be visiting SparkPeople.com daily, if only for a few minutes a day.  There’s something about having that accountability that helps me maintain my motivation.  Of course, we’ll also have our four-week livewell 10,000 daily steps competition at work too.  It all helps!!  And anyone out there who wants to share the journey with me, jump on in!

Planning to succeed in 2012

Oh I know, we’ve all made resolutions and broken most of them within a couple of weeks.  I think most of us have the best of intentions, but we don’t plan to succeed.  I think you have to really give it some thought.  Not just throw out the same old lose weight, get organized, save money resolutions that you’ve tossed out there practically every year.  It’s not about what you wish you could change, rather it’s about what you’re so tired of in your life that changing it is less painful than staying the same.

Over the past several weeks I’ve been giving this a lot of thought.  For me, I’m just so terribly tired of not feeling good, of having no energy, of being exhausted at the end of every work day, of climbing out of bed in the morning and stumbling around because I’m in so much pain, of not wanting to go anywhere because I’m tired and because I look like I do right now. 

I remember, not so long ago, feeling happy and excited about life.  I was running and enjoying it.  I was dancing with a smile on my face.  I was eating a healthy diet and getting a good amount of exercise and my body showed its appreciation with an excess of energy, strength to get through the day, and adequate sleep.

I want to feel like that again.  In order to do that, I’ll have to make some major changes in my life.  I’ll have to do a better job of planning my diet and my exercise routine.  I’ll have to get involved in a support system that will help me over the rough spots.  I’ll have to get back to eating a healthy diet because that’s what’s best for me.  I’ll have to deal with stress through exercise rather than through food.   And I’ll have to relearn to forgo the instant gratification of fast food in order to experience the return to health in the long-term.

As I said, I’ve been mulling this over for several weeks now.  I’ve come to the realization that I’m so tired of feeling like this.  So tired that it is more difficult to continue living like this than it is to make the necessary changes to return to fitness.

I’m planning to succeed.  I’m planning to regain my healthy lifestyle and become that fit person I was not so long ago.  Can I do it?  Oh yeah!!  Watch me succeed!

 

The long and winding road to fitness, day 192

Mercy me, I am one worn out pup tonight.  We had a huge truck today with two call ins (well, one girl I actually sent home, she came in with a fever and had been up all night sick.  I told her I couldn’t make her go home, but if she wanted to it would be okay.  While I appreciate the dedication to the job,  I just don’t want everyone else getting sick too.)  One girl volunteered to stay over an extra hour and a half and another girl came in, so we were in decent shape.  We made pretty good progress on the truck, didn’t finish it in the five and a half hours they want us to, but still…when the truck is that big I’m a proponent of just getting it worked and getting the floor cleaned up so customers can get around.  And we did do that…

Today was not a terrible eating day altho I did have a Nutty Bar.  I stopped at Kroger before work and bought donuts and Nutty Bars for the truck crew.  I didn’t eat a donut, but man do I like those Little Debbie Nutty Bars…something about peanut butter and chocolate…then I looked at the box and saw that one little package of those things has 310 calories…yikes!  But I did have a Lean Cuisine and fruit for lunch so that wasn’t bad.

Exercise?  Umm…yeah…working that truck for all of those hours.  I’m feeling like that was quite a bit of exercise.  I do think it’s a different kind of exercise than sustained cardio though,  looking forward to getting back into that routine.  I’ve got the treadmill and exercise bike so I can get in my cardio over the winter months without being in danger of slipping and falling…well, you haven’t seen me on the treadmill…there could still be an incident there.

I’ve been mulling over my New Year’s resolutions…or goals if you will…and will discuss those over the next few days.  I’m psyched, ready to make some changes and get back to feeling healthy and fit.

I’ve even got the healthy farmers market 2012 calendar to inspire me.

The long and winding road to fitness, day 190

Are you like me?  Once Christmas is over, I find myself focusing on the new year…on what I hope to achieve, things I want to do, goals I want to set for myself.  Do you do the same thing?

I’ve really kind of let my fitness routine slide, my healthy eating fall by the wayside.  I can always use the excuse that my work schedule has been absolutely insane…but when you get down to it, that’s all it is…an excuse.  With planning and preparation, I could have continued to eat healthy and fit in some exercise here and there.  But I didn’t.  I haven’t stepped on the scale, but I can tell I’ve gained weight.

That’s what’s so nice about turning that calendar page on this year…I can start fresh, learn from my mistakes, and move forward on that road to fitness.  Who’s with me?

 

The long and winding road to fitness, day 182

Wow…not a good day today as far as the food goes…exercise?  Yeah, quite a bit of exercise today, some strength training before work, a couple of hours of up and down the ladder early on, a lot of walking the rest of the day.  At least I have that going for me.

But my eating today…sheesh…I don’t even want to go into what I ate…not much that was good for me.  Only one fruit and one veggie for the day.  I didn’t do any meal or snack preparations for the day and my diet definitely showed it.  I’ve got to make the time to do some cooking.  I’ve just got the rest of this week to go and then my work schedule won’t be quite so crazy…at least we’re off that six-day work week now.  Still going in at 5 am just because we’re so busy…those four hours before we open are really the only time we can get anything done.

And then there’s the sleep thing…still not getting enough sleep.  I have the chance to sleep in a little tomorrow, looking forward to that.  But I’m really looking forward to that vacation in early January…time to cook, sleep, get back into a regular exercise routine…ahh…sounds divine, doesn’t it?

The long and winding road to fitness, day 180

Another long day at work…a day that started much too early…I’m pretty much looking forward to an end of these 5 am days…a little sleep would be a good thing.

My eating was just okay today, once again not enough fruits and veggies and too much unhealthy junk.  I have just been too tired to prepare anything for the past few days and by the time lunch rolls around we’re too busy for me to leave to run over to Subway.  I did stop at the store this evening and pick up a few frozen dinners.  One of the things I’m going to do when I’m not working all the time is stop buying frozen meals and start actually cooking good food.

I did do some strength training this morning before work and did a lot of walking and ladder climbing at work, so I did get in some good exercise.

Oh, our company will be starting another live well challenge in January.  I’ve been signing people up for it for the past couple of days.  Most of the people seem really excited about it.  I’m going to try to get several more folks signed up tomorrow.  Right now we have about a third of our associates signed up…my goal for our store is to get at least 75% of our associates signed up.  I’d aim for 100% but I know we won’t get that because one of the women said she wasn’t interested…so…anyhow, several of us are planning to use this challenge to kickstart our own fitness/weight loss program.  We’ve even talked about setting up a private team on SparkPeople.com…if I can get maybe a couple more people interested in that, I’ll do it.

So maybe I’m not doing as well as I’d like right now on my road to fitness, but I’m setting up a plan to get back on the straight and narrow…just gotta do it…I’m tired of feeling like this (and looking like this) and want to get back to feeling good, energized, in shape…

I’m surprised, people are still in a cheerful mood

I say that because usually, by this time in the shopping season, people are starting to get desperate, stressed, and out of ideas.  So far, I’ve seen very little of that.  And I’m not complaining about that.  I hope it continues all the way through Christmas Eve.  I don’t really expect it to, but I would be very pleased if it did.

I ran register for most of the afternoon (again).  When I asked people how they were doing, so many people then turned right around and asked how I was doing…very nice.  I did have one guy who was a little grumpy, but one out of however many is pretty darn good.  I had an older couple come through my line and they seemed to be not especially cheerful.  But they were buying arrangements for the cemetary so it’s totally understandable.  That’s such a difficult thing to do, which reminds me, I need to do that for my mom’s grave.  Man, do I ever miss her.  And I’m sure that’s exactly the same sort of emotions that the couple was experiencing.  I’ve actually had people start crying when I’ve tried to help them pick things out for the cemetary.

I’ve noticed that people are now starting to buy cookie and candy tins…hmm…wonder what they’re planning to do this weekend?

I got the cutest Christmas card from my nephew and his wife today.  It’s a picture of the little ones sitting together…I’m telling you, I’ve never seen cuter kids anywhere.  Can’t wait to get my hands on them in a little over a week!!

I stopped at PetSmart and bought the special cat food for Spooky and Goldi for Christmas morning (you know, the kind that is much too expensive for every day?) as well as a couple of toys.  Why I buy toys for them when they have a huge bowl of them, I just don’t know.  Yes, you read that right.  A huge bowl full of toys.  One of the guys I work with bought a huge bowl for Spook, well she doesn’t eat much at a time so I decided to use that cute bowl to store her toys in.  Every once in a while, she starts pulling them all out and spreads them all over the house.  Sheesh, now if only I could teach her to pick them up.  Anyhow, where I was going with this, before I got distracted, was that Spooky dug the toys out of the bag before I could get them put up.  Can you believe that?  Now what is she going to have to open on Christmas morning?  Surely she doesn’t expect me to buy something else just because she was snooping…

This is Spooky posing in her little house…man, is that cat spoiled or what?!

The long and winding road to fitness, day 176

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I finally got a good night’s sleep last night, about 9 hours.  I haven’t had that much sleep in at least a couple of months.  And I don’t go in until 7:30 tomorrow morning, so I’m hoping to get another good 8 hours or so tonight.  Of course then it’s back to the 5 am days, but the end of the insane schedule is fast approaching.

I did get in a couple of fruits and a couple of veggies today, not quite the 5 I aim for, but better than nothing.  I bought the makings for subs for work for the rest of the week, so that will help me get at least 5 a day.

Exercise?  Well, not really.  Some walking, but nothing brisk, and then the rain began…boo…but it’s better than snow and ice, right?

I did go out and buy a few more Christmas gifts today and I got just about everything packaged up…the things that are being given in gift bags are done…the few things I need to wrap are still sitting there waiting for me to bring the wrapping paper down stairs.  I’m not sure if I’m going to manage to do that yet tonight, but I’ve got to get it done sometime.

So don’t you know, while I had all those gift bags and tissue paper out, who decides to get involved?  Yep…Spooky…she jumped right in and started clawing at the tissue paper and trying to get under the bags…crazy little thing.  I finally took one of her little mouse toys and put it in a small paper bag and let her go at it.  That kept her occupied for, oh I don’t know, at least 30 seconds.  Then she had to come back and see what I was up to.  So if you get a gift from me and the tissue paper has little holes or slashes in it, well, that’s just Spooky’s way of saying “Merry Christmas”.

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The long and winding road to fitness, day 174

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Oh my, one more day to work and then I get a day off.  Let me tell you, I am in need of a day off.  We went in at 3 am yesterday and I finally got out at 3 pm.  The thing I’ve figured out is that you can’t possibly go to bed early enough to get enough sleep when you have to be at work at 3 am.  Not having to go in until 5 this morning felt like a bit of a treat.  I just keep telling myself we only have less than two weeks to work these crazy hours, oh yeah, and counting down the days until I take some vacation time…looking forward to that!

No exercise today other than running around at work, climbing ladders, and all that jazz!  Eating?  Hmm…not so good today.  A couple of servings of fruit, no veggies…yikes!  I’ve got to turn that around immediately, like the next time I eat…tomorrow…

I could not believe how nice the weather was here today.  Sunny all day and temps in the 40s, not bad for 2 weeks before Christmas.  I just heard that we’re going to have temps in the upper 50s by the middle of the week…what?  Oh yeah…that’s right…no snow for the next few days anyhow.  My neighbor (not the tinsel lady) was outside putting net lights on his evergreen bush when I got home from work. I don’t do all of that outside lights stuff, no time, no desire, been around Christmas decorations for several months now.  Isn’t that kind of sad?

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